WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Kevin Frey scored the Musketeers’ last four points in their 66–64 upset of No. 1-ranked Cincinnati on Dec. 18, 1999, in the Crosstown Shootout. Frey made two free throws with 29 seconds remaining and drove in for this layup with 8.9 seconds left.
WATCH AND LEARN
KEVIN FREY PREACHES FUNDAMENTALS TO YOUNG PLAYERS IN NEW MEXICO. BY RODNEY McKISSIC
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P H OT O G R A P H B Y G R E G R U S T
LOOKING BACK AT KEVIN FREY’S CAREER AT XAVIER, IT’S NOT SURPRISING HE’S now teaching children the virtues of fundamental basketball. As a four-year starter for the Musketeers from 1998 to 2002, he did all the things coaches love. He dove for loose balls, set screens to free up scorers, and played hurt yet managed to put up respectable career totals of 1,102 points and 710 rebounds in 130 games. These days the former Xavier role player—best remembered for his clinching layup that knocked off No. 1 Cincinnati in the 1999 Crosstown Shootout—runs the highly successful Frey Basketball Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which trains youngsters in basketball. He also coaches U8 and U12 AAU programs with an eye on someday becoming a college basketball coach. During training, Frey preaches the gospel of fundamentals. “Everything is specific movement patterns,” he says. “We start off everything with 1,500 jump ropes, stationary ball handling, one ball, two ball, tennis balls, medicine balls where we’re tossing them back and forth. I got hooked pretty early.” Frey credits his former coaches for showing him the way, from the late Skip Prosser and Thad Matta on the collegiate level, to Michael Cooper and Chucky Brown in the pros.
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COOL DOWN
“It’s amazing when you look back at the coaching that I’ve had throughout the years,” Frey says. “I just try and take a piece of what they’ve done and mold it into my own thing.” Frey started conducting coaching clinics in his hometown of Midland, Michigan, after graduating from Xavier in 2002. Teaching players the basics in turn enhanced Frey’s game as he prepared to play overseas. “Throughout the summer I would go all over the state of Michigan, into Ohio and Illinois, and then I would go play overseas,” says Frey, who spent nine seasons playing in Europe, Argentina, and Chile. “Going back to the core foundation of drills allowed my personal game to go through the roof.” Frey was playing in Germany when he was injured, and while rehabbing in the states, he got an opportunity to play for the Atlanta Hawks summer league team. He played well and the team considered bringing him into its training camp that fall. “That got me thinking that maybe I should stay home for the year and see if I can try and catch on somewhere,” Frey says. “So I entered in the draft for the D-League [the NBA Development League].” Frey was selected by the D-League’s New Mexico Thunderbirds in the eighth round in 2005. The team was coached by Cooper, the former Los Angeles Lakers great. Little did Frey know but he was home. His stay with the Thunderbirds lasted just three games, long enough to meet his future wife, Jessica, land a position at HewlettPackard (where he works full-time) and settle in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. The Freys have two sons—7-year-old Kody and 4-year-old Knox, who can be found in the family backyard knocking down jumpers deep into the night. “It’s pitch black out and he’s still trying to shoot it,” Frey says. “I love it.” When his boys get older, Frey would like to pursue a coaching career in college basketball. “The college game is something that I would be interested in,” he says. “It’s one of my goals to land on somebody’s staff so I can learn from some of the best coaches out there.”
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