Mays, a former NBA player who retired in 2001, feels many advisors who focus on athletes don't have as long a horizon as Franklin does. Mays, for example, says he worked with Franklin early in his career in laying the groundwork for his life after the NBA; he now is an assistant coach for the University of Texas women's basketball program.
"As we got down the line five to six years into my playing career, he started talking to me about plan B," Mays recalls.
As with other athletes, Franklin says the career advice he gave Mays was part of the overall process of preparing his young clients for their second careers and, eventually, retirement.
In the case of Mays, he says, it was a matter of taking his interest in becoming a coach and encouraging him to do the type of networking that would make that transition easier.
"He never stopped being in contact with his alumni, he never stopped being in touch with all the basketball coaches in the department," Franklin says. "All of that was a road toward where he really wanted to be."
It's also an approach that is encouraged with all clients, he says. "We believe that each player should plan for his career after the sport while they're playing it," he says. "They weren't just put on this earth to play sports."