For 400 to 500 athletes eager to compete while further perusing their education there is only one athletic counselor designated to keep each of them on track, who also understands the demands of student-athlete.
That’s why it doesn’t come as a surprise that hard work and dedication make Traci Franks’ perfect for the daunting task of an athletic counselor.
“I can’t imagine what the athletic department would be like without her,” said third-year athletic director Howard Davis. “I don’t even want to think about what the program would be like prior to Traci.”
Franks is a full time athletic counselor at Moorpark College, and alumni to California Lutheran University, where she was a student-athlete herself.
While attending school Franks competed as a CLU Regal on the women’s soccer team, which is why she chose to become a counselor for athletes.
“Winning a championship was just as important as earning a degree,” she said.
Her love for sports and genuine care for each and every athlete is what helps make student-athletes and their parents confident in the athletic program.
Davis believes that she is a great recruiter because parents feel safe sending their students to Moorpark under Franks’ direction.
Franks ability to understand the complicated NCAA regulations, and the unique challenges that student-athletes encounter is more thanenough to qualify her for the position. Franks’ goes above just that.
“She supports the athletic program beyond the counseling office as well by attending as many events as she possibly can and doing outreach in the community whenever asked.” says Corey Wendt, counseling department chairman.
Franks helps students to succeed by helping with study habits and teaching them how to balance their time.
She helps students with the transfer process, which can be very difficult for a student to understand.
“(Franks) helped me every step of the way, kept in frequent contact with me during the process of my transferring to make sure everything went smoothly,” said football player and successful transfer Alex Hoffman-Ellis. “I owe a lot of thanks to her.”
Many times Franks has stayed up till nearly 11:00 p.m. contacting teachers and looking up transcripts in order to make sure an athlete is eligible to play the next morning. Other times she’ll stay up just to talk with students about their concerns.
“There have been times where I call Traci just to talk because I’m stressed out about school or need her advice, she’s always there when I need her,” Says 21-year-old soccer player Kristen Gensely.
There are 16 athletic teams, 9 men’s and 7 women’s. Because the job demands so much and it takes a unique hard working person to adequately fulfill the duties.
Davis says that they are more than pleased to have one on staff.
Prior to Franks, working as the athletic counselor was a part-time faculty member who decided to quit because it was just too much for her to handle.
“It was a mess, nothing was getting done because students weren’t taking the right classes and therefore they were upset to find that they weren’t eligible,” Davis continues
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Franks has become even more important to the student-athlete because due to budget cuts faced by the district Moorpark will not be hiring another athletics counselor.
“We are very fortunate to have Traci at Moorpark College and I know that the all of the athletic programs could not have a finer counselor to work with,” said Wendt.
