New MSU women's basketball coach Robyn Fralick: 'It feels surreal'
Sports are full of dreamers. Players dream to win championships, individual accolades and gold medals. For new Michigan State women’s basketball head coach Robyn Fralick, her dream is to coach the Spartans.
On Tuesday afternoon, Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller introduced the sixth women’s basketball coach in school history: Robyn Fralick.
“It feels surreal,” Fralick said at her introductory press conference.
Fralick was the head coach at Bowling Green for four seasons. In 2022, she helped the Falcons advance all the way to the semifinals of the Women’s NIT. She also led them to a 31-7 overall record. Fralick was named MAC Coach of the Year in 2021 after Bowling Green won the regular season title that year.
Fralick is from the neighboring town of Okemos, Michigan. She grew up a Spartan fan. Her family is full of Michigan State fans. In fact, after Fralick’s Bowling Green Falcons defeated Memphis in the Women’s NIT just a few weeks ago, she couldn’t find her family after the game to celebrate. Her family was huddled around the TV watching MSU’s men’s team play in the Sweet 16 against Kansas State.
“We’ve been cheering our hearts out for Sparty for a long time,” Fralick said.
Fralick grew up chowing down Melting Moments ice cream sandwiches. She also remembers playing on the Breslin Center court at halftime of MSU games. East Lansing is a place that she is all too familiar with as she marveled at the players and coaches of the past as a little kid.
“This is a place where you can win championships,” Fralick said when asked about if MSU is a destination job for her.
Haller and deputy athletic director Epiphany Clark had the opportunity to see Fralick coach a game live. Both Clark and Haller made the trek down to Bowling Green, Ohio to see Fralick’s Falcons take on Florida in the quarterfinals of the WNIT. They both sat at the top of the arena and wore all black outfits hoping they wouldn’t be noticed. Clark and Haller quickly realized that the Bowling Green community loved Fralick after talking with the people sitting around them.
Before the coaching search reached its end, Haller met with the current Michigan State players. He asked them what they wanted out of a coach and what style of basketball they wanted to play. The players responded with a list of characteristics they want their team to have, which included an up-tempo style, aggressive play, good defense and organization.
When Clark and Haller watched Bowling Green in person, they both realized that Fralick’s team checked all of those boxes that the MSU players outlined.
All of those attributes listed above require the players to play as a unit, which is something Fralick is well on board with.
“We will play team basketball and use the sport of basketball as a transformative experience for our student-athletes,” Fralick said.
Fralick’s core values are part of her coaching identity. She had them at her first head coaching stint with Ashland University at the Division II level and they carried over to Bowling Green. Those five core values — being a great teammate, manners matter, trust, toughness and commitment — will certainly be preached by Fralick at MSU.
“They’re really important to me,” Fralick said. “What I’ve found over time and with experience is that they really transform people, and they transform teams.”
Fralick’s local ties to mid-Michigan and the Midwest will help the program’s reach for recruiting in an attempt to keep local talent at home.
“I’ve been coaching in this particular region for a long time,” Fralick said. “There’s so much good basketball in the Midwest.”
There is still a lot to be done within the MSU women’s basketball program. Fralick has only briefly met with the players, so positive relationships need to be formed and the full staff needs to be finalized.
But despite the tough road ahead, it was a historic day for Fralick, who will be living her dream, and the Michigan State women’s basketball program.