Football
- Title:
- Defensive Line
- Phone:
- 882-2214
Jethro Franklin joined the Mizzou staff as defensive line coach in January, 2021. With 29 years of coaching experience total - 16 in college football and 13 in the NFL - his most recent stops include the Oakland Raiders (2015-17) and Seattle Seahawks (2018-19). Franklin has helped lead three NFL teams to seven playoff appearances and three FBS teams to seven bowl games in his illustrious coaching career.
Franklin most recently served as the assistant defensive line coach for the Seattle Seahawks from 2018-19, where he mentored Jadeveon Clowney and helped lead the team to back-to-back NFL Playoff appearances in his two seasons on staff. Prior to Seattle, Franklin spent three seasons as the defensive line coach for the Oakland Raiders, where he mentored two of the NFL’s best young pass rushers, Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin. Mack earned back-to-back NFL All-Pro honors in 2015 and 2016 and racked up 36.5 sacks in three seasons under Franklin's guidance.
Franklin spent the 2006 season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive line coach and the 2007 and 2008 campaigns with the Houston Texans. He first broke into the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, where he spent five seasons as the team's defensive line coach (2000-04). In Green Bay, Franklin helped lead the Packers to three NFC North Division titles (2002-04) and four consecutive playoff appearances (2001-04). Notable NFL stars under Franklin's direction during these stops include Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (Green Bay) and Mario Williams (Houston).
In between his second and third stints in the NFL, the San Jose, Calif., native spent six seasons at the college level with USC (2009), Temple (2010) and Miami (2011-14). Franklin was a part of three teams that reached bowl games during this six-year stint as the Trojans reached the 2009 Emerald Bowl, and the Hurricanes played in the 2013 Russell Athletic and 2014 Independence Bowls.
He first joined the USC football program in 2005 where he helped lead the team to a Pac-10 Championship and a National Championship appearance in the Rose Bowl against Texas, a game often considered as the greatest NCAA college football game ever played.
Franklin spent the 1999 season as the interim defensive line coach at UCLA after spending eight seasons at his alma mater, Fresno State, from 1991-98. In Fresno, the Bulldogs made three bowl game appearances during his tenure, advancing to the 1991 California, 1992 Freedom and 1993 Aloha Bowls.
Franklin's playing career began at San Jose City College (1984-85) where he was named a 1985 NJCAA All-American. He then moved on to Fresno State (1986-87), where he set the school record for sacks (19.5) in 1986 and was named the 1987 Pacific Coast Conference Player of the Year.
After being drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1988, he spent the 1989 season playing defensive line for the Seattle Seahawks. He then was the No. 1 draft choice of the San Antonio Rough Riders of the World League of American Football in 1991, but instead opted to begin his coaching career.
Franklin graduated from Fresno State with a degree in criminology in 1988. He is the father of a son, Khalil, and a daughter, Takara.
