Around the sun

Building the Sun: Chaz Franklin’s Mission in Connecticut

By Anthony Price 

Chaz Franklin, Head of Player Development, Connecticut Sun. Photo: Clay Johnson

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​When the Connecticut Sun hired Chaz Franklin as the head of player development in mid-March, they weren’t just filling a coaching role—they were investing in the future. 
 
“My job is to help the players understand from a skill standpoint, a physical standpoint and mental standpoint, how they can best maximize their talents and skillsets,” Franklin explained in his steady, low voice.

​This is a tall order, given the Sun’s young roster and evolving talent. But Franklin knows that real success starts with trust. “You can’t coach them hard until they understand you have their best interest at heart,” he said. 
 
He teaches skill development, but he knows confidence is just as necessary as technique. He doesn’t try to change people into something they are not. “I believe that you are most effective when you help people become the most lethal, dangerous version of what they already are,” he said. 

South Philadelphia Roots
 
After practice, I meet Franklin on the concourse at Mohegan Sun Arena. It’s quiet now, with just an army of workers coming and going in the empty space. 
 
Dressed in a blue Connecticut Sun t-shirt, gray athletic pants and sneakers, Franklin looks every bit the coach—fit, alert and compact at about 5-foot-9. He has a bald head and a salt-and-pepper goatee. 

I always say that I’ve never had a bad day in my life.

Franklin greets me with a firm handshake and plops his lunch on the table. “I always say that I’ve never had a bad day in my life,” he says with a smile. 
 
He was raised in the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philadelphia during the crack epidemic that gripped cities throughout the U.S. In the 1980s and mid-1990s. There were drugs,  violence, and it was “kind of territorial,” he says, but there weren’t gangs.  
 
Basketball was his safe haven. “When I look back at it, we were essentially in a war zone every day, but it didn’t feel like it when you were coming up,” he says.  
 
He feels blessed to have had mentors through athletics during that time, especially Bill Williams, who ran the Point Breeze Basketball Association team. It was an escape that helped him. 

When it came time for high school, Franklin wanted to go to South Philadelphia High School, his neighborhood school. His mother insisted that he go to Central High School, which had a better academic reputation. “It turned out to be one of the greatest decisions of my life!” he says.  ​

Connecticut Sun practice at Mohegan Sun Area. Photo: Anthony Price

At Central, he made the basketball team, and after high school, he walked on at D1 Hampton University. He was there in 2001 when Hampton, the No. 15 seed, upset No. 2 Iowa State University in the NCAA Western Region at Boise State University. Franklin remembers the excitement, despite the fact that walk-ons didn’t travel with the team to the tournament. “I had a really unique path as a student-athlete,” he said.  
 
After his freshman year, he left Hampton to attend Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. He left there after two years. He spent his time working in construction and doing “odd jobs” in Philadelphia. 
 
He had promised his grandmother that he would graduate, so after a year, he enrolled at Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, New York, where he earned a degree in psychology.

​On the Go 
 
Franklin thought he could play professional basketball. “I’ve always had a great level of self-belief of what I was able to do,” he says, his voice soft but serious.  
 
After college, he attended a basketball camp at Syracuse University for what he calls “undervalued and underappreciated” prospects. “I was at the front of that list,” he says, as he bursts into laughter. 
 
But someone saw something. At the camp, he received an offer on the spot to play in Weissenfels, Germany. This was the start of his professional career and a peripatetic life. From his mid-twenties until his late thirties, Franklin was a basketball nomad, chasing the bouncing basketball around the globe.

Chaz Franklin watches the action from the sideline. Photo: Clay Johnson

It turned out to be one of the greatest decisions of my life!

During his 15-year professional basketball career, he played in 11 countries on four continents, with stops in places like Finland, Iceland, Colombia, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. 
 
Playing basketball overseas shaped his world view and gave him an up-close view of the evolving world game. 
 
Back in the U.S. during the offseasons, he trained college-aged players and international pros in Philadelphia, which eventually led him to train former WNBA player Kiesha Hampton and current WNBA player Kahleah Copper, who grew up in North Philadelphia and won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. 

“I just did what I always did. I guess—I tried to impart whatever wisdom I had,” he says about training. He has a strong bond with Copper, and they have the same tattoo: Philippians 4:13, which is “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” 

Bria Hartley dribbles against defender. Photo: Clay Johnson

​Broken Body
 
Basketball took its toll. Over the years, he tore his meniscus, had a separated acromioclavicular joint, and broke six bones, he says. It was like working construction on his body. When he pulled a calf muscle just jogging during a dynamic warmup, he realized that it was time to retire. 
 
He finished his playing career in Iceland, where he played three years. He calls Iceland his second home where his coaching career began—he doesn’t speak the language but adjusted to the culture—and 20 hours of darkness in the winter and 22 hours of daylight in the summer. 
 
As a coach, Franklin brought his Iceland team to the championship twice but lost. His team wasn’t tall, so he relied on a “space and pace” offense. His team averaged 104 points over 40 minutes, according to him. 

I just did what I always did. I guess—I tried to impart whatever wisdom I had.

Connecticut Sun defenders swarm Angel Reese. Photo: Clay Johnson

His coaching style was shaped by former Los Angeles Lakers and Loyola Marymount University coach Paul Westhead, a Philadelphia native. He incorporated the pressing, trapping, running, and jumping style from Point Breeze along with European concepts. 
 
He was hooked. Coaching had become the next phase of the game, and his purpose.
 
Finding Home
 
On Sunday afternoon at Mohegan Sun Arena, Franklin watched the Sun lose to the Chicago Sky 78-66, dropping to 2-8 in the season. 
 
He wants the players to become the best versions of themselves—and on this day, they came up short. There’s work to do.
 
Still, the lifelong traveler seems at peace. “This was meant to be,” Franklin said. “I think I’m in the perfect place.” 

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​Anthony Price is an entrepreneur, author and publisher of CT Hoops Magazine. Around the Sun is a weekly column about the Connecticut Sun. ​​