Bareback rider Cole Franks returns for the fourth time to the National Finals Rodeo, where he has found great success in his first 30 rounds of competition in Las Vegas. He finished the regular season fifth in the world standings with a shade more than $200,000.
(PRCA PHOTO BY CLICK THOMPSON)

 

CLARENDON, Texas – Over the past month or so, Cole Franks has been transformed.

He went from mild-mannered cowboy to a supporting role on a recurring television program. It’s all part of the life of being a bareback rider, which has been documented for “Hell on Wheels,” a documentary primarily about Rocker Steiner, one of Franks’ traveling partners.

The broadcasts shows the behind-the-scenes life on the road for Steiner, Franks and the third member of their posse, Louisianan Waylon Bourgeois, all of whom will be competing together again during the National Finals Rodeo, set for Dec. 4-13 at Las Vegas. A bus driver and videographer joined the traveling trio helping to capture all the significant moments.

“It was a little bit of a nuisance, a little challenging during the filming and stuff, and it was one more thing we’d have to worry about and work around,” said Franks, now heading to his fourth NFR in five years. “Even though it was a bit of a pain in the ass, it was a lot of fun. We’ve been watching, and it’s pretty cool to see and know what went into making that and see how it turned out. It’s better than I was expecting.”

Traditionally, rodeo cowboys like Franks load up in a pickup with a camper in the bed or in an outfitted van to make it from one rodeo to another. Because of the program, The Cowboy Channel and Boot Barn brought in a bus with a wrap that featured the show’s logo and Steiner’s likeness. It provided a few more comforts of home than the traditional means of travel, but it meant having a camera on board, too.

“You just get used to it,” he said. “It was pretty easy to ignore it and still act normal with it.”

Life of a rodeo cowboys is anything but normal. Franks and his team can compete at 100 rodeos a year, so that means a lot of time on the road. They might be in New Mexico one night and Oregon the next. That doesn’t allow for much time at home or with loved ones, but Franks made it work. He and the former Dustie Warr were married May 28.

They’re also expecting their first child; father and baby share something in common.

“Feb. 27 was my due-date, too,” said Franks, 24, who celebrates his birth on Valentine’s Day. “I think this year is probably my favorite year out of them with a lot better things happening in my life this year. Knowing I’m about to be a dad is probably the biggest highlight of my year.”

It’s the next phase of life for the man who was born in the Oklahoma Panhandle community of Guymon and raised in Clarendon, Texas, where his dad, Bret, is the rodeo coach at the two-year Clarendon College. Cole Franks is a two-time college champion – three if you count that he was part of the men’s team title – while at the school in 2021, winning the all-around and bareback riding titles.

That same year, he tried his hand at ProRodeo and earned his first NFR qualification, handily winning the Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year award by nearly $200,000. Franks will enter the NFR fifth on the money list with $200,362. He trails Steiner, the standings leader, by $100,000, but that ground can be made up quickly in Las Vegas, where go-round winners will pocket nearly $37,000 per night for each of the 10 rounds.

“Everything seemed a little easier this year,” Franks said. “Everything was balanced a little better this year. Life in general was a lot more balanced, so I feel like that translated over to rodeo and just made everything easier.”

Part of that was having two home-bases. While Clarendon is his element, his bride has spent most of her time near family in northern Utah. Like the Lone Star State, Utah is packed with rodeo talent and many great events with high purses. It’s proximity to big-time rodeos also made for a nice upgrade when the schedule moved to the Northwest in August and September.

“Being ‘home’ all year definitely was a big help,” said Franks, who credits a great deal of his success to his sponsors, Boot Barn, Cinch, Pete Carr Pro Rodeo, Western Legacy Co., 287 Ag, Eliason Trucking and KN Double Cone Ranch. “I was never worn out or road weary, ready to be done … well, until the last week or so of rodeo, then I was kind of over it.”

The regular season is long; the campaign is actually cyclical and wraps around itself. The 2026 term began Oct. 1 and won’t end until Sept. 30, but the 2025 world champions won’t be crowned until this winter at the NFR, set for Dec. 4-13 in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. In addition, the cowboys who earned the right to be there have traveled tens of thousands of miles to simply drive along or by The Strip in Sin City.

Franks has thrived in his three previous appearances – the one year he hasn’t made it was 2023, when he finished 17th, and only the top 15 on the money list at season’s end advance. In the 30 rounds he’s ridden out of the famous yellow bucking chutes, Franks has earned $453,340; that averages to more than $15,000 per night in the City of Lights.

Much has changed since this first venture to the Nevada desert. He has built himself as a man and an athlete, and he’s worked hard to expand on the foundation of being a cowboy.

“I feel like when I got my card my rookie year, I was very far off from being able to make the NFR,” said Franks, the youngest of two boys raised by Bret and Darla Franks. “Halfway through the year, I was 10 times better. It’s still snowballing. The caliber of the people doing this is better; everyone is always getting better, so you have to keep working and getting better.

“You can’t get complacent with where you’re at.”

He’s still learning, a valuable trait. It started with his mom and dad, a three-time NFR qualifier in saddle bronc riding. He received more mentoring in the early years by traveling with fellow bareback riders Tim O’Connell and Jess Pope, both of whom have won world championships. It continues with Bourgeois and Steiner.

“When I got in with Tim and Jess, that was like a day-and-night difference,” he said. “Everything they did, mentality-wise and with my riding, completely changed. Tim and Jess built me, and they helped me fine-tune everything.

“Getting in with Rocker and Waylon was a little less business-minded. We just show up and show everyone who we are, and that just made everything blow up more.”

That swagger showed. He didn’t have a lot of outright victories, but he captured a ton of paychecks along the way. The biggest of his seven titles may have been late in the season in the Northwest.

“Ellensburg (Washington) was probably the best, because I was last hole making the short round,” he said of his first-round ranking heading into the 12-man field on the final day. “I was planning on going somewhere else, and I was about to start booking flights to go to some different rodeo when the (short-round) draw came out for Ellensburg. I drew (Calgary Stampede’s) Disco Party.”

The paint bucking horse was recognized as one of the top three bareback horses in rodeo in 2025.

“I had the horse I considered my top pick, but I was dead last,” Franks said. “I didn’t even show up expecting the win, but I knew I had a chance to win the round and move up in the average. To win that rodeo was a really big deal to me.”

His next stop is the NFR. It’s a really big deal, too.