Kori Ellis
07-11-2006, 02:46 AM
Double Duty: WFU basketball commentator is also scout for San Antonio Spurs
By Dan Collins
JOURNAL REPORTER
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArti cle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189070730&path=!sports&s=1037645509200
College basketball fans who listen to Mark Freidinger's work as a color analyst for the broadcasts of Wake Forest games have reason to suspect that he leads an interesting life.
Chances are, they know only the half of it.
Besides describing crossover dribbles, drop steps and slam dunks for ISP, the Winston-Salem sports marketing firm that owns the broadcasting rights to the Deacons' games, Freidinger somehow finds time for his other job as a scout for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. The double duties make for a hectic work schedule, especially from the time the basketball starts bouncing in mid-October until it comes to rest - at least momentarily - in June.
But it's a labor of love for Freidinger, a former basketball coach at Rollins College who was also an assistant at Wake Forest and Kansas.
From Oct. 14, 2005, through April 20 of this year, Freidinger worked 117 assignments for ISP and the Spurs.
"Both ISP and the Spurs have been so good to me," Freidinger said. "With the Spurs, my immediate boss is Sam Presti, the assistant general manager, and that's who I report to. They'll send me the games they want me to see, and they look at the Wake schedule as well, because the benefit of seeing who Wake is playing is that you're seeing pretty much every ACC team twice. So that helps.
"Sometimes Sam will say to me 'You're doing too much,' but I'll say 'Sam, I feel I owe you those five days. I'm doing two for Wake Forest radio; I owe you the other five,'" he added.
"So if it works I'm going to try to do it," he said.
But there are days, such as Feb. 11, 12 and 13 of this past winter, when Freidinger might be inclined to agree with Presti.
On Feb. 11, Freidinger called Wake Forest's game against UNC Charlotte in Winston-Salem along with Stan Cotten, the play-by-play commentator for the Deacons. On the 12th, he scouted a game between Ohio University and Western Michigan in Kalamazoo.
He spent the 13th in Memphis with Coach John Calipari of Memphis University, catching up with an old friend and watching the Tigers practice.
Being at all three places was fine.
Getting to all three places was a grind.
It was snowing in Winston-Salem, and the Deacons and 49ers didn't tip off until after 3:30.
Freidinger's plane to Chicago, where he would make his connection to Grand Rapids, was scheduled to leave Greensboro at 7 p.m.
"I told Stan 'When it gets to 5:30, I have to leave.'" Freidinger said. "So it got to 5:40, and the game wasn't ove,r and finally I said, 'I've got to go.'"
Freidinger arrived at the airport on time, but his flight didn't. The good news was that it hadn't left without him. The bad news was that it had yet to leave its point of origin, which was also Chicago.
The airline sent another plane, which took Freidinger and one other passenger to Chicago.
Finally made it to Michigan
Freidinger pulled into his hotel in Grand Rapids around midnight, scrounged up some dinner and finally got to sleep.
The next morning, he drove an hour to Kalamazoo, where, in the media room before the game, he caught snatches of a conversation between a newspaper reporter and a member of the Ohio University medial-relations staff.
He thought that he heard the name Jeremy mentioned, and Jeremy Fears was the player for the Ohio University Bobcats he had come to scout. And what he thought he heard was that this Jeremy wasn't at the game because of a death in the family. Actually, Fears was transferring, but...
"Now I'm there to see Ohio U. and Western Michigan, and the guy I'm there to see isn't playing," Freidinger said.
He drove back to Grand Rapids in the snow, from where he flew to Memphis to watch Memphis University practice the next day.
"I spent the day with John Calipari and (assistant coach) John Robic, two of my friends from Kansas," Freidinger said. "So I had great barbeque at lunch and spent the whole day in the office, watched them practice and flew home that night."
Convenient contacts
Not every NBA scout is going to have such convenient contacts with college coaches because not that many coached in college.
After a college career in basketball and baseball at Rollins, a Division II program in Winter Park, Fla., Freidinger succeeded the well-known Ed Jucker as Rollins' basketball coach in 1978. He was 28 years old.
Freidinger coached the Tars for three seasons, and then was an assistant at Wake Forest for Carl Tacy from 1981-82 through 1984-85 and at Kansas for Larry Brown 1985-86 and 1986-87.
