By JONATHON ZENK, Northwestern State Assistant Sports Information Director
NATCHITOCHES — During Alan Frey’s introduction as Northwestern State’s new women’s basketball coach Monday afternoon, he reflected on his journey to achieve this moment, one that he didn’t know would come.
“I am so honored and proud to be here,” Frey said to an audience of NSU fans, media members and university staff. “This is a moment I have been waiting for for a long time, so this is very special to me that I have this opportunity. This opportunity is something you work for your whole life for, and you don’t know if it’s ever going to happen.”
He had to make sure it was a right fit — from the president on down.
“When you feel that support from the administration—and I have had some where it didn’t quite feel like what you have here. The alignment between the president (James Genovese), athletics director, all the way down, and (AD Kevin Bostian) talked about the resources and support for women’s basketball here, all of it is absolutely there. There are no excuses for not getting it done here.”
While this is his first head coaching job, Frey has more than 20 years of experience as an assistant coach and associate head coach, with almost two decades at the Division I level.
This past season, as assistant coach at Loyola in his hometown of New Orleans, he helped lead the Wolf Pack to a 25-5 mark and a trip to the NAIA Tournament.
Frey spent the previous season with Monmouth, where he helped the team win 16 games, including the most home wins for the program (10) since 2011-12.
The bulk of his Division I tenure came at Tulane as the lead assistant for Lisa Stockton’s long-term successful Green Wave program.
“What we were looking for is someone with energy, passion and is well connected in the state of Louisiana,” Bostian said. “I talked to numerous people all over the country. I probably talked to 25 to 30 coaches, I talked to agents, I talked to administrators, and a lot of the time it came back to one person: Alan Frey.”
Frey received some major endorsements from colleagues the coaching profession.
“(Louisiana Tech coach and former NSU coach) Brooke Stoehr is behind Alan Frey,” Bostian said. “Kim Mulkey at LSU is behind him. Vic Schaefer at Texas is behind him. Lisa Stockton … is behind him. It all came back to the grit, the blue-collar, a hands-in the-dirt kind of person, which is what I am and this institution is.”
As a Louisiana native, he wants to build the team through his native roots, recruiting mostly in-state, high school players.
“If you look at the Southland Conference first and second team selections, most of them came through high school,” Frey said. “In this time, the portal and JUCO has to be a part of our make-up here, particularly during coaching changes.
“Texas will be a big part for us, but I really want to hone in on Louisiana. One of the reasons I am here right now is because I have all these roots in Louisiana. Kids from the state will be our foundation as we move forward because I think that is what works.”
Coming from New Orleans, he is aware of his new home and north Louisiana. However, coming to Natchitoches, he gained a whole new appreciation for the town and residents in Louisiana’s oldest city.
“My family and I went to Lasyone’s and we walked across the street and they held the door for us and everybody said hello. We even got a ‘Fork Em’ in the street and I don’t think those people knew who I was. Somebody slammed on their brakes, so I could walk across the crosswalk. That does not happen in New Orleans.
“Everybody would stop and say ‘welcome,’’hi’ or whatever. When driving around the city, there were signs and flags everywhere. There are some schools where they know the school is there, but don’t necessarily hold that school. Here, you drive around a neighborhood, and you know the town embraces this school.”
Frey is extremely thankful for his family’s support throughout this journey to becoming a head coach.
“My wife Karen and I have been married for almost 35 years, and we are so excited to be members of this community. The football coach literally texted me as I was walking in saying ‘I have the tennis connection for her’ since Karen likes to play tennis.
In addition to his wife, he brought to Monday’s introduction his three children, as well as two of his brothers and a sister, and his aunt and uncle among more than a dozen family members.
Throughout his stops that include highly-successful AAU coaching before he joined the college ranks, he has taken bits from each mentor to form the type of coach he is today.
“I got my start at Loyola in New Orleans and Michael Giorlando, who was the men’s basketball coach and athletic director. I learned so much from him and he ran great practices and I learned what it meant to run really competitive practices. I spent one year at Monmouth where I worked for Cait Wetmore. She had the best work ethic of any one I have ever been around. Last year at Loyola of New Orleans, what I took from there is that the culture was incredible. The kids and coaching staff were amazing and we won 25 games.
“In the middle there, we don’t have time to talk about all the things Lisa Stockton did for me when I was there. I learned so much from her. In 30 years, she won 600 games. Beyond winning basketball games, she had a 100 percent graduation rate. Anyone who went to Tulane for four years has a degree, and sometimes we lose sight of that. In some ways, it was tough to get a job because of the culture and I was so fortunate to be there.”
In addition to Stoehr, who led NSU to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, he stated he wants to build on the legacy of women’s basketball at NSU and continue on the path that coaches set before him.
“James Smith, Jordan Dupuy — who is a friend of mine –and then Anna Nimz have built a program here that is well respected in the state.
“Coach Stoehr, I watched her do this job and build it the way she did, and I cannot wait to emulate what she did here. She proved it can be done here in this era, and I don’t think she had the support 12 years ago when she got the job like I do today. It’s a full-circle moment for me to carry the torch that Brooke had.”
Contact Jonathon at zenkj@nsula.edu