Francis John Fraschilla (born August 30, 1958) is an American ESPN basketball commentator. He is also a former college basketball coach for 23 years, whose teams when he was head coach had an aggregate record of 176–99, as they won 64% of their games. He was named the 1994-95 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year.

Early life and education

Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Fraschilla grew up in its Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. He is the oldest of seven children in an Irish-Italian family."JOHNNIES ARE FRAN-MADE ," New York Daily News, March 13, 1998. His paternal grandparents, Francesco and Josephina Fraschilla, immigrated to the United States from Sicily in 1920.Fran Fraschilla. "On July 4th, 1920, Francesco & Josephina Fraschilla arrived from Sicily." x.com, July 4, 2026..

He graduated from James Madison High School in Brooklyn. Fraschilla played basketball for the high school. "Life on the sidelines: Flatbush native built career on love of hoops," Brooklyn Paper, October 25, 2016.

Fraschilla then graduated from Brooklyn College with a bachelors degree in American history in 1980. While attending Brooklyn College he worked part time as the Madison High School junior varsity basketball coach, and then in 1979 worked as an assistant basketball coach at the New York Institute of Technology. His senior thesis advisor was General Béla Király, a Hungarian freedom fighter who emigrated to the U.S. to teach history.Fran Fraschilla (September 30, 2025). "Meaningful day in Budapest Hungary," x.com. Fraschilla was the first in his family to graduate from college."College hoops analyst Fran Fraschilla," Fra Noi, June 21, 2021.

College basketball coach career Fraschilla coached college basketball for 23 years. He was an assistant basketball coach at the University of Rhode Island for Jack Kraft, at Ohio University for Danny Nee and Billy Hahn, at Ohio State University for Hall of Fame Coach Gary Williams, and at Providence College for current University of Tennessee coach Rick Barnes."Fraschilla named assistant coach at Providence," UPI, June 7 1989."Fraschilla’s the Big 12’s big voice," Pressbox, February 11, 2019.

Manhattan Jaspers Fraschilla then served as head men's basketball coach at three schools, where his teams had an aggregate record of 175-100. They won 64% of their games.

He was head coach of the Manhattan College Jaspers from 1992, when he was 33 years old, to 1996, where his teams had an 85–35 record, a 71% won-lost percentage, and won two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) titles and the 1993 MAAC men's basketball tournament championship."Frschilla to become Manhattan basketball coach," UPI, May 3, 1992. In 1995 the Jaspers became the first Jaspers team in 35 years to compete in the NCAA Basketball Tournament and the first team from the MAAC to obtain an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, and there they defeated the fourth-seeded Oklahoma Sooners in the first round, before losing in the second round to the Arizona State Sun Devils."Manhattan College Men's Basketball," 2011-12. He was named the 1994–95 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year, after his team's 26-5 season."FRASCHILLA MAKES TACTICAL MOVES ," Hartfield Courant, January 7, 1997.

St. John's Red Storm He next was the head basketball coach of the St. John's University Red Storm from 1996, when he was 38 years old, to 1998."BASKETBALL;Fraschilla Makes the Jump to St. John's and the Big Time," The New York Times, April 9, 1996. He inherited a team that had a record of 11-16 the prior season.To inspire focus on team play, he ordered that his players’ names be removed from the backs of their jerseys, to emphasize that the only name that mattered was the one on the front: St. John’s. At St. John's, he took the team to its first NCAA basketball tournament in five years in 1998, and his teams had a 59% won-lost percentage.

New Mexico Lobos He followed that up with three years as head basketball coach of the University of New Mexico Lobos from 1999 to 2002. With New Mexico, Fraschilla's teams had a 57% won-lost percentage."Fran Fraschilla ," sports-reference. From 1994 to 2002, he was the chairman of the National Association of Basketball Coaches' committee on academics."BASKETBALL; Fraschilla, Brooklyn Guy, Takes On Albuquerque," The New York Times, November 16, 1999.

ESPN basketball broadcast analyst career After coaching, in 2003 he joined ESPN as a TV college basketball broadcast analyst."Fran Fraschilla," ESPN Press Room."Men's basketball walk-ons shrug off name recognition," OU Daily, September 15, 2011. Fraschilla currently serves as a game analyst on Big Monday broadcasts, covering primarily Big 12 action, and as a studio analyst for ESPN college basketball programming. He also covers the NBA draft, focusing mostly on foreign players. His co-broadcaster on many Big 12 games previously was Brent Musburger. Fraschilla also serves as ESPN's analyst for its broadcasts of FIBA tournaments.

Accolades In 1995, Fraschilla was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year, National Association Basketball Coaches District II Coach of the Year, Eastern Basketball Coach of the Year, and Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year."Haggerty Awards Program," Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association, April 25, 2022. In 2002, he received the National Association of Basketball Coaches Literacy Pioneer Award for working with the “Dream to Read”program. In 2012, he was inducted into the Manhattan College Athletic Hall of Fame."Former Head Coach Fran Fraschilla To Host NYC Media Day," gopaspers.com, September 28, 2016. In 2019, he was inducted into the Basketball Old-Timers of America Hall of Fame."Hoops Legends Hold Court at 60th Old-Timers’ Dinner," The Tablet, May 17, 2019.

Personal life Fraschilla married Meg O’Connell in 1988."STORM WATCH BREWS WITH FRASCHILLA, FORECAST IS GOOD ." New York Daily News, January 12, 2019. He later moved to White Plains, New York, and still later to Dallas, Texas."ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla, a student of international players, says the trick to succeed is to never stop learning," Sports Broadcast Journal, December 12, 2018."DESERT DYNASTY FRAN’S DREAM ," The Daily News, March 30, 2019.

His older son James Fraschilla played in 27 games over four years as a guard for the University of Oklahoma men's basketball team, and was nominated for the Big 12 Sportsperson of the Year Award. He then worked from 2017-18 as the Player Development Coach for the Salt Lake City Stars (the Utah Jazz’s G League team), from 2018-22 on the basketball staff of the Orlando Magic, in 2022-23 as an assistant coach for the Grand Rapids Gold G League team, in 2024 an assistant coach for the 2024 USA 3x3 Men's National Team, and from 2023-25 as the assistant coach for the Capital City Go-Go (the NBA G League affiliate of the Washington Wizards), and since 2025 as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards,."James Fraschilla," USA Basketball, February 8, 2024."JAMES FRASCHILLA," National Basketball Coaches Association.

Fraschilla's younger son, Matthew Fraschilla, played guard for the basketball team at Harvard University, from which he graduated in 2017. He suffered a ACL tear after his junior year. After his injury he coached as a graduate assistant coach at Villanova University under Coach Jay Wright, and also became a pseudo-assistant coach at Harvard."Matt Fraschilla '17 Launches Coaching Career at Villanova ," The Harvard Crimson, March 30, 2018."City of Brotherly Love," ESPN Front Row, March 21, 2014. He was an assistant coach for the Harvard Crimson from 2022 to 2026."Matt Fraschilla '17," gocrimson.com. In April 2026 he became an assistant coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. "Assistant Coach Matt Fraschilla," ramblinwreck.com.

Head coaching record

References

External links ESPN profile