Kelsey Franks

Biography

Kelsey Franks is in her first season as Associate Head Coach for the Owls. Franks is a 2016 graduate of Temple University, where she was a four-year member of the women’s rowing program and four-year Varsity 8+ coxswain. Franks’ first year as a Temple coxswain was under Grzybowski’s first year at the helm of the program. The pair spent four years as a collaborative coach-and-coxswain duo leading the team to historic finishes. In her senior year, Franks was an integral part of Temple’s finish at the 2016 American Athletic Conference, placing third – the highest in program history. At the event, Franks grabbed a bronze medal in the Varsity 8+ and was named All-Conference Second Team. That same season, Franks helped her crew earn two American Athletic Conference Boat of the Week awards. Most recently, Franks led the La Salle Women’s Rowing team as Head Coach, beginning her tenure by spending all of four weeks in an assistant position before being thrown into the lead women’s coach position in fall 2021. During her first year at the helm, Franks led the women’s rowing team to the best Atlantic-10 Conference team finish since 2003, and the best Varsity 8+ performance in over a decade. At the following 2023 Atlantic 10 Conference Championship, La Salle had all four boats — Varsity 8+, 2nd Varsity 8+, Varsity 4+, and 2nd Varsity 4+ — place in the Grand Finals at the A-10 Championship in the same year for the first time in program history. The Varsity 8+ boat made its first A-10 Cham