For the third year in a row, Ashland University's men's basketball team will bring in a special guest speaker to tip off the new season.
Following former men's college basketball head coach
Bob Huggins (2024) and CBS college basketball analyst
Clark Kellogg (2025), "A Night With
Fran Fraschilla" will take place on Oct. 29 at Mount Vernon Estate, 1041 U.S. Highway 250 in Ashland.
"Fran is an exciting person to listen to about the history of basketball, college basketball, and the state of college basketball," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood. "He's got great ties to the state of Ohio. He's one of the faces of college basketball today.
"We are very blessed to have great speakers, and Fran is a great story-teller. I think everybody's going to be very happy to hear him tell his stories."
Mount Vernon Estate is the presenting sponsor for this year's event.
Fraschilla has been a college basketball game and studio analyst for ESPN since 2003. He also has worked on NBA Draft coverage, the FIBA World Championships, and NBA, NCAA Division I women's basketball and high school basketball coverage for the network.
A collegiate men's basketball head coach at Manhattan (1992-96), St. John's (1996-98) and New Mexico (1999-2002), Fraschilla's career record is 175-100 (.636). When he joined ESPN, he ranked as the 34
th-winningest active coach in men's college basketball. His teams made eight postseason appearances in nine years, including three NCAA Tournaments (1993, 1995 and 1998).
In 1995, Fraschilla was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, National Association Basketball Coaches District II Coach of the Year,
Eastern Basketball Coach of the Year and Metropolitan Basketball Writers Coach of the Year.
Fraschilla's coaching career also spans assistant stints at Providence College, Ohio State University, Ohio University, University of Rhode Island and New York Tech.
On Oct. 29, VIP cocktail hour will begin at 6 p.m., and will feature Fraschilla, as well as a meet-and-greet with the 2026-27 Eagle men's basketball team. At 7 p.m., the event – featuring cocktails, silent raffles, tip boards and dinner – will begin.
Tickets are $1,000 for a VIP table of seven – a current men's basketball player will join each table for a table of eight. Only 20 are available.
Event-only individual tickets are $100 each.
Reservations are due by Oct. 26.
For more information, contact AU men's basketball associate head coach
Brook Turson at
bturson1@ashland.edu.
"A Night With Fran Fraschilla" is a prelude to the start of the Eagles' 2026-27 season, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Wheeling.
"It's a lot of fun. We've tied it into Meet The Team, and the Useltons, Ben and Brenda, have been so gracious to our team, and we can't thank them enough," Ellenwood said. "It's starting to become a tradition now. It helps our team financially, and it helps the community get to know our guys, and that's something we're trying to build on."
Ashland men's basketball has earned 230 victories and two conference championships, and made five NCAA Division II postseason appearances, over the last 12 seasons. In 2025-26, the Eagles went 20-11 overall and 13-7 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, qualified for a conference tournament for the 12
th straight season and went to the D-II playoffs.
