Westerville Central picks Toronto's Josh Franke to lead football program
Frank DiRenna
After enjoying success at Division VII Toronto, Josh Franke is looking forward to the challenge of taking over a Division I football program.
Pending school board approval, Franke, 36, will be the next coach at Westerville Central. He’ll succeed Ed Miley, who stepped down after two seasons in which the Warhawks went 7-16 overall and 5-5 in OCC play.
A 2005 graduate of Toronto, Franke was 37-26 in six seasons at his alma mater with five postseason appearances.
“One of the major things that was appealing to this decision, there’s the opportunity to coach at the highest level and compete against some of the best teams the state has to offer every Friday,” Franke said. “That challenge is something I’m looking forward to. Football coaches are competitive by nature, and that’s no different for me. I look forward to getting in there and seeing what we can do.”
He informed his players at Toronto on Thursday. Toronto is in eastern Ohio, about 150 miles northeast of Columbus.
“It’s very bittersweet,” he said. “I’m very excited for the position. It’s an amazing school, an amazing position to be in. The school has a hotbed of talent that’s waiting to be utilized. At the same time, Toronto is my hometown. It’s my alma mater, born and raised here. I came back here and brought the program back and led them to some very successful seasons. You love the kids deeply. It’s hard to step away from that.”
He will teach social studies at Central.
After earning a second degree from Otterbein in 2010, Franke served as an assistant coach at Central Crossing that fall. He was the head coach at Saluda (Virginia) Middlesex in 2011 and 2012, followed by a two-year stint at Ashtabula Edgewood and a three-year tenure at Newton Falls before returning to Toronto in 2018.
The move to Westerville will be a homecoming for Franke’s wife, Kendra, who graduated from Westerville North. They have two children, Alexis, 11, and Lyla, 9.