Staying Within the Family
Farokhmanesh elevated to lead role with men’s basketball
Mike Brohard
When you care so deeply about a place, about a program and its people, the waiting can put you in an emotional vice.
Ali Farokhmanesh loves Colorado State basketball, a program he helped to resurrect. He’s part of the reason it is special, and with the big chair open, he pursued the chance like a wide-open transition 3 from the wing.
But these decisions take time, and he needed to get out of the office and do his thing. He took a walk around the intramural fields on campus – naturally talking to recruits – when his call was interrupted by another – from Colorado State Director of Athletics John Weber.
It was 4 p.m., on Wednesday, and before he hit accept, Farokhmanesh took a deep breath.
“He asked, ‘how are you doing?’ and I said, ‘OK.’ Then he said I want you to be the next head men’s basketball coach at Colorado State,” Farokhmanesh said. “It was one of the best moments of my life. I was so excited to get that phone call. Then I called my wife who immediately collapsed and had to go take a nap.”
The longtime Colorado State assistant, highly regarded in national basketball circles, is now the man in charge for the Rams. He replaces Niko Medved at the helm of a program which has reached the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons, with a trip to the NIT Final Four part of the tenure.
Farokhmanesh has been an integral part of the program, coming to Colorado State from Drake along with Medved in 2018. He has been a key recruiter, a builder of relationships and building the offense and guard play.
Think of a key player in the rise of the program and the odds are great Farokhmanesh was the lead recruiter. Consider the praise heaped on him by former players who credit him with their development.
All of that was a key factor for Weber, who still did what he had to – put due diligence into the search – for an opening which drew plenty of interest, speaking to the respect the program has developed nationally.
In the end, he felt the clear choice was a guy whose office is just a floor below his at the McGraw Athletic Center.
“Ali has proven himself to be an elite recruiter and an elite player development person and an absolute key to the run we’ve been on for a number of years,” Weber said. “We’ve been to the tournament three of the past four years. We advanced to the Round of 32 and were half a second away from being in the Sweet 16. There is value in continuity. There is value in his elite basketball mind. He will continue to build on what we have, which is a tremendous foundation for the future of Colorado State men’s basketball.
“It was a process we can all be proud of, and we’re certainly proud of the result.”
Isaiah Stevens, the only five-time All-Mountain West honoree, has credited Farokmanesh with his development into the best floor general to ever grace a CSU uniform. The program’s all-time leader in scoring (2,350 points) and assists (863) spent many hours post-practice with Farokhmanesh, the two huddled on the floor at Moby Arena watching clips, seeking every tweak, searching for any advantage Stevens could then attack.
Timing is everything. I truly believe this was the right time for Niko to move on, and I really believe this is the right time for me to have an opportunity to take over and continue to build off what we have. This is not a rebuild. The foundation is laid and we’re going to put a bigger building on top of that foundation now.Ali Farokhmanesh
When it came to his choice as the next head coach, there was only one. The news for him was a blend of pure joy. He watched one mentor leave for an opportunity back home, then revel in the news a key component of all the success would continue to guide what he still considers to be his team.
“First off, it’s his leadership ability. He just cares so much about his player’s well-being, their success on and off the court,” Stevens said of Farokhmanesh. “There’s no shortage of the conversations we had that didn’t even pertain to basketball. He genuinely helped a lot of us through our daily lives, and I just appreciated how much he cared about me and my teammates. I felt that was something special that will allow him to be a leader of men at the highest level.
“And he has a great basketball mind. We still talk schemes to this day. We were talking X’s and O’s before the conference tournament games. We’ve talked about games I’ve played, matchups in the NCAA Tournament games. We can talk basketball for hours, and I would watch what he was watching in his office. He’s truly one of the best basketball minds I’ve been around”
This is not a shot taken by Weber where anybody is going to ask if he’s serious. To many, it was a natural, expected and seamless transition to a man who has played such a vital role in the resurgence of the program.
Colorado State was not the first school to ask Farokhmanesh to take over, but it was the one place where he wanted to take the next step in his career. Not only was it the right place, he felt it was the right time. For that, he credits Medved.
“The best thing Niko did for me, it probably happened three years ago. He told me he wanted me to think like a head coach,” Farokhmanesh said. “He wanted me to be entrenched in all aspects of the program and all decisions within the program. I would not be ready for this if Niko had not given me that type of responsibility and believed in me to that point. He wanted me to prepare to be the head coach. There’s no chance I’m ready for that responsibility if Niko had not started that process three years ago.
“The timing of everything … I don’t know. Timing is everything. I truly believe this was the right time for Niko to move on, and I really believe this is the right time for me to have an opportunity to take over and continue to build off what we have. This is not a rebuild. The foundation is laid and we’re going to put a bigger building on top of that foundation now.”
College coaching can be a nomadic life, each point on the map providing an altered view. At every stop for Farokhmanesh, from his time as an NCAA Tournament legend and Sports Illustrated cover boy into his existence in the coaching world, he would hear stories about a place he’d never been.
Fort Collins. Medved would wax poetic about the place. Tim Miles told him how special it was. Wes Eikmeier raved about the people and the community.
“They always talked about it in almost this mystical way,” Farokhmanesh said.
Now, so does he.
It’s late on Monday night, a day after the tournament run ended. He’s just arrived home, his eyes red after saying goodbye to his mentor and a couple of other close friends, Brian Cooley and Joe De Ciman. By that point, the realization has set in his dream could be right in front of him, but there’s still work to do.
As he pulls into the driveway at his home, he’s talking to another prospective player. When he glances in his rearview mirror, he notices a group of about six people walking down the sidewalk, stopping at the end of his drive. It’s a good neighborhood where his wife, Mallory, and their four children call home. He’s not worried, but he is curious.
When the call ends, he steps out of the car and looks back, greeted by applause.
“That had to do with the success of our players and the impact they’ve had on the community is tremendous,” Farokhmanesh said. “That’s why I love this place. You don’t get that everywhere.”
Which is why when the call ended on Wednesday afternoon his heart was racing. He took another deep breath and let it out. He was home.
Better yet, he was staying.
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