BILL FRIEDER

Bill Frieder learned the finer points of basketball while playing at Saginaw High School for his future father-in-law Larry Laeding. He began his brilliant basketball coaching career at Alpena High School before he became an assistant coach at Flint Northern. After serving as an assistant for three years, the 1960 Saginaw High graduate was named the varsity head coaching where he carved out an impressive 66-9 record and was named “Coach of the Year” and “Educator of the Year” after leading the Vikings to back-to-back Class A state championships in 1971 and ‘72. His Northern teams won 37 straight games over a two-year period and 21 straight tournament games. Frieder moved on to the college coaching ranks where he worked as an assistant coach to Johnny Orr at the University of Michigan for seven years. At the age of 38 he was named head coach in 1980 and led the Wolverines to a 191-87 record. Frieder was the architect of the Michigan’s 1989 national championship team – the school’s only basketball title. His Michigan teams won 33 consecutive regular season games and captured Michigan’s first-ever National Invitational Tournament title. He also won two Big Ten championships outright, and was named National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press in both 1985 and ’86. Frieder’s U-M teams won 20 or more games six times and made six consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. He ended his coaching career at Arizona State University where he compiled a 133-107 mark in eight seasons, including reaching the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament in 1995. He posted a career record of 324-194 (.625). During his 32-year coaching career he has recruited or coached a combined total of 13 high school and college players who made it into the National Basketball Association. Frieder now bides his time serving as a color analyst for FOX telecasts of West Coast college basketball games. In addition, he conducts the Michael Jordan Fantasy Basketball Camp in Las Vegas each year and helps Charles Barkley run a similar camp.