Larry Vucan is entering his seventh year at the helm of the city's finest baseball program. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso and attended New Mexico Highlands University where he played baseball for four years. Coach Vucan began his professional baseball career in Italy where he played in Serie A for six years. Coach Vucan was then hired as the youngest professional baseball manager in Italian League history guiding the Tergeste B.C. to gold cup victory in his first season. As a player, Coach Vucan was chosen to represent the United States as a member of collection of American All-Stars in a pre-Olympic tournament in 1992. That team competed against the Japanese and eventual Gold Medal Winner Cuba. Coach Vucan returned to the United States and began his coaching career as the Varsity soccer coach at El Paso High. After one year at El Paso High he was hired as a football and baseball coach at Bel Air High School. Coach Vucan served as Varsity Pitching Coach under mentor Rick Miller. In 2001 the Highlander won the District Championship and were ranked as high that year as 6th in the State. During the summer of 2002 Coach Vucan was hired by the El Paso Sun Kings as manager of a Select El Paso Team that would go on and win the Texas State Championship over Houston Bellaire. In 2003, Coach Vucan was hired as Head Coach at Franklin High School where he replaced the very successful Steve Mims. In 2006, the Cougars won three tournament championships in one year, a first in school history, and went on to win the Bi-District Championship over Lubbock Monterey High School. During the summer of 2005 he was named bench coach of the El Paso Diablos where he was in charge of working with infielders. Coach Vucan is currently a social studies teacher here at Franklin High School where he teaches Pre-AP World Geography and Economics. He and his wife Christina have one son, Jordan.

Coach Benekos is entering his 3rd season at Franklin High School. Bryce will be responsible for the pitching staff and the Strenth and Conditioning program for our players. Bryce was born on June 8th, 1983 in Fullerton, California. He was raised in Chino Hills and attended Ruben S. Ayala High School. Bryce was a three sport athlete, playing football, baseketball, and baseball and maintained a 3.8 G.P.A. He earned First Team All-State Honors in Football as a punter and kicker and Honorable Mention All State in Baseball as a pitcher. He played Scout ball for the Anaheim Angels in the fall and summer leagues and was on the Orange County Area Code Team in 2000 and 2001. Bryce was drafted by the Chicago Cubs and was offered a scholarship to play football at UTEP. He ultimately chose to play football. At UTEP, Bryce managed to be ranked the 3rd best punter in the nation his senior season, averaging over 44 yards per punt and was voted by his team as the Team Captain. He was First Team All Texas and Honorable Mention All American by the Associated Press. Bryce was UTEP's All Sport Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2004, graduating with a Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing with a 3.39 G.P.A. He ranks 2nd in UTEP School History in punting. Immediately after college, Bryce signed a professional contract with the Green Bay Packers, only to be cut on the final roster cut-down in August of 2005. Two weeks later, he was signed by the Oakland Raiders and played two professional games. In the spring of 2005, Bryce signed with the Houston Texans and was allocated to play for the Frankfurt Galaxy in Germany in the NFL Europe League. He has had minor playing roles for the Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, and San Francisco 49ers. Bryce returned to El Paso and received a job teaching English at Franklin High School. His hobbies include playing golf and writing creative non-fiction stories. He has two published poems and hopes to one day publish a book. His dad, George, is the reason Bryce is the person he is today.

Rene is in his fourth stint as assistant coach at Franklin High School. He last coached as a volunteer assistant for the 2005 Freshman Cougars and has returned as the JV coach. Coach Mena is 26 years old and a 1998 graduate of Franklin High School where he lettered in both baseball and basketball. He began coaching in the city's youth and development leagues.