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Ali Farokhmanesh (pronounced fuh-ROAK-muh-NESH) is in his third season with the Husker basketball program and first as Director of Player Relations and Development.
Farokhmanesh helps manage and oversee the off-the court responsibilities of student-athletes. He plays a major role in creating and implementing a mentoring program. He coordinates community outreach with Nebraska's Life Skills staff while also serving as liaison to groups within the Department of Athletics, including the Nebraska Athletic Performance Laboratory (NAPL). He assists the Husker coaching staff in recruiting operations, including on-campus hosting duties.
Following a decorated college career, Farokhmanesh spent four seasons playing professionally overseas in Holland, Austria and Switzerland. In 2013-14, he was the Sixth Man of the Year in the Dutch Basketball League, averaging 10.4 points, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game. His best season was with SAM Massagno Basket in the Swiss league in 2010-11, where he averaged 19.5 points, 3.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game while shooting 48 percent from 3-point range.
Farokhmanesh is best known for the two seasons he spent at Northern Iowa, helping the Panthers to a 53-16 record with two NCAA Tournament appearances, including the school's first-ever NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2009-10.
As a senior, he earned honorable-mention All-Missouri Valley Conference accolades, averaging 9.7 points and 1.5 rebounds per game, as UNI went 30-5, including an upset of top-seeded Kansas to reach the Sweet 16. In that game, Farokhmanesh had 16 points, including a 3-pointer with 34 seconds left to clinch the victory and was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He also provided the heroics in UNI's second-round win over UNLV, finishing with 17 points, including a 3-pointer with 4.9 seconds left for the final margin.
In his first season at UNI, Farokhmanesh started all 34 games and averaged 9.6 points and 1.6 assists per game en route to being named to the MVC All-Newcomer squad. He played two years of junior college basketball, earning first-team NJCAA Division II All-America honors at Kirkwood Community College.
Farokhmanesh received his degree in finance from Northern Iowa in 2010 and earned his master's degree in educational administration from Nebraska in 2016. Ali and his wife Mallory have a son, Tai.