Thirty-seven seasons of being a head basketball coach prepared Kerry Prather to expect the unexpected.
The 2019-20 school year tested Prather like no other, throwing everything it had at the longtime Franklin College men’s coach and athletic director. This winter, Prather relinquished both job titles to take over as the school’s president.
This wasn’t the Grizzlies facing a 2-3 zone and having to change its offensive philosophy.
This was real life.
In January, Prather was named acting president after previous Franklin College president Thomas J. Minar was arrested in Wisconsin for a sex-related crime. Prather’s position as the calming effect in the eye of such turmoil became permanent on Feb. 22 when he was named president.
Two weeks later, the spring sports season was shut down due to the pandemic.
“The abruptness of this is what struck everybody. We had so many things going on that were exciting, and then we just hit a wall,” Prather said. “For those young people being displaced from campus and separated from their friends, it’s been so hard.
“But I think they’ve approached it with great maturity, and I have respect for that.”
Prather finished the basketball season, leading the Grizzlies to a 17-9 record and with a share of the program’s first Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title in 13 years. Rose-Hulman defeated Franklin College, 83-68, in a semifinal of the HCAC tournament, leaving Prather with a career record of 528-456.
During Prather’s tenure, the program captured four HCAC tournament titles and six times finished atop the regular-season standings.
Prather had entered the school year hoping to coach another two or three seasons. Such wasn’t the case with Grizzlies football coach Mike Leonard, who had started thinking more and more about retirement before the 2019 campaign began.
“It was actually in training camp, but, really, the voice had been there the last couple of years,” Leonard said. “No players knew, but certainly I had to tell confidants. Obviously, my wife, my kids and some really close friends. And I had to start planning for another career.”
Fittingly, his final game, a 27-21 loss at Hanover in the Victory Bell rivalry, brought Leonard’s career full circle. He played at Hanover from 1980-84 as a quarterback and spent four seasons there as offensive coordinator before becoming the Grizzlies’ head coach in 2003.
Former Franklin College player Alan Hensell was hired as Leonard’s replacement.
The Hanover loss dropped Franklin College to 5-5 — the first non-winning season since 2005, Leonard’s third year in charge. Knowing it was his last go-round, the coach made it a point to savor every practice, game, bus ride and relationship made.
“I had a special enjoyment for every game, and wanted to make sure I took nothing for granted,” said Leonard, who now works in the university’s office of development and alumni engagement. “It was just a special group of seniors with a great camaraderie. The relationships you make are just so rewarding.”
The Grizzlies’ year wasn’t entirely defined by the departure of the athletic department’s two biggest pillars, however. There were also plenty of successes to celebrate.
Men’s golfer Jackson Williams didn’t get to play a spring season, which means the former Center Grove player ended his career by winning the Centre Fall Classic with a 4-under-par score of 69-71—140. In the process, he earned HCAC Player of the Week honors for the fourth time in his career.
In November, senior Clayton Brumfield became the first Franklin men’s cross country runner to be named all-region in 12 years after placing 33rd at the Great Lakes Regional in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The winter sports season saw men’s swimmer Gauge Creech, a freshman from Franklin, become the first Grizzlies diver to qualify for the NCAA Division III national championships. Greenwood product Faith Jackson, also a freshman, enjoyed a memorable first season by making it to the regionals.
Franklin College women’s basketball finished 17-9, its best record in four years. The Grizzlies won their quarterfinal game at the HCAC tournament but lost to Hanover, 72-59, in a semifinal.
Most spring sports teams were hitting stride when coaches and athletes were notified their seasons were over.
It wasn’t long after scoring twice in the baseball team’s 8-3 win over Hope that senior catcher Alex Mis realized he had played his final college baseball game.
“It was heartbreaking. We had such high hopes for another good year and never expected our 13th game of the year to be our last,” said Mis, who plans to attend graduate school in the fall and study applied statistics.
“I wouldn’t say I was necessarily angry. It was more like annoyed because we had worked so hard, and then to have it end in such an obscure way.”
Baseball coach Lance Marshall had guided the Grizzlies to a 70-20 mark over the previous two seasons, including last spring’s appearance in an NCAA regional, the deepest postseason run in program history.
He had looked forward to continuing the momentum with his 2020 squad.
“I don’t think there’s anything you can do to prepare for it. It’s heartbreaking, especially for the seniors who have invested three years in your program,” said Marshall, who also served as the interim athletic director until swim coach Andy Hendricks was hired to fill the role last month. “Many of them have made postgraduate plans, but it probably makes our guys appreciate the success they had along the way.”
