Meridian Community College: Alumnus Builds On Teamwork

Press release from Meridian Community College:

February 7, 2022

As a student-athlete of Meridian Community College’s 2011-13 Eagle Baseball team,
Alvin Franklin fondly remembers Friday morning fall workout circuits.

“We would be the only people on campus on those cold mornings, but it was those moments
that brought our team closer together,” Franklin said.

Building relationships and working together as a team continues to drive the 29-year-old
Franklin. He is an assistant athletic director at Mississippi State University, where
he is a liaison between MSU Athletics and MSU Foundation, securing major gifts for
both organizations.

But that’s not all. Franklin serves as an adjunct professor teaching sports finance
at Mississippi University for Women in addition to being the SEC representative for
athletic development. He also serves on the National Association of Athletic Development
Directors Diversity Working Group Committee.

Franklin got his collegiate start at MCC. “I came on a baseball scholarship, and I
was recruited out of high school by Coach Dillon Sudduth,” Franklin said. A University
Transfer Program student, Franklin took foundational courses for a degree in business
and earned his associate in arts. Franklin continued his baseball career at Jackson
State University and received his bachelor’s degree in economics.

But Franklin didn’t stop his academic pursuits; he earned a master’s degree in sports
administration from MSU and a master’s degree in high education from Purdue University.

He has held positions within athletic administration at the University of Alabama
at Birmingham, University of South Alabama, and Purdue. He also was the sports information
director and assistant baseball coach at Hinds Community College.

MCC, he said, offered a welcoming environment. “The people there are accommodating
and care about your well-being, and that was evident throughout my two years there,”
he said.

What advice would he give others considering college? “Choose a place that wants you
there just as bad as you want to be there,” he said.

He added, “Build valuable relationships with faculty and staff as they are in place
to assist you with having the best experience possible.”

This press release was produced by Meridian Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.