Ali Farokhmanesh
This article is missing information about his college career. (March 2022) |
Ali Fredrick Farokhmanesh (born April 16, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player and current Colorado State Rams men's basketball assistant coach. Farokhmanesh gained nationwide fame in the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament as a member of the Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball team, when he hit a crucial three-point shot to help UNI upset top-overall seed Kansas in the second round.[1] He played a total of 69 college games in two years with this team and started for all of them.[2] His heroics, which came two days after hitting the game-winning three-point shot against UNLV in the first round, led to an appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated.[3]
Ali Farokhmanesh in 2011 | |
| Colorado State Rams | |
|---|---|
| Position | Assistant coach |
| League | Mountain West Conference |
| Personal information | |
| Born | April 16, 1988 Pullman, Washington |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Iowa City West (Iowa City, Iowa) |
| College |
|
| NBA draft | 2010: undrafted |
| Playing career | 2010–2014 |
| Position | Shooting guard / point guard |
| Number | 5 |
| Coaching career | 2017–present |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 2010–2011 | SAM Massagno |
| 2011–2013 | WBC Raiffeisen Wels |
| 2013–2014 | SPM Shoeters Den Bosch |
| As coach: | |
| 2014–2016 | Nebraska (GA) |
| 2016–2017 | Nebraska (Dir. of Player Development) |
| 2017–2018 | Drake (assistant) |
| 2018–present | Colorado State (assistant) |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Playing career edit
After going undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft, Farokhmanesh signed a deal to play for SAM Massagno Basket, an LNB Division A team based in Massagno, Switzerland.[4][5]
In 2011, Farokhmanesh signed with the Austrian team WBC Raiffeisen Wels. His contract was renewed in June 2012.[6] Farokhmanesh averaged 13.7 points per game in Austria.
On August 14, 2013, Farokhmanesh signed with SPM Shoeters Den Bosch in the Netherlands.[7] In April, Farokhmanesh won the DBL Sixth Man of the Year award.[8]
Coaching career edit
In 2014, Farokhmanesh stopped playing professionally, becoming a graduate assistant at Nebraska.[9] In 2016, head coach Tim Miles promoted him to director of player relations and development.[10]
On April 28, 2017, Farokhmanesh joined the Drake men's basketball program as an assistant coach for Niko Medved.[11] On March 26, 2018, he followed Medved to become his assistant at Colorado State University.[12]
Honors edit
- DBL Sixth Man of the Year (1): 2014
- Dutch Supercup (1): 2013
Statistics edit
| Legend | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Games played | MPG | Minutes per game | FG% | Field goal percentage |
| 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage | RPG | Rebounds per game |
| APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game | BPG | Blocks per game |
| PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high | Led the league | |
Regular season
| Year | Team | League | GP | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | SAM Massagno Basket | LNBA | 30 | 33.9 | .543 | .480 | .865 | 2.2 | 3.1 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 19.5 |
| 2011–12 | WBC Raiffeisen Wels | ÖBL | 36 | 29.3 | .497 | .497 | .761 | 1.9 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 13.6 |
| 2012–13 | WBC Raiffeisen Wels | ÖBL | 32 | 34.7 | .505 | .415 | .828 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 13.7 |
| 2013–14 | SPM Shoeters Den Bosch | DBL | 35 | 26.0 | .506 | .376 | .818 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 9.8 |
Personal life edit
Farokhmanesh was born in Pullman, Washington, where he attended high school at Pullman High School for two years before moving to Iowa and attending West High School in Iowa City, Iowa. He then attended junior college at Indian Hills Community College and Kirkwood Community College before transferring to the University of Northern Iowa. In 2014, he stopped playing professionally and became an assistant coach for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.[13]
Farokhmanesh is of European and Iranian descent. His father, Mashallah, was born in Borujerd and was a member of the Iranian men's national volleyball team, before immigrating to the United States in 1977, where he played for professional teams and eventually became a coach.[14] Mashallah married Ali's mother, Cindy Fredrick, who has been the head coach for the women's volleyball team at the University of Iowa since 2004. Before moving to Iowa, Fredrick was the head coach of the Washington State University's women's volleyball team for 15 years, where she had a record of 278 wins and 192 losses. Cindy and her husband briefly coached at small Luther College.[15] Cindy and Mashallah now both coach the UNLV women's volleyball team as head coach and assistant coach, respectively.[16] In 2014, Farokhmanesh married the former Mallory Husz. They have four children.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament and all NCAA-sponsored spring sports and also led to most U.S. universities going to online-only instruction, the Farokhmanesh family re-created his famous NCAA tournament shot in an empty Moby Arena on the 10th anniversary of the UNI–Kansas game. The shot was captured for a web video that Colorado State posted on its official athletics Twitter account.[17]
References edit
- ^ Caldwell, Dave (March 20, 2010). "Northern Iowa Coolly Upsets No. 1 Seed Kansas". The New York Times.
- ^ "Ali Farokhmanesh College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
- ^ "UNI on cover of Sports Illustrated". KWWL.com. March 23, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^ "Farokhmanesh, Koch sign pro basketball contracts". PantherMania.net. August 6, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^ "Presentation of Ali Farokhmanesh". SAM Massagno Basket.
- ^ "Farokhmanesh stays put, renews contract in Wels". USA Today. June 6, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
- ^ (in Dutch). Basketball Plus. August 14, 2013. Archived from the original on August 17, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
- ^ . iBasketball (in Dutch). April 22, 2014. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- ^ Nebraska hires ex-March Madness star Ali Farokhmanesh as assistant
- ^ "Farokhmanesh Named Director of Player Relations and Development".
- ^ "Farokhmanesh Joins Drake Men's Basketball Coaching Staff".
- ^ "Farokhmanesh, Blount Named Assistant Men's Basketball Coaches". csurams.com. March 26, 2018.
- ^ Nebraska hires ex-March Madness star Ali Farokhmanesh as assistant
- ^ . WSUCougars.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
- ^ . HawkeyeSports.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
- ^ Cindy Fredrick & Mashallah Farokhmanesh, UNLVRebels.com, accessed March 20, 2014.
- ^ Bromberg, Nick (March 20, 2020). "On 10-year anniversary of his famous NCAA tournament shot vs. Kansas, Ali Farokhmanesh and family adorably re-enact play". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
External links edit
- Austrian League profile