Colorado State promotes former March Madness hero to HC

Farokhmanesh rose to prominence during the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament when he helped No. 9 seed Northern Iowa stun No. 1 seed Kansas in a 69-67 upset.

With the Panthers leading the Jayhawks 63-62 and 35 seconds left, they passed the ball to a wide-open Farokhmanesh, who nailed a three-pointer and iced the game. The former guard finished with a team-high 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field.  

In an article published March 17, 247 Sports' Brad Crawford ranked Northern Iowa's win over Kansas as his No. 11 upset in March Madness history. 

"Ali Farokhmanesh, who could forget him?" Crawford wrote. "A No. 1 seed in the tournament and playing close to Oklahoma City that year, Kansas was one of the favorites to cut down the nets, but Bill Self's team fell victim to one of the greatest upsets in history."

After Farokhmanesh's college career ended in a Sweet 16 loss to Michigan State, he played in Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands from 2010-14.

During the 2017-18 season, he joined Niko Medved's staff at Drake and subsequently followed him to Colorado State. 

This season, the Rams went 26-10 and lost, 72-71, to Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. After the loss, Medved accepted the head-coaching job at Minnesota.

"I can't wait to continue to build off the championship foundation our players have established and push it to greater heights," Farokhmanesh said in a statement from the school (h/t Associated Press).

Colorado State has won 25 games or more in three of its past four seasons. Farokhmanesh is clearly inheriting a solid program. Perhaps he'll have another opportunity to be a part of another memorable March Madness upset.