A FRANTASTIC LIFE
Fraschilla, 60, loving his all-everything hoops role at ESPN
Fran Fraschilla admits he is a “junkie” and sometimes that’ll take you to dark places.
The former St. John’s coach found himself at a seedy Indianapolis hotel this month as he traveled the country taking in as much college basketball as November would allow.
“My wife got me a hotel on Priceline and it might have been the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed at,” Fraschilla said, explaining he had decided to attend the Champions Classic in addition to his normal ESPN duties.
“It was considered an airport hotel, but it was in the back side of the airport where all the freight comes in. I knew I had to mind my Ps and Qs while I was there.”
The star-studded tournament featured Duke, Kansas, Michigan State and Kentucky, just four of the roughly 45 teams Fraschilla has seen play or practice this month. Fraschilla, 60, is now 16 years removed from his last college coaching job at New Mexico, after stints at Manhattan and St. John’s. His two sons, James and Matt, are now part of that fraternity with James on Steve Clifford’s Magic staff and Matt a graduate assistant under Jay Wright at Villanova.
With his sons now entrenched on their own career paths, it has given Fraschilla more time to obsess over his own.
“My greatest passion is just hoop,” said Fraschilla, who heads up ESPN’s international scouting, is part of the network’s NBA draft coverage and will settle into his role calling Big 12 games once the conference season starts.
“The craziest thing about being a former coach is I just learn something new every week about basketball. And I say to myself, ‘Man I wish I knew that 25 years ago.’ I watch coaches coach now and it’s an amazing opportunity to keep learning.”
Fraschilla’s travels took him through the Midwest, to his native New York then down to Orlando before heading back to his Dallas home on Tuesday. The fi- nal November stretch was 16 straight days away from home. It’s a rigorous schedule, but not as all encompassing as that of a coach.
“[Tom] Izzo, [Jay] Wright, [Bill] Self,” Fraschilla said. “These guys are contemporaries and not for a single second have I thought wwhat if I had gone back to coaching because as much as I have a healthy ego about what I’ve accomplished I came to a point in time where I said, don’t mess with happy. That’s an old Jimmy V [Jim Valvano] line. “I kind of look at my coaching career ending at 43 as halftime of my life, TV has brought me a second half in the game of basketball because I’ve had a lifestyle to watch my kids grow up.” And Fraschilla still has a role in the coaching community. He sees himself as a mentor to younger coaches and a sounding board for older ones now that he is far removed from competition. “I llove getting on the phone with somebody and hashing out a potential issue they might have,” said Fraschilla, mentioning Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Missouri State’s Dana Ford. “It’s been fun to me to be a resource for that. I’ve done a lot of things right in my career and did some things wrong, so learn from me. ... I found that once I stopped coaching, the paranoia from other coaches goes away. They see you in a little bit of a different light. You’re still a colleague, but you’re less of a threat.” And what did Fraschilla do when he finally returned to his home Tuesday? He ran out to catch the first half of the SMULamar game before rushing home to watch Duke-Indiana on ESPN.