Despite assurances to the contrary, his contract with Kansas was ruled invalid by the NCAA.
He decided not to fight the organization and instead returned to Winston-Salem to manage golf promotions for R.J. Reynolds' sports-marketing division.
By 1990, he had been hired by Ben Sutton, the founder of ISP, to join Mac McDonald, then the play-by-play commentator, at courtside for broadcasts of the Deacons' basketball games.
Coach Skip Prosser of Wake Forest said that Freidinger's knowledge of basketball is evident both during broadcasts and afterward.
"He's just a great sounding board," Prosser said. "He's a positive guy, but at the end of the day, you know you can go to him, and he gives you expert analysis."
Known best to Wake Forest fans as "the Dinger," Freidinger doesn't have the smooth, honey-coated voice usually heard on radio. But he does have a passion for the game, and he's a comfortable personality to spend two or three hours with.
A good communicator
All color analysts know basketball, some better than others. But not all, according to Cotten, know how to relate their knowledge as well as Freidinger.
"Maybe more than most I've heard, I think Mark's got the ability to communicate," Cotten said.
"What is a lot of times a very complex game, he's able to simplify so that folks driving around in their cars or at home can understand what's going on in a very real way, and in a way they can get their heads around.
"Plus he's got a lot of energy and a lot of passion for basketball that comes across on the radio," he added. "You put that together with his ability to communicate, and it makes for a great analyst. And I think he's one of the best."
As good as Freidinger's timing is on the radio, it's every bit as good in life - if he was going to suffer a serious injury, as he did while carrying his grandson William down the steps of his home, he at least did it in the presence of a doctor.
Freidinger's son, Brian, is a fourth-year resident at the medical college of the University of Georgia. He happened to be outside on the driveway April 29 when Freidinger fell. Freidinger thought that his leg was broken, but Brian diagnosed a ruptured quadriceps, which was surgically repaired May 2.
"They say in nine months I'll be 100 percent," Freidinger said. "I'm going to do what I can do. I can travel now if I have to. I hope come the end of summer I'll be 80 to 90 percent.
"I'll be back, and I'll be at college games and going to practices in October," he added. "You can guarantee that."
By Dan Collins
JOURNAL REPORTER
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArti cle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189070730&path=!sports&s=1037645509200
College basketball fans who listen to Mark Freidinger's work as a color analyst for the broadcasts of Wake Forest games have reason to suspect that he leads an interesting life.
Chances are, they know only the half of it.
Besides describing crossover dribbles, drop steps and slam dunks for ISP, the Winston-Salem sports marketing firm that owns the broadcasting rights to the Deacons' games, Freidinger somehow finds time for his other job as a scout for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association. The double duties make for a hectic work schedule, especially from the time the basketball starts bouncing in mid-October until it comes to rest - at least momentarily - in June.
But it's a labor of love for Freidinger, a former basketball coach at Rollins College who was also an assistant at Wake Forest and Kansas.
From Oct. 14, 2005, through April 20 of this year, Freidinger worked 117 assignments for ISP and the Spurs.
"Both ISP and the Spurs have been so good to me," Freidinger said. "With the Spurs, my immediate boss is Sam Presti, the assistant general manager, and that's who I report to. They'll send me the games they want me to see, and they look at the Wake schedule as well, because the benefit of seeing who Wake is playing is that you're seeing pretty much every ACC team twice. So that helps.
"Sometimes Sam will say to me 'You're doing too much,' but I'll say 'Sam, I feel I owe you those five days. I'm doing two for Wake Forest radio; I owe you the other five,'" he added.
"So if it works I'm going to try to do it," he said.
But there are days, such as Feb. 11, 12 and 13 of this past winter, when Freidinger might be inclined to agree with Presti.
On Feb. 11, Freidinger called Wake Forest's game against UNC Charlotte in Winston-Salem along with Stan Cotten, the play-by-play commentator for the Deacons. On the 12th, he scouted a game between Ohio University and Western Michigan in Kalamazoo.
He spent the 13th in Memphis with Coach John Calipari of Memphis University, catching up with an old friend and watching the Tigers practice.
Being at all three places was fine.
Getting to all three places was a grind.
It was snowing in Winston-Salem, and the Deacons and 49ers didn't tip off until after 3:30.
Freidinger's plane to Chicago, where he would make his connection to Grand Rapids, was scheduled to leave Greensboro at 7 p.m.
"I told Stan 'When it gets to 5:30, I have to leave.'" Freidinger said. "So it got to 5:40, and the game wasn't ove,r and finally I said, 'I've got to go.'"
Freidinger arrived at the airport on time, but his flight didn't. The good news was that it hadn't left without him. The bad news was that it had yet to leave its point of origin, which was also Chicago.
The airline sent another plane, which took Freidinger and one other passenger to Chicago.
Finally made it to Michigan
Freidinger pulled into his hotel in Grand Rapids around midnight, scrounged up some dinner and finally got to sleep.
The next morning, he drove an hour to Kalamazoo, where, in the media room before the game, he caught snatches of a conversation between a newspaper reporter and a member of the Ohio University medial-relations staff.
He thought that he heard the name Jeremy mentioned, and Jeremy Fears was the player for the Ohio University Bobcats he had come to scout. And what he thought he heard was that this Jeremy wasn't at the game because of a death in the family. Actually, Fears was transferring, but...
"Now I'm there to see Ohio U. and Western Michigan, and the guy I'm there to see isn't playing," Freidinger said.
He drove back to Grand Rapids in the snow, from where he flew to Memphis to watch Memphis University practice the next day.
"I spent the day with John Calipari and (assistant coach) John Robic, two of my friends from Kansas," Freidinger said. "So I had great barbeque at lunch and spent the whole day in the office, watched them practice and flew home that night."
Convenient contacts
Not every NBA scout is going to have such convenient contacts with college coaches because not that many coached in college.
After a college career in basketball and baseball at Rollins, a Division II program in Winter Park, Fla., Freidinger succeeded the well-known Ed Jucker as Rollins' basketball coach in 1978. He was 28 years old.
Freidinger coached the Tars for three seasons, and then was an assistant at Wake Forest for Carl Tacy from 1981-82 through 1984-85 and at Kansas for Larry Brown 1985-86 and 1986-87.
Despite assurances to the contrary, his contract with Kansas was ruled invalid by the NCAA.
He decided not to fight the organization and instead returned to Winston-Salem to manage golf promotions for R.J. Reynolds' sports-marketing division.
By 1990, he had been hired by Ben Sutton, the founder of ISP, to join Mac McDonald, then the play-by-play commentator, at courtside for broadcasts of the Deacons' basketball games.
Coach Skip Prosser of Wake Forest said that Freidinger's knowledge of basketball is evident both during broadcasts and afterward.
"He's just a great sounding board," Prosser said. "He's a positive guy, but at the end of the day, you know you can go to him, and he gives you expert analysis."
Known best to Wake Forest fans as "the Dinger," Freidinger doesn't have the smooth, honey-coated voice usually heard on radio. But he does have a passion for the game, and he's a comfortable personality to spend two or three hours with.
A good communicator
All color analysts know basketball, some better than others. But not all, according to Cotten, know how to relate their knowledge as well as Freidinger.
"Maybe more than most I've heard, I think Mark's got the ability to communicate," Cotten said.
"What is a lot of times a very complex game, he's able to simplify so that folks driving around in their cars or at home can understand what's going on in a very real way, and in a way they can get their heads around.
"Plus he's got a lot of energy and a lot of passion for basketball that comes across on the radio," he added. "You put that together with his ability to communicate, and it makes for a great analyst. And I think he's one of the best."
As good as Freidinger's timing is on the radio, it's every bit as good in life - if he was going to suffer a serious injury, as he did while carrying his grandson William down the steps of his home, he at least did it in the presence of a doctor.
Freidinger's son, Brian, is a fourth-year resident at the medical college of the University of Georgia. He happened to be outside on the driveway April 29 when Freidinger fell. Freidinger thought that his leg was broken, but Brian diagnosed a ruptured quadriceps, which was surgically repaired May 2.
"They say in nine months I'll be 100 percent," Freidinger said. "I'm going to do what I can do. I can travel now if I have to. I hope come the end of summer I'll be 80 to 90 percent.
"I'll be back, and I'll be at college games and going to practices in October," he added. "You can guarantee that."