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Ali Farokhmanesh

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Ali Farokhmanesh
Ali Farokhmanesh in 2011
Colorado State Rams
PositionHead coach
LeagueMountain West Conference
Personal information
Born (1988-04-16) April 16, 1988 (age 37)
Ogden, Utah, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Listed weight190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High schoolIowa City West
(Iowa City, Iowa)
College
NBA draft2010: undrafted
Playing career2010–2014
PositionShooting guard / point guard
Number5
Coaching career2017–present
Career history
As a player:
2010–2011SAM Massagno
2011–2013WBC Raiffeisen Wels
2013–2014SPM Shoeters Den Bosch
As a coach:
2014–2016Nebraska (GA)
2016–2017Nebraska (Dir. of Player Development)
2017–2018Drake (assistant)
2018–2024Colorado State (assistant)
2024–2025Colorado State (associate HC)
2025–presentColorado State
Career highlights

Ali Fredrick Farokhmanesh (Persian: علی فردریک فرخ‌منش, born April 16, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach of the Colorado State Rams men's basketball team.

Early life

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Farokhmanesh was born in Ogden, Utah to Mashallah Farokhmanesh and Cindy Frederick, then volleyball coaches for the Weber State Wildcats.[1] He spent much of his early life in Pullman, Washington, where his parents coached the Washington State Cougars women's volleyball team.[2]

As a child, he played both basketball and volleyball, but lost interest in volleyball, considering it to be too much of a feminine sport.[a][1]

In 2004, he moved to Iowa and attended West High School in Iowa City after his parents took a job coaching the Iowa Hawkeyes.

College career

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Farokhmanesh initially received no scholarship offers. Wishing to eventually play at the Division I level, he enrolled at Indian Hills Community College in 2006, but left after one season in the hopes of obtaining a walk-on position at Iowa. Iowa was uninterested. He considered quitting basketball after being rejected, but eventually decided to transfer to Kirkwood Community College, where he intensified his training routine significantly. While at Kirkwood, he led the team in scoring and assists, and caught the eye of Division I coaches after a 35-point performance against his former club Indian Hills.

Farokhmanesh subsequently received 15 scholarship offers, ultimately choosing to join the Northern Iowa Panthers. He helped the Panthers clinch a spot in the 2009 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament by beating Illinois State to win the Missouri Valley Conference. The Panthers lost to Purdue in the first round.[1]

Farokhmanesh gained nationwide fame in the 2010 tournament, when he hit a crucial three-point shot to help UNI upset top-overall seed Kansas in the second round.[4]

Farokhmanesh played a total of 69 college games in two years and started all of them.[5] His heroics in 2010, 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.[6]

Pro career

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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.[7][8]

In 2011, Farokhmanesh signed with the Austrian team WBC Raiffeisen Wels. His contract was renewed in June 2012.[9] Farokhmanesh averaged 13.7 points per game in Austria.

On August 14, 2013, Farokhmanesh signed with SPM Shoeters Den Bosch in the Netherlands.[10] In April, Farokhmanesh won the DBL Sixth Man of the Year award.[11]

Coaching career

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In 2014, Farokhmanesh stopped playing professionally, becoming a graduate assistant at Nebraska.[12] In 2016, head coach Tim Miles promoted him to director of player relations and development.[13]

On April 28, 2017, Farokhmanesh joined the Drake men's basketball program as an assistant coach for Niko Medved.[14] On March 26, 2018, he followed Medved to become his assistant at Colorado State University.[15]

On March 26, 2025, Colorado State named Farokhmanesh head coach, following Medved's departure to Minnesota.[16] He became the 21st head coach in school history.[17]

Head coaching record

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Colorado State Rams (Mountain West Conference) (2025–present)
2025–26 Colorado State 0–0 0–0
Colorado State: 0–0 (–) 0–0 (–)
Total: 0–0 (–)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Honors

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Netherlands SPM Shoeters Den Bosch

Personal life

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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.[18]

Mashallah married Ali's mother, Cindy Fredrick, who became the head coach for the women's volleyball team at the University of Iowa in 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 Luther College.[19] As of 2014, Cindy and Mashallah coached the UNLV women's volleyball team as head coach and assistant coach, respectively.[20] [needs update]

Farokhmanesh is married to the former Iowa Hawkeyes volleyball player Mallory Husz.[21] They have three sons and a daughter.[22]

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.[23]

Statistics

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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 Switzerland SAM Massagno Basket LNBA 30 33.9 .543 .480 .865 2.2 3.1 2.3 0.0 19.5
2011–12 Austria WBC Raiffeisen Wels ÖBL 36 29.3 .497 .497 .761 1.9 3.4 0.8 0.0 13.6
2012–13 Austria WBC Raiffeisen Wels ÖBL 32 34.7 .505 .415 .828 3.5 3.9 1.3 0.0 13.7
2013–14 Netherlands SPM Shoeters Den Bosch DBL 35 26.0 .506 .376 .818 1.6 2.0 1.0 0.0 9.8


References

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  1. ^ a b c Moore, CJ (March 13, 2019). "He'll forever be the Kansas killer, but Ali is also now Coach Farokhmanesh". The Athletic. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2025. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  2. ^ Withers, Bud (March 24, 2010). "Northern Iowa's Ali Farokhmanesh, who grew up in Pullman, has been star of NCAA tournament". Archived from the original on March 27, 2025. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  3. ^ "2021–22 High School Athletics Participation Survey" (PDF). National Federation of High School Associations. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
  4. ^ Caldwell, Dave (March 20, 2010). "Northern Iowa Coolly Upsets No. 1 Seed Kansas". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Ali Farokhmanesh College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  6. ^ "UNI on cover of Sports Illustrated". KWWL.com. March 23, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  7. ^ "Farokhmanesh, Koch sign pro basketball contracts". PantherMania.net. August 6, 2010. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  8. ^ "Presentation of Ali Farokhmanesh". SAM Massagno Basket.
  9. ^ "Farokhmanesh stays put, renews contract in Wels". USA Today. June 6, 2012. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  10. ^ "Alli Farokhmanesh to SPM Shoeters" (in Dutch). Basketball Plus. August 14, 2013. Archived from the original on August 17, 2013. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
  11. ^ "Meeste seizoensprijzen naar GasTerra Flames". iBasketball (in Dutch). April 22, 2014. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  12. ^ Nebraska hires ex-March Madness star Ali Farokhmanesh as assistant
  13. ^ "Farokhmanesh Named Director of Player Relations and Development".
  14. ^ "Farokhmanesh Joins Drake Men's Basketball Coaching Staff". April 28, 2017.
  15. ^ "Farokhmanesh, Blount Named Assistant Men's Basketball Coaches". csurams.com. March 26, 2018.
  16. ^ "Colorado State replaces men's basketball head coach Niko Medved with top assistant Ali Farokhmanesh". CBS News Colorado. March 27, 2025. Archived from the original on March 27, 2025. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  17. ^ "Farokhmanesh Takes Helm of Men's Basketball Program". Colorado State Athletics. March 26, 2025. Archived from the original on March 27, 2025. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  18. ^ "Dr. Mashallah Farokhmanesh". WSUCougars.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
  19. ^ "Cindy Fredrick". HawkeyeSports.com. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
  20. ^ Cindy Fredrick & Mashallah Farokhmanesh, UNLVRebels.com, accessed March 20, 2014.
  21. ^ Dochterman, Scott (January 11, 2015). "Farokhmanesh back in college, this time as a coach". The Gazette. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  22. ^ "Ali Farokhmanesh - Men's Basketball Coach - Colorado State Athletics". Colorado State Athletics. Archived from the original on March 21, 2025. Retrieved March 21, 2025.
  23. ^ 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.

Notes

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  1. ^ In the United States, volleyball as a high school sport is much more popular among girls than boys, with a 2022 survey noting an almost 7:1 ratio of female to male high school volleyball players.[3]
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