Wayne Franklin, a former MLB pitcher for seven seasons, was hired as Coppin State's pitching coach in September 2024 and is in his first season with the Eagles. In his own opinion, Franklin's entire Major League career has prepared him for this moment - to come back to his home state of Maryland as a college coach.

Born in Wilmington, Del., yet raised in North East, Maryland, Franklin was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1996 MLB Draft out of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and was picked up the Houston Astros in the 1999 Rule Five Draft. Franklin made his big league debut with the Astros in 2000, forcing Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr., the first batter he faced, to groundout.

Franklin spent his first three seasons with the Astros as a reliever before the Milwaukee Brewers converted him into a starter. He ended the 2002 season with a 2-1 record while recording a 2.62 ERA for the Brewers before winning ten games the following season, striking out a career-high 116 batters.

Over his professional career in Major League Baseball, Franklin was a teammate of several all-time greats, including Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Jeff Bagwell, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Jason Giambi, Robinson Cano, Bernie Williams, Moises Alou, Craig Biggio and Jorge Posada, and on the same pitching staffs as Mariano Rivera, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, John Smoltz, Tim Hudson, Kevin Brown and Billy Wagner.

A person whom Wayne attributes greatly to his knowledge of baseball is the late author and sports psychologist, H.A. Dorfman. Franklin says that Dorfman's contributions to the mental game of baseball will never be quantified.

Following his MLB career, Franklin played 3 years at the International and Independent League levels before starting his collegiate coaching career at San Francisco State U, then as the manager of the San Diego Jets, a Collegiate summer league team in 2019. That summer, he led the Jets to a League Championship. In 2021, he managed the Lake Mills 94's of the Dairyland Collegiate League, losing in the league championship.

Franklin has also spent time in recent years as a pitching coach at Menlo College and Holy Names University.