Fred Barakat (from

Union City, New Jersey Union City is a City (New Jersey), city in the North Hudson, New Jersey, northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in Ne ...

, April 8, 1939 – June 21, 2010) was an American college

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and Assistant Commissioner of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

. Barakat was a 1961 graduate of Assumption College in

Worcester, MA Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

where he was a two-time All-America basketball player for the Greyhounds. He was a territorial draft selection of the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

(NBA) and also had a baseball try-out with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. He played five years in the Eastern Basketball Pro League. He returned to Assumption as an assistant basketball coach in the fall of 1966 and as head soccer coach. Barakat became the sixth men's college basketball coach of the

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...

Stags in 1970 and is the all-time most successful coach in the school's history (160–128). He led the Stags to three

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

appearances (1973, 74, 78) including the programs' first post-season berth as a Division I program in 1973. An 80–76 win over Marshall was the program's first

victory. He also led the team to three E.C.A.C. regionals in 1977, 78 and 80. The Stags 22–5 mark in 1977–78 was a then-school record. He joined the staff of the

in 1981 as Assistant Commissioner and in 2000 received the additional title of Director of Men's Basketball Operations. He was inducted into the Assumption College Alumni Association Athletic Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Fairfield Hall of Fame in 1990. A native of Union City, NJ, he