Farokhmanesh Stays True to His Roots in First Season
Change came with the job title, but he found it didn’t have to alter his approach
Mike Brohard
The change isn’t just one office to another. It’s everything.
The extra meetings with boosters and administration. Having to play bad cop more often. Being the final vote in the room. Everything within the program falls under the purview of the head coach.
Ali Farokhmanesh was still going to be the same person as head coach as he was as an assistant at Colorado State, but the aspects of the assistant’s role – those he enjoyed so much – were at question. With so much more on his plate, would he still have time to be the coach he wanted?
He looked around and didn’t see many other head coaches doing it that way, and he wondered. At the start of this year, he understood the why.
Then he figured out the how.
“He has the qualities of an assistant coach while also being a head coach. I think that’s something that's new,” Kyle Jorgensen said. “He's a younger guy. It's kind of funny to say that, but in the head coaching aspect. I can go up to him like I would an assistant, or as a head coach, or just other guy. And as a head coach, you don't get to see that often. So, it's him being a role model.
“His door's always open. He's always available to talk. He's always there for us. Even when as a head coach, he's standing up, he's still bringing energy. He just gets fired up when we're making plays. So, it's hard not to compete for a guy like him.”
As an assistant at Colorado State, Farokhmanesh spent hours after practice sitting on the floor with a player, a computer on his lap, combing through video with a player, sometimes two at a time. He would help them digest the game immediately after it happened. Or he would help them prepare for what they were about to face in the next game.
Those same sessions took place in his office in the mornings. Or the afternoon. Maybe even late into the night. He built relationships and trust. He built connection which ran deep. Plus, he was always intricately involved in practice and side workouts.
As a head coach, the time demands made it difficult. But at one point, when his Rams were struggling, he reverted back. He made the time, and assistant coach Dave Pilipovich believes it made a difference.
Farokhmanesh wanted Pilipovich on staff to point out what he didn’t know, being a first-time head coach. What the mentor has seen – a man who carries the influences of his mentors but in the end stands on his own – makes him proud.
Seeing Farokhmanesh remain true to the inner coach he is was a big step, a hard step and out of the norm. But Pilipovich watched him take it with conviction.
“I think it's extremely important, and I think it was a crucial time in our season. I told him this a couple weeks ago. We were 3-8 (in conference), not sure where we're going to go, maybe even how we're going to get there and how we'll finish up. I think then he really emphasized being back to Ali the assistant.
“He took players in one-on-one and watched film of them. He went back and did some individual workouts with players that he always did and was really good at, and he met with all the guys and talked to them pre- and post-practice. And we go on that run. Is that the reason why? It was a combination of reasons, but if he doesn't do that, we're not playing (tonight).”
He's still here, and it feels like he's an assistant coach, but at the end of the day, he's the headmaster, and he's making all the calls.Kyle Jorgensen
Colorado State will host St. Joseph’s in the first round of the NIT at Moby Arena (9 p.m.), a season extended for a first-year head coach and the program he is building. It’s extra basketball for a team which after a rough start to Mountain West play went on a hot streak, winning eight consecutive games and closing the season on a 9-2 run.
The Rams reached 20 wins (21-12) Farokhmanesh’s first campaign with a chance to win more. It’s been a season of learning for the players, but also one for the head coach and the staff he assembled.
He used them in ways that allowed him to do what he loves, what he was best at.
“I just started getting back in the gym, kind of what I used to do -- 20, 25 minutes before practice -- and doing the vitamins again. And I loved it because it was, it was a sweat-equity time with the guys,” Farokhmanesh said. “Then obviously, I think that's part of the reason why I got the job. So Dave talked to me about that too, about you’ve got to go back to doing that stuff and having Dave on staff helped me be able to push some other stuff that maybe Niko (Medved) was doing before. I don't have to do that. You only have so much time.
“So you’ve got to move somewhere, and having Dave on staff helped so much with kind of moving some other things that maybe I'm not as good at that Dave is really good at, moving some stuff that you can't usually from a head-coaching standpoint, so I can do more of the vitamin work and workouts with the guys.”
As a coach, his task has always been to find what a player does well and help him use it to his and the team’s advantage. To find weaknesses and polish them, maybe twist them from liabilities to assets.
As a coach, Farokhmanesh has used the season to impart those practices on himself as a coach. The Xs and Os he had – everybody believed that fully – but even he said those don’t matter as much as the players they represent. Can they complete the ask?
The better the player, the better the Xs and Os look.
Farokhmanesh realized his best Xs and Os relied on him holding on to some assistant roles.
“He has so much knowledge of the game. And even now, I'm watching film with him sometimes,” Jorgensen said. “It'll be after certain games, obviously -- he's a busy guy. But I'm still watching film with him. I'm still getting in the gym and I'm still working out with him before practice. That's what I said about calling him assistant coach. He's still here, and it feels like he's an assistant coach, but at the end of the day, he's the headmaster, and he's making all the calls.”
There will be a time when Farokhmanesh will sit down and evaluate himself. It won’t be anytime too soon, however. Logical absorption does not come from emotional moments.
There’s a game to prepare for, hopefully more than one. Then there is the portal to deal with shortly thereafter, the building of the next roster. Then he’ll get the time.
First, he’ll listen to those around him, which Pilipovich says is one of the young man’s greatest strengths. Then he’ll be honest with himself.
“There's been some throughout the year and whatnot, like even reflecting on what we need going forward, just like small, little details of things, like going into the spring and the summer, but not a full reflection on everything,” Farokhmanesh said. “There's definitely stuff I've already learned from earlier in the year to now. I'm sure when I sit down and really reflect on it I'll probably learn a few more things.”
As does anybody who is willing to grow, no matter the length of years they’ve been the person who makes the final decision.
Support Colorado State Athletics: Tickets | Ram Club | CSU NIL Marketplace