Franciscan University of Steubenville Men's Basketball

Wallace is entering his tenth season at Franciscan for the 2025-26 season. He has grown the program by leaps and bounds over his time in Steubenville  Joe Wallace is the fourth head coach in the Division III era of Franciscan basketball.  The 2024-25 season brought a 15-12 record. The Barons made it into the PAC Championship Tournament and ECAC Tournament. Sawyer Butler became the first Baron under Coach Wallace to earn First Team All-PAC honors, and Josh Zimmerman earned Honorable Mention All-PAC honors. During the 2023-24 season, the Barons won three non-conference games during the fall semester, including a 106-103 win over Penn State Shenango in triple overtime. Franciscan beat five different PAC opponents throughout the season. Sawyer Butler was named PAC Newcomer of the Year, as he led the team with 15 points per game and 64 steals. The 2022-23 season was up and down, as the Barons would not be able to practice or play in Finnegan Fieldhouse until early December. The Barons just missed the playoffs, as Travis Lien led the way by averaging 17.9 ppg. Off the court, they excelled with the second highest team GPA on campus for the 2023 spring semester. In the 2021-22 season, the Barons held a 10-16 record, including another First Round PAC Playoff win over Bethany. Sean Hickey was named Second Team All-PAC and Josh Zimmerman was named All-PAC Honorable Mention. The team broke nearly every single offensive team statistic, and Sean Hickey jumped up to 3rd All-time in scoring with 1,692 career points.  The 2020-21 season was shortened to just a conference-only schedule, and it was played all in the calendar year 2021. The Barons went 2-7 in their first taste of PAC league play. In the first round of the PAC Tournament they downed #9 Bethany to earn their first PAC postseason victory, by scoring a program record 104 points. Sean Hickey would go on to earn Second Team All-PAC Honors for his play this season. 2019-20 season was an up and down ride, as the Barons posted a 10-15 record. Their 9-10 record in the AMCC was not enough to return to the playoffs. Their biggest win of the year, and arguably in program history came against La Roche, who came to Steubenville undefeated in the AMCC and hadn't lost a conference matchup in a year and a half. Sean Hickey drained a three with under five seconds to play that gave the Barons a one point victory. Wallace made another jump in year three, 2018-19, by going 13-14 and earning a trip to the AMCC playoffs. 13 wins is the most in the DIII era. They went 9-9 in the AMCC, setting another DIII record for most conference wins. Franciscan lost to #3 Medaille in the first round of the AMCC tournament, but they did earn a birth in the ECAC Tournament. In 2017-18, the Barons finished with five wins, including a win over Washington & Jefferson for the first time in program history. Franciscan dropped its scoring defense by 7.4 points and shrunk the scoring margin by 2.9 points. Sophomore Matt Trent set the Division III era season rebound record as he finished 2017-18 with 230, including 139 defensive boards. In his first year at the helm, Wallace led the Barons to four wins while the team dropped its scoring defense by 5.8 points from the previous season. Following the season, Keoni Sablan was named to the NABC Honors Court. Wallace has had three players earn all conference honors in his first four seasons at Franciscan. Wallace is a Wheeling, West Virginia, native who returned to the Ohio Valley after an extensive career in NCAA Division I athletics. Prior to coming to Steubenville, Wallace served as the director of basketball operations at Division I San Jose State University in San Jose, California, where he oversaw all team travel and assisted with day-to-day opponent scouting and coaching. During his time at SJSU, the Spartans increased their overall win total by seven from the previous season and their Mountain West win total by four. Before joining San Jose State, Wallace was an assistant coach at the College of Charleston, South Carolina, for the 2013-14 season after serving as the director of basketball operations during the 2012-13 season. While with the Cougars, he helped transition the program into the Colonial Athletic Association. He was instrumental in installing and managing a state-of-the-art XOS video editing system, which he used to create detailed opponent scouting reports for the Cougars. Wallace began his collegiate coaching career under Doug Wojcik at the University of Tulsa in July 2006. He first joined the Golden Hurricane staff as the director of Player Development and graduate manager from 2006-2009 before becoming the director of Basketball Operations from 2010-2012. During his time at Tulsa, the Golden Hurricanes were CBI champions in 2008 and played in the NIT postseason tournament in 2009 and 2010. Wallace coached and developed three NBA players at Tulsa, including Jordan Clarkson (Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Utah Jazz), Ben Uzoh (New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors, Cleveland Cavaliers), and Jerome Jordan (New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets, Toronto Raptors). Wallace earned a degree in social science in 2005 from West Liberty University where he was a two-year letter winner in football. Year by Year Results at Franciscan Year Record Pct. Conf. Postseason 2024-25 15-12 .556 10-10 / 6th PAC Quarterfinal / ECAC Tournament 2023-24 8-16 .333 5-15 / 10th 2022-23 7-18 .280 4-16 / 9th  2021-22 10-16 .385 7-11 / 7th PAC Quarterfinal 2020-21 3-8 .273 2-7 / 8th PAC Quarterfinal 2019-20 10-15 .400 9-10 / 8th 2018-19 13-14 .481 9-9 / 5th AMCC Quarterfinal / ECAC Tournament 2017-18 5-22 .185 4-14 / 8th 2016-17 4-20 .167 4-14 / 8th Total 67-123 .353 49-91 (.350) Updated 10/25/25

Granato has been an assistant coach for Franciscan since the 2020-21 season, but it is not his first year coaching. Granato comes to Franciscan with 38 years of high school coaching experience. Granato stepped down from his position as Weir High School basketball head coach in the summer of 2020. A position he proudly held for 21 years. He finished his Weir coaching career with 241 varsity wins second most all-time, 6 state tournament appearances, and 3 OVAC titles. For all of his career achievements, he was awarded the 2022 Earl Haberfield Award from the OVAC. Granato still teaches at Weir High. Before his time in Weirton, Granato coached and taught at Bishop Donahue.  His girls’ basketball team won the OVAC championship during the 1984-85 school year. That same year, he helped guide the Bishop boys to the Class A state championship. He was also the Donahue head baseball coach for eight years and was cast in the role of athletic director for three years. He coached many good players over the years, including Franciscan Head Coach Joe Wallace while at Bishop Donahue.  After graduating Weir High, Granato went on to Bethany College. He served as student-assistant coach to Jim Dafler in the 1981-82 campaign. The Bison won the PAC championship that year and advanced to the NCAA Regional Tournament.

    Coach Martello has been coaching for the Franciscan Men's Basketball team as an assistant since 2017.    He was born and raised in Steubenville, Ohio, graduated from Steubenville Catholic Central in 2010, earned his Bachelor's in Economics at Ohio State University in 2014, and his law degree from Duquesne in 2017. He currently owns and operates the Martello Law Office of Steubenville, which is a general practice law office with a focus in Real Estate, small business law, and Probate and Estate Planning.     Martello's coaching career began at Steubenville Catholic Central as the Varsity Assistant from 2015-2017. During his tenure at Catholic Central, he coached multiple All-OVAC and All-District players. After joining the Franciscan staff in 2017, the program found its first playoff appearance, first postseason invitation (ECAC), and first playoff win.

Year Ordained: 1979 Sport Affiliated With: Men’s Basketball Inspirational Bible Verse: 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres Faith Journey: I taught in high school for many years in Delaware, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida and Cornwall, England. I also taught at  St. Francis University before coming to Franciscan University.