BY JOHN PAINTER
GoColgateRaiders.com
Latest in a series of "Where are they now?" features on members of the Colgate athletics family. Click Here for previous profiles.
HAMILTON – Beckie Francis carries around in her head the perfect playbook for coaching excellence. Rule No. 1: Imagine you're recruiting for Colgate University.
“I know if I recruit an athlete who could get into Colgate or someone who is a Colgate person of character, that I will have success,” said Francis, who enters her 13th season this fall as women's basketball head coach at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. “And it's true.”
Francis owns first-hand experience of Colgate's standard of excellence. She's a member of the Colgate Athletics Hall of Honor, inducted in 2001 for her performance on the basketball court from 1983-87. But since that induction, Francis has staked her claim as an outstanding mid-major women's basketball coach at Oakland.
She stands two wins shy of 250 for her coaching career, compiling a mark of 248-190. She's 218-142 in 12 seasons at Oakland, having twice led the Grizzlies into the NCAA tournament and twice earned Summit League Coach of the Year.
During her tenure, Oakland has won five championships – and regularly competes against larger universities in the area. Sounds a lot like Colgate.
“Yes, it is very similar,” Francis said. “Syracuse was this big, looming school when I was in college, and it was always a big deal when we played Syracuse. And we've got Michigan here, and I'm like this little dog fighting Michigan and Michigan State.
“And I don't care. I know they're big dogs but I'm going to keep fighting against them, and there is a similarity to my Colgate experience.”
Surprise Career Path
Francis arrived at Colgate from Germantown, N.Y., a tiny hamlet along the eastern bank of the Hudson River between Albany and Poughkeepsie. For reference, Hamilton is more than twice the size of Germantown.
“Colgate's head coach at the time, Kathy Connell, recruited me and it was the best thing that ever happened in my life,” Francis said. “She's still a friend of mine and, in fact, is a huge reason I got the Oakland job.”
While still playing guard for the Raiders – she was a three-year captain and finished her career as the program's fourth-leading scorer (1,229 points) and second-leader in assists (403) – Francis became an interested observer in her head coach's chosen profession.
“I used to sit in her office and say, 'So, like, this can be a job? This is your job?' And she would say, 'Yeah, it's my job.' I remember thinking, 'Wow!' I just didn't know coaching could be a job, and I must have kept that in the back of my head.
“I was a sociology major and a political science minor, and that was fun for me. But I didn't know what I was going to do when I graduated, so I went into coaching. Right away, I was a GA in Division I just one year out from Colgate.”
Her first full-time coaching role was at Buffalo, where the Bulls were transitioning from Division II to Division I. Francis' debut head coaching position came a few years later in 1994 at Stony Brook, where the Seawolves were making the move from Division II to I. So when the Oakland spot opened and her former college coach gave her the heads-up, Francis was the ideal candidate because the Grizzlies were – you guessed it – making the transition from Division II to Division I.
“When I came here they were moving from Division II to Division I, and I had that experience,” Francis said. “I felt like it was a perfect fit.
“And then I met my husband here.”
Colgate Wedding
Francis is married to Dr. Gary D. Russi, who has been the Oakland University president since 1996. Francis arrived in Michigan about one year after that, and over time her school's chief administrator became a regular attendee.
“There's no football at Oakland, and the way we came to meet was he used to bring donors to men's and women's basketball games,” Francis said. “He kept coming to games and one of my seniors said something like, 'Geez, the president's coming to more women's games than ever before.' And I'm like, 'Really?'
“I was single; he was single – there was no scandal or anything. We started hitting golf balls together, started dating, got engaged and got married.”
The first couple of the Oakland campus wanted to keep a low profile when it came to their wedding, and Francis had the perfect spot.
“We wanted to get away from our campus to get married and he asked me where I wanted to get married,” she said. “I told him Colgate was so dear to my heart. It was where I really grew as a person, and I love the school to death.
“It is an educational institution and we're both into higher ed and it was perfect. We got married in the chapel, had a little horse and carriage down the hill and had the reception at the Colgate Inn. It was awesome.”
Keeping Close Contacts
Among those in attendance that day were Fred and Marilyn Dunlap. Francis has kept contacts with a small cadre of Colgate administrators who laid the groundwork for her later success, people like the Dunlaps, Janet Little,
Dr. Merrill Miller and Vicky Chun.
“I loved Fred; he was such a wonderful athletics director and I just adore him,” Francis said. “They came to my wedding. And Dr. Miller, she was so great for us and I'm happy she's still at Colgate. Janet Little was the Associate AD at Colgate. Janet and Kathy were the premier women in the department as the Title IX Era was unfolding at Colgate.
“I also keep in touch with Vicky a lot. Vicky is awesome; she is so cool. She gets it. She gets what it means to be at Colgate.”
On that topic, what exactly does Francis mean when she says she imagines recruiting for Colgate?
“My husband and I are on the same mission and we love Oakland,” she said. “My program is in top 20 in NCAA Academic Progress Rate because I really love learners, people who work hard and are well-rounded – the typical Colgate student,” she said. “And I recruit that.
“You cannot explain to people the education you get in the Colgate classrooms. The type of students who attend Colgate are the type I want in my program.”
