If you counted the number of trophies Joe Franklin has won as a coach at New Mexico, you might want to take a seat. He’s 
earned quite a few.
Currently in his ninth year as the head track and field/cross country coach at the University of New Mexico, Franklin has built the Lobos into an undoubted conference powerhouse and perennial national contender, and is renowned in the cross country world as one of the top collegiate coaches.
A simple look at the awards he’s won during his time in Albuquerque would prove that. Between cross country and track & field, he’s won 13 Mountain West Coach of the Year awards and 10 regional coach of the year awards, and has helmed the Lobos to 18 Mountain West championships.
And the 2014-15 campaign might have been one of his best years yet in the Duke City.
Last year, Lobo cross country soared to unprecedented results as the men’s and women’s teams continued their domination of the Mountain West. The women won their seventh straight title and the men their sixth.
It’s a streak that is unmatched in MW history, and UNM’s run is the second-longest active streak and is tied for the fourth-longest in the Division I history.
The Lobo women’s cross country team also cruised through the UNM-hosted NCAA Mountain Regionals behind Alice Wright and Charlotte Arter, and, along with the men, qualified to another NCAA Championship. Mirroring their success in the MW, the Lobos have made six straight NCAA Championships, with the women qualifying to seven in a row and the men to six consecutive.
But the real headline of the season came at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., as the women surged to third place in the entire nation. It’s the program’s highest finish at the national championships and the highest finish by a women’s athletic team in New Mexico history.
The men also found success, placing 14th for their third straight top-25 national finish.
On the track, Franklin’s Lobos defended their Mountain West championships with a sweep of the 2015 MW Indoor Track & Field Championships, fending off the rest of the league to win the indoor championships on their home track.
Aasha Marler, Sammy Silva, Zoe Howell, Holly Van Grinsven, Ridge Jones and Django Lovett all broke UNM records indoors, with Silva, Jones, Lovett, Adam Bitchell, Elmar Engholm, Allan Hamilton and Calli Thackery qualifying to the NCAA Indoor Championships. Bitchell, Silva and Hamilton all earned All-American honors.
Outdoors, the Lobo women took second and the Lobo men were third at the conference championships, and four Lobos — Callahan, Wright, Thackery and Logan Pflibsen — all made the NCAA Championships and earned All-American honors. It’s the only time in program history that four athletes qualified to the NCAA Outdoor Championships and all four finished as All-Americans.
Academically, Franklin’s Lobos shined, earning team accolades from the NCAA, the U.S. Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches’ Association and the Mountain West. Additionally, Callahan was named First-Team Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-America, the sixth such honor for the Lobo track/cross country program in the last three years.