Juan Franco is synonymous with sustained success as he enters his 28th season as the men’s soccer coach at Morton College. In fact, the Cicero resident is the only coach Morton College has known since the Panthers first fielded an intercollegiate men’s soccer team in 1998.
The Franco-led Panthers have created so many wonderful memories. Last year’s team had a sub .500 record through September, yet rebounded with a magical postseason run with heart-stopping wins over Rock Valley, South Suburban and Elgin to reach nationals for the fourth time in program history.
This past June, Franco was honored by the NJCAA with the organization’s first Coaches Legacy Award presented by Nufabrx.
Franco’s silver anniversary season was another one for the record books as the Panthers reached the NJCAA Division II title game in 2022 for the first time in program history with a 19-1-0 mark.
He’s shaped the Panther program into the Region IV’s gold standard of excellence, guiding the Panthers to amazing heights with a 341-153-41 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).
Conference championships don’t come easy as seven of the eight Illinois Skyway member schools have claimed the top spot at least once since 2000.
The past four years, there’s been a Panther in the NCAA Division I ranks with Tibo Gobet (Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Joao Rosito (Oral Roberts), Jean Leonardo (Massachusetts-Lowell) and Victor Salermon (University of the Incarnate Word).
Since the creation of Division II in men’s soccer by the NJCAA five seasons ago, the Panthers have become a national player by appearing at nationals three times and carrying a national ranking for 35 consecutive weeks from May 10th, 2021 to October 23rd, 2023.
Morton College’s highest national ranking was the program’s first preseason No. 1 placement on August 14th, 2023.
The Panthers also have put together 16 consecutive double-digit winning seasons and 21 straight winning campaigns. The Panthers have had just two losing seasons during Franco’s tenure, the last coming in 2003 when George W. Bush occupied the White House.
Morton College’s record during its 21 consecutive winning seasons is 279-108-29 for a success rate of .706.
This remarkable run lapped the College’s all-time best for consecutive winning campaigns, previously held by men’s basketball with 10 from 1995-96 to 2004-05 under coach Tony Amarino.
The 2022 season was a ride to remember for the Panthers, who put together a string of five one-goal victories, of which three came in overtime, in the playoffs to reach the NJCAA championship match against Skyway rival Prairie State.
Morton College trailed in all four of its matches at nationals in Tucson, coming back three times to win and being oh so close to forcing overtime in the finals against Prairie State.
Rafael Silverio came up with his ninth game-winning goal of the year in the 101st minute as the Panthers kicked off pool play with a 2-1 double-overtime victory against Southeastern Community College.
The Panthers dug themselves a 2-0 hole in their pool-play finale against Pima before Joao Rosito scored a pair of unassisted goals in a minute to even the score. Diego Rodriguez’s second goal of the year at the 42nd minute broke the tie and sent the Panthers into the national semifinals with a 3-2 win.
Luis Escalante’s goal at the 107th minute sent a Morton College team into the championship for just the second time in school history as the Panthers took down CBCC Essex 2-1 in double overtime.
Morton College faced the daunting task of defeating a team for the third time in a season, but Prairie State, the tournament’s 11th seed, ended the Panthers’ 19-game win streak with a 1-0 decision.
In the spring of 2021, the Panthers were 10-3-0 and qualified for the newly-created NJCAA Division II national tournament in Wichita, Kansas. Morton College, which finished 10th in the NJCAA’s Spring 2021 final postseason poll, punched its ticket to nationals for the second time in program history with a 3-1 win over Prairie State in the Region IV title game. Franco was selected as the Region IV Coach of the Year.
Led by All-American goalie Pablo Rueda, the Panthers allowed just two goals in five postseason matches. Rueda and defender Tibo Gobet were just the second and third All-Americans in program history. Morton College’s 1-0 win over Phoenix in the closing round of pool play at nationals kept the Panthers’ string of consecutive double-digit winning seasons alive.
Franco oversaw a decade of excellence at Morton College in 2010s. The Panthers hopped to 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).
In 2018 and 2019, Morton College’s 37-8-1 mark was the best in a hyper-competitive Region IV. The Panthers and Moraine Valley (33-7) were the only two Region IV programs with 30 or more wins.
The Panthers also have appeared in the Region IV title game seven times in the last 11 years.
Morton College’s quest at back-to-back Region IV crowns was derailed by Prairie State 1-0 in the 2019 championship game, but the Panthers avenged that loss in the spring 2021 Region IV title match against the Pioneers.
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 on its home pitch at the Antonio Carbajal Soccer Complex. The Panthers weren’t a one-trick pony, being able to strike with a number of different options as nine players scored 10 or more points. Alas, this was the year that a Region IV championship didn’t automatically punch the Panthers’ ticket to nationals.
The Panthers had to go to Iowa for a district championship game on a rainy November morning to face Marshalltown, the country’s No. 2 team. Morton College was just the second team all season to have the lead against the Tigers, who tied the game with 19 seconds left and eventually won in a shootout to reach nationals.
Morton College finally got some respect, walking off ranked 20th in the NJCAA’s final Division I poll that season.
The Panthers reached the NJCAA Division I national tournament in 2015 by defeating the College of DuPage 3-2 in the Region IV title game. It gave the Panthers back-to-back Region IV titles, another program first. In winning the Region IV crown, the Panthers also avenged three regular-season defeats.
While Morton College lost both pool play games at nationals in Martinsville, Virginia, 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 was twice as nice because it came in the Region IV championship game against the College of DuPage 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.
In 2007, the Panthers were undefeated for 53 days (14-0-1) and were ranked as high as 15th in the NJCAA Division I polls.
Franco coached both the men’s and women’s programs from 2015 to 2019. While Franco’s five years as the women’s coach produced a pedestrian 36-36-4 showing, he made considerable strides the past two seasons with back-to-back double-figure victory totals. Morton College’s record those two years was 21-8-3, which translated into a .703 success rate.
During the 2022 season, 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.
At Morton College’s past five commencement ceremonies, Franco soccer players received the Robert M. Hale Award for Academic Excellence in Vanessa Silva (2020) and Pedro Milani (2023). This award goes to the graduating student with the highest grade-point average.
In 2019, men’s soccer player Eduardo Galbinski was the student speaker at commencement.
With the presence of Morton High School’s highly-successful program, the Morton College community is a hotbed of soccer. The Panthers have contributed to that success by completing 25 winning seasons in Franco’s 27-year tenure.
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 94 First Team and 80 Second Team all-conference players. The Panthers also have had 41 First Team and 41 Second Team all-Region IV selections as well.
Born in Mexico, Franco met the soccer great Pele at a youth clinic and became hooked on 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. One of his teammates with the Vultures was Cicero native and former NASL player Aleks Mihailovic.
Franco has a USA Soccer D License with the National Soccer Coaches of America.
