Blue Star Operations

Beckie Francis

Blue Star Basketball was excited to welcome Beckie Francis to our family after spending the past 12 seasons at Oakland University in 2015. Francis posted five 20-win seasons and advanced to the league championship game seven times. She boasts a career record of 227-162 at Oakland and ranks second all-time in career wins at OU. A two-time Summit League Coach of the Year, Francis ranks third with a .687 winning percentage in league play.

Oakland advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice under Francis, in 2002 and 2006. Francis has taken Oakland to the postseason in four of her last eight seasons as head coach. During her tenure, the Golden Grizzlies have raised five championship banners, three regular season titles (2000, '01, '07) and two tournament wins (2002, '06).

After leading Oakland through the transition from Division II to Division I, Francis won the league regular season title in Oakland's first season of full eligibility. Soon after she led the team to its first NCAA tournament berth in 2002. After a brief sabbatical from coaching, Francis returned and immediately led the Golden Grizzlies back to the Big Dance in the 2006 season. In 2007 Francis' OU squad won the school's third regular season title and advanced to the WNIT for the first time. Oakland went back to the postseason two years later in the 2009 WNIT.

The Oakland teams also experienced a great deal of success away from the court under Francis' direction. In addition to numerous community outreach and volunteer projects, the OU team also made the WBCA Academic Top 25 Honor Roll for six consecutive seasons since Francis' return.

Over the last five years of Francis career constantly saw an improved Oakland's Academic Progress Rate (APR). The team posted a perfect score of 1000 for the 2009-10 academic season, the second perfect score for OU in the previous four years. The team now has a multiyear APR of 991, which ranks in the top-20 percentile among women's NCAA Division I teams.
Francis has also been honored individually as a role model for young women. She was an honored guest and recognized as an Esteemed Woman of Michigan in 2010. At the 2013 Final Four she was named the winner of the 2013 Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award, presented by the United States Basketball Writers Association. She has been a keynote speaker at various events to help child abuse awareness. Francis was invited to be a board member of CARE house of Oakland County, the local Children's Advocacy center in Pontiac. She was also a behind-the-scenes leader in the effort to get Erin's law passed and signed into law in Michigan

Throughout her 11-year career with Oakland, Francis has mentored two Kodak All-Americans in Sarah Judd and Katie Wolfe, and 16 All-Conference players--several of whom have garnered multiple mentions among the conference elite--including one of just two players in league history to be voted first-team All-Conference four times in Wolfe.

Francis has now led two teams through successful transition processes. In addition to her work at Oakland, where she won the league regular season title in her first year of eligibility, Francis also guided Stony Brook (N.Y.) through a successful transition from the NCAA Division III level to Division II. Francis coached the Seawolves for three years making it to the conference tournament in her final season.

Before her first head coaching job at Stony Brook, Francis served as the top assistant coach at the University of Buffalo for four seasons. Francis's duties with Buffalo included coordinating recruiting and counseling of the Bulls' student athletes. Working with Buffalo was Francis' first experience with a team in transition, as she helped take the Bulls from DII to DI. The Bulls captured two East Coast Conference championships in Francis' four years with the program, winning their first one in 1991-92, their first campaign as a DI school.

Francis and her husband reside in Texas.