The name Juan Franco is synonymous with sustained success as he enters his 29th season as the men’s soccer coach at Morton College. In fact, the Cicero resident is the only men’s soccer coach Morton College has known since the Panthers first fielded an intercollegiate men’s soccer team in 1998.
The Franco-led Panthers have created many memorable moments, often highlighted with incredible regular season finishes.
- In 2025, the Panthers won five straight regular season matches to end the year with 13 wins, but more importantly they carried momentum into the postseason, as they made it to the second round of the Region IV playoffs.
- Through September of the 2024 season, the Panthers held a sub .500 record. However, as history showed, Coach Franco had a tendency for dramatic regular season finishes. The Panthers won five of their last six games heading into the Region IV tournament. The Panthers magical postseason run began by beating Harper and was then followed with nerve-racking wins over Rock Valley (5-4 on penalty kicks), South Suburban (2-1), and Elgin (3-2 in OT). MC finished on top of Region IV and moved onto the NJCAA D2 National Tournament for the fourth time in program history.
- The 2022 season was one to remember for Franco and the Panthers, who again finished the year as kings of Region IV. The Panthers rattled off a streak of five straight one-goal victories, with three of those coming in overtime, to reach the NJCAA national championship. Rafael Silverio scored his ninth game-winning goal of the year in the 101st minute as the Panthers kicked off pool play with a 2-1 2OT victory. The Panthers then dug themselves a 2-0 hole in their pool-play finale before Joao Rosito scored a pair of unassisted goals in a minute to even the score before Diego Rodriguez’s second goal of the year broke the tie and sent the Panthers into the national semifinals with a 3-2 win. Luis Escalante’s goal at the 107th minute of the national semifinals sent MC to the championship for just the second time in school history as the Panthers won in 2OT. Franco and the Panthers finished as the national runner-ups and with a record of 19-1-1. The Panthers also enjoyed success in the classroom with five players named to the NJCAA All-Academic Team and 16 selected to the Illinois Skyway's All-Academic Team.
- In the spring of 2021, the Panthers were 10-3 and qualified for the newly-created NJCAA Division II national tournament in Wichita, Kansas. Morton College, which finished 10th in the final postseason poll, punched its ticket to nationals with a 3-1 win over Prairie State in the Region IV title game. Led by All-American goalie Pablo Rueda, the Panthers allowed just two goals in five postseason matches. Rueda and Tibo Gobet were just the second and third All-Americans in program history at that point.
Over the years, Franco has shaped the Panther into the Region IV’s gold standard of excellence, guiding the Panthers to amazing heights with a 354-161-42 overall record. Franco is fourth on the NJCAA’s all-time active coaches’ list for victories. Morton College has won conference championships in four different decades (1999, 2007, 2018, 2022, and 2023).
Four of the last five years, there’s been a Panther playing at the NCAA Division I level with Tibo Gobet (Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Joao Rosito (Oral Roberts), Jean Leonardo (Massachusetts-Lowell) and Victor Salermon (University of the Incarnate Word).
Since the introduction of Division II in men’s soccer by the NJCAA, the Panthers have appeared at nationals three times, and at one point, carried a national ranking for 35 consecutive weeks from May 10th, 2021 to October 23rd, 2023. MC has been ranked as high as number one, when the Panthers were placed on top of the pre-season poll on August 14th, 2023.
Franco and the Panthers have put together 17 consecutive double-digit winning seasons and 22 straight winning campaigns (all-time best at MC). Franco has had just two losing seasons since taking over, the last coming in 2003. The Panthers also have appeared in the Region IV title game seven times in the last 12 years.
Coach Franco oversaw a decade of successful soccer at Morton College in 2010s. The Panthers found another level of success, winning 72 percent of their matches with a 150-54-10 record that included the program’s first appearance at nationals (2015), two trips to the Great Lakes District title game (2014, 2018), three Region IV titles (2014, 2015, 2018) and a Skyway Conference crown (2018).
The 2018 season was among the Panthers’ best. They were 19-3-1 and featured the program’s first NJCAA All-American in Baltazar Duran and Region IV tournament MVP Lukas Palma, who led the Panthers to their first Skyway title in 11 years. Only three teams nationally won more games than the Panthers that season. Morton College also won 17 consecutive matches and was 13-0 at home, which led to them ending the season ranked 20th in the final NJCAA D1 poll.
The Panthers reached the NJCAA Division I national tournament in 2015 by defeating College of DuPage 3-2 in the Region IV title game. It gave the Panthers back-to-back Region IV titles, which was another program first. Although MC didn’t find success in pool play that year, the Panthers received the tournament's Sportsmanship Award, an honor that meant as much as a national championship in Franco’s eyes. Morton College finished 14-7-1 and ranked 17th in the country.
Career win No. 200 for Franco came in the Region IV championship game against College of DuPage on November 1, 2014. The 3-1 win gave Franco the milestone win as well as the program's first Region IV title and appearance in the Great Lakes District finals. He also became the 30th coach in NJCAA history at the Division I level to reach 200 wins.
Franco has been named the Skyway’s Coach of the Year in men’s soccer four times – 1999, 2007, 2018 and 2022. He’s also been the Region IV Coach of the Year five times in 2014, 2015, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2024. In addition, Franco was named the Skyway’s Male Sports Coach of the Year in 2015.
During Franco’s tenure, the Panthers have produced 95 First Team and 83 Second Team Skyway All-Conference players. The Panthers also have had 43 First Team and 42 Second Team All-Region IV selections as well.
Born in Mexico, Franco met the soccer great Pele at a youth clinic, which is the for his passion of the sport. Franco was greatly influenced by the experience and still delivers Pele’s message about soccer to his players today.
At the age of 11, Franco tried out and was selected to be part of Atlas’ professional soccer team’s youth development program. Franco attributes his knowledge of soccer coming through his years of playing for Atlas, where he later went on to play two years with Atlas’ First Division team in Mexico’s professional soccer league as well as one season for Mexico’s Sub-20 National Team.
When he came to the United States, Franco played in the Hispano-American Soccer League in Chicago from 1977 to 1983 and was among the league’s top all-time goal scorers. In addition, Franco was chosen as the Hispano Player of the Year in 1982.
Two years later, Franco played professionally indoors for the Chicago Vultures of the American Indoor Soccer League.
Franco has a USA Soccer D License with the National Soccer Coaches of America and in June of 2025, Franco was honored by the NJCAA with the organization’s first Coaches Legacy Award presented by Nufabrx.
