SPORTS
Q&A with Frank Zanin’99 Frank Zanin is in his fifth year with the Brooklyn Nets and his second as assistant general manager, assisting Billy King with all personnel and
scouting matters, including draft preparation and free agent/trade analysis. A three-year starter on WCU’s basketball team, Zanin graduated from West Chester in 1999 with a degree in business management. He began his NBA career that year as a video intern with the Philadelphia 76ers. From there, he was hired as the team’s video coordinator, eventually was promoted to advance scout and assistant coach and finally as the team’s pro personnel scout.
How did your experiences as a men’s basketball player at West Chester University help to prepare you for your profession and the real world? Playing basketball at West Chester University was a tremendous help for me when it comes to working in the real world. The process of getting 15 people from different areas to come together as a team with a common goal of winning is something that takes time. It teaches unselfishness for the good of the team. I encounter this every day in the business world. We learn to work together as a team and everyone has to understand their roles for us to have success. My experiences playing men’s basketball at WCU helped me learn about making quick decisions under pressure. You have to trust your instincts and the preparation that you have put into the game to react. This happens for me now in our NBA draft room. There have been multiple occasions during the NBA draft that we have to make quick decisions in a short time frame. There is no time for debate, a decision has to be made right away. Towards the end of my career at WCU, I also learned a lot about leadership. We had a good team my senior season with a lot of different personalities. Helping to lead that group was a challenge, but it taught me that you have to trust the people that you are working with to do their jobs and you cannot micro manage them. The same thing goes for being a leader of a team. You have to trust that your teammates understand the game plan and their responsibilities so that you can go out and win the game as a team. Having good people around you always helps.
What are some of the most interesting challenges to your position as the Assistant GM for a professional franchise? I would say the biggest challenge of the position of Assistant GM is the NBA draft. You have to evaluate athletes that are ages 18-22 and project their careers out 10 years. Besides just their physical talents we have to look into their personalities to try establish if they have the make up for long-term success. We put a lot of emphasis on character because we feel that high character people give themselves a better chance to be successful. Another challenging aspect is the travel the job requires. I am responsible for scouting all NBA, college and international players. I spend most of the season traveling throughout the country and abroad watching various prospects and evaluating them for our team. I would say that on average I am traveling 5 out of 7 days a week. During the season it is a seven-day-a-week job. It can be a very stressful process. As with most jobs we also have to plan for the future. We are constantly going over our 3-5 year plans for the organization and adjusting them based on different circumstances, such as player injuries, or trades that come along unexpectedly. Financial ramifications impact all of our decisions.
What are some of your fondest memories of West Chester University? I really loved my time at WCU. I was very fortunate to have my brother, TJ, there with me on the basketball team for three years, which was a thrill for me. I also had one of my closest friends there with me as well –Scott Heinerichs who’s now on the faculty and keeps me up- to-date on everything going at the University. I also was lucky to have a great roommate in Chuck Hiller. He was also on the basketball team and we became fast friends. We still talk once a week and love to reminisce about our days at WCU. There are so many games and practices that bring back great memories: a very exciting home victory over Cheyney my junior year; a come-
8 West Chester University