John Franco said he’s spent the last 60 years of his life involved with some type of organized football.

He’s spent zero of that time on social media, so when word of his retirement as Tyrone head football coach leaked out Saturday afternoon, Franco was caught off guard.

“I told the players I was retiring, and it wasn’t an hour later that an old friend from Harrisburg called and said — ‘hey what’s this retirement stuff I am hearing?'” Franco said. “I said ‘how the heck did you know?’ And he told me it’s all over Facebook.”

If Franco’s head coaching career is over, he will finish with 291 wins, 154 losses and two ties overall at Altoona, Tyrone and Penn Cambria and with a mark of 230-71 in 25 years over two stints (1994-2011 and 2019-2025) at Tyrone.

He won a PIAA Class 2A championship with Tyrone in a 13-6 win over Mount Carmel in the 1999 title game. He also led the Golden Eagles to a runner-up finish in 1996 and 2011 and is 25th all-time in PIAA head coaching wins.

But is Franco, who admits he loves high school football, truly retired for good?

In addition to his time coaching, Franco has done radio commentary for Bishop Guilfoyle’s state playoff runs, appeared on the Mirror’s high school football YouTube show and watches more film and pays attention to the sport arguably as much as anyone in the state.

“That is what scares me the most, and that’s why my wife isn’t completely sold on it,” Franco said. “I had been thinking about it the whole month of November and December. I’m not sure about it. Someone just asked me today if the right opportunity arose would I consider coming back somewhere? And I said, yeah, I would. I’m not ruling anything out. I just want to see these guys on the staff at Tyrone get a chance, because they have such a good group coming up. I think if they could have three or four years with them, they could do a lot with them.”

Giving his current staff a chance to lead the program seemed to be what fueled Saturday’s announcement.

Franco met with his team to organize the winter strength program when he revealed that he would be stepping down.

“I just thought it was time,” Franco said. “I think we have the program right now in a really good spot. I think that it’s going to take off in the next couple years. The ninth grade group that’s coming in had the best junior high team in decades. The team that will be in 10th grade this year, they are as good as we have had in 10 to 20 years. We also have a nice senior group coming back that I think can mix with them and really get the job done.”

Franco’s second stint at Tyrone comes to an end after seven years and a 39-34 record. After losing seasons in two of his first three years back, the Golden Eagles have had a winning record in each of the last four years and played for a District 6 title in 2024.

“When I came here, the program was in pretty bad shape,” Franco said. “It wasn’t because of the coaches. It was because of everything but the coaches. I think the administration, the school board and some parents really messed it up. I think we corrected a lot of those problems. I like the staff we put together. We have right now the youth leagues connected to the Tyrone varsity. Scott Gummo, who is on my staff, is in charge of that. We have a couple other former players of mine that are running it, and they are running the same system we’re running.

“The junior highs are connected with the youth programs, and the junior high staff is my staff. We consider it all one staff, and they really have the junior high teams plugging away.”

When Franco left Penn Cambria and returned to Tyrone in 2019, he took over for Jason Wilson, who went 33-25 in five years and coached the Golden Eagles to a District 6 championship in 2014, which remains the last title the school has won.

Wilson left the program and became a defensive coordinator at Philipsburg-Osceola before returning to Tyrone in that same position last year.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to return this past season for one final season together,” Wilson wrote on Facebook. “From a player to volunteer to assistant to defensive coordinator, I moved up through learning from you Coach. After the 2011 state championship runner-up season, we went separate ways only to return together where it all started. It didn’t feel like we missed a beat from how well we worked together 14 years earlier. I’m mad and sad we couldn’t help you reach the 300-win milestone. Thank you Coach, and hopefully this wasn’t our last opportunity to coach together.”

Franco is hoping someone from his current staff will be the next Tyrone head coach.

“There are two coaches there that I have been preparing to take over,” Franco said. “They will both be applying. They both want to work together, and I don’t know if they even care who gets named head coach, but I think they are both going to be involved in it.”

One of those will be Wilson, who confirmed his intentions to apply via text message to the Mirror.

“Yes, I will be,” Wilson said. “Franco said he would help me as needed, if I get the position.”

Franco confirmed his interest in helping either of the two in-house candidates, which he declined to name.

“I want to give those guys a chance,” Franco said. “If this school board is smart, there are two potential candidates that I really want to see take over, and they will really get this thing going. That’s if they (the board) are smart — and we’ll see how they do. I’m hoping that these guys can get the job, and I would even be an advisor for them and kind of back away. It’s time to get these younger guys involved, and I think we’ve got a really solid group of young coaches that are ready to go. I’m looking forward to seeing them getting the job and finishing the job.”

Another of his current assistants, Kenn Vandevander, also posted a tribute to Franco on social media.

“From someone I always wanted to be like to a mentor as one of his assistant coaches and to ultimately a friend,” Vandevander wrote on Facebook. “I have the utmost respect for Coach John Franco. He is one of the best to ever coach high school football in Pennsylvania. I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to have learned as much as I did from him. Much respect, admiration and appreciation for everything he has ever done for me. Thank you Coach, enjoy retirement.”

Tony Yaniello, who coached wrestling, track and field and was Tyrone’s athletic director at one point in addition to being on Franco’s staff during his first stint at Tyrone, also wrote a tribute to Franco.

“I had the pleasure to coach with John leading his junior high program then joining his staff in 1999 as tight end and linebackers coach,” Yaniello wrote on Facebook. “The success of the program was based on coaches’ preparation, discipline, tradition and hard work. No coach worked harder 24-7 than John did and expected as much from his staff. Coach always supported me in other sports I coached, and I was always thankful for that.

“I always considered John as a friend, mentor and a man of faith. Never considered our success as luck. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. I was so blessed to coach and learn from John Franco. He did it right. So to you John Franco, thanks for the memories and what it meant to the Tyrone community, and I am sure you will never quit coaching at some level. Love you coach!”

Franco said despite all the winning on the field, his best memories as a coach are family related.

“We have had a lot of success over the years, but to be perfectly honest, the two best memories I have are coaching both of my sons (Steve and Johnny),” Franco said. “I just don’t think anything topped that. I had the privilege of doing that for three years for both of them. They were both outstanding players, which made it easy. If they wouldn’t have been, that would have been the hard part. They made it so easy to coach them, and they were both all-state. I don’t know that I did anything for them. They did a lot for me. Nothing tops that.

“We won a state championship and were in three state championship games. I was part of 11 district championships, eight at Tyrone, one at Altoona and a couple at Bishop Guilfoyle. Those are all great memories too, but honestly, nothing topped being able to coach both of my boys. That was the highlight of my career.”

That career that may or may not continue based on what Tyrone decides to do next. Golden Eagles athletic director Luke Rhoades texted the Mirror on Saturday acknowledging he had seen the social media chatter about Franco but that he had not received official confirmation on his intention to retire.

“I’m hoping like hell that the board does the right thing and hires one of these two,” Franco said. “Then I can kind of be in the background and help them out a little bit. That would ease my transition.”

Franco’s record

Team Yrs. Record

Tyrone 25 230-71-0

Altoona 12 57-67-2

Penn Cambria 2 4-16-0

Total 39 291-154-2