EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Hiring a championship caliber leader, the sixth head coach in Michigan State women’s basketball history is Robyn Fralick who is a native of East Lansing. Fralick has won two NCAA Division II national championships and turned around Bowling Green State University’s program making the 2023 WNIT Fab Four.
“My family and I are so grateful for this new journey. It’s an honor to return home to East Lansing to join the Spartan community,” said Fralick. “I would like to thank the Bowling Green community for wrapping their arms around my family and the BGSU women’s basketball squad for giving their best, every day.”
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Fralick spent five years at BGSU turning around a program that was in the bottom tier of the MAC. In her third season, 2020-21, the Falcons went 21-8, were the MAC regular season champions, and made the WNIT. She then won 17 games in 2021-22 with a WBI invite. Her best season came this year going 31-7 and making the WNIT Fab Four. She finished with a 69-31 record at BGSU winning 69 games the last three seasons.
“This is a great day for Spartan women’s basketball to welcome Robyn Fralick to our Spartan Family. Her resume speaks for itself, both in the historic success and championships captured at Ashland and the job she did turning around the program at Bowling Green, not only capturing a championship but also creating an expectation of post season success,” said MSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller.
Her head coaching career started at NCAA Division II Ashland University after being the assistant coach for seven years. She spent three years as the head coach from 2015-16 to 2017-18 winning the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2016-17 and being the runner-up in 2017-18. She also won a national championship as an assistant coach in 2012-13 and was runners-up in 2011-12. Ashland had a NCAA Division II women’s basketball best 73-game winning streak during her tenure as head coach where she went 104-3.
A native of Okemos, Mich., Fralick is a member of the high school Athletic Hall of Fame inducted in 2017. She was a second team All-State player and was on the All-Michigan fifth team as a senior. She went on to play collegiately at Davidson University where she is fourth in assists, eighth in steals, and 12th in free throw percentage. She earned her degree in psychology with a minor in religion in 2004 and then a master’s degree from Western Michigan in counselor education in 2007.
She has also made assistant coaching stops at Appalachian State, Western Michigan, and Toledo.
In 2020-21, she was named the MAC Coach of the Year and in 2018 she was the recipient of the C. Vivian Stringer Coaching Award presented to an individual who has experienced outstanding achievement as a coach for female teams. The winner of the award exhibits a high standard of propriety, imagination, and innovation as a character-builder in the tradition of great teacher-coaches.
Fralick says, “We will work tirelessly to pursue excellence on and off the court and build a culture and team built on togetherness and toughness. We’re excited to get to work.”
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