Meet Will Freedman

Lassen College Coach Devin Aye has a tag-team partner (pardon the cross sports reference) this season in Will Freedman, whose name should jostle some memories of Bay Area basketball fans.

Out of Santa Monica High where he played for Coach James Hecht, the 6-foot-5 Freedman starred at Cal State East Bay from 2007-2011, earning Freshman of the Year honors (13.9 points, 7 rebounds a game) as well as being an integral part of the Pioneer squad that won both the California Pacific Conference and tournament and participated in the NAIA national tournament in 2008-2009. For his 10.9 point and 5.4 rebound contributions, Freedman was named to the all conference team that season and he finished in Hayward among the top three in shooting percentage, top five in scoring and top ten in rebounding.

(Freedman was known for his sweet shooting touch)

A finance and economics major, Freedman then played overseas in Israel as well as being a 2011 Maccabi Pan American games USA team member and winning a gold medal during competition in Brazil.

Acting on his coaching itch, he returned to Santa Monica High in 2012, first as the head sophomore coach, then the head of the junior varsity while also assisting at the varsity level. The varsity team at Santa Monica won the 2013 CIF and SoCal Regional Championships

Now, he's in Susanville as an assistant coach and re-united with Aye -- their relationship began when Aye joined the Cal State East Bay staff during Freedman's sophomore season and the two hit it off.

There's one very integral reason as to why basketball for Freedman.

"it was the first sport I was good at," he explained. "My Dad played basketball and I was a huge Michael Jordan fan growing up." It's been a family affair as Freedman's father took stats in the score book while his mother filmed games during their son's tenure as coach at Santa Monica High.

Basketball is also where he still finds solace when needed.  

"When times are tough, I go shoot some baskets," he said. "It's a refuge when I need it."

And why the direction towards coaching?

"My Dad was the first coach I had and I had a really good high school coach, so I saw early on that it was all about helping people," he offered. "I saw the effect a coach can have on kids."

Plus, time ceases to exist when Freedman is in the gym -- "I never look at the clock. It's not like work."

Freedman also recalled an experience his father had playing in high school. "My Dad is from Detroit and his high school team had a new coach his senior year. The new coach told my Dad 'you could be an all-city player' and that's really what my Dad needed to hear. It still gives him confidence to this day. The fact that something that a coach told him all those years ago still has an impact on him showed me the power a coach can have. My players may not always remember what I tell them, but they will always remember how I make them feel."

As to why coaching at Lassen, "It goes back to my time at Cal State East Bay. We didn't do well the previous two years but Coach Aye came on [as an assistant] and brought in some new players. I saw what a great recruiter he was as we won the conference and the tournament his first season. I'm pretty good with strategy but I don't know recruiting so I'm here to learn that."

Freedman continued, "Lassen is a small town and a great community. It's gorgeous like a postcard. Right now as I'm talking, there are some deer grazing outside my window. The people are very supportive, they know the names of the players and ask about them when I'm around town, it's like [the film] "Hoosiers."

One important aspect relating to his new position is "I have experience as a guy who didn't play, as a role player and as a guy who got all the shots." Freedman believes that background enables him to relate to everyone on the Lassen roster.

Asked to describe his best basketball moment, Freedman offered, "my last game coaching at Santa Monica High. It was a summer league game against Bishop Montgomery and we were down by three at the end." During a timeout, Freedman asked "what do you want to run?" His players brought up some complicated plays and "I told them 'let's do what we normally do [offensively].'" A Santa Monica three point basket tied the game and the Vikings went on to win in overtime. 

His takeaway from that victory? "Players win games. Our job is in practice getting the guys ready. As I told the players, 'Don't look at me to save you, I haven't scored a point in years. Look to each other.'"

Regarding the future, Freedman's personal vision is "becoming a successful college head coach, running my own program." He likened coaching and its annual process to "Sisyphus  pushing the boulder up the hill every year" but that's just fine, he doesn't want to do anything else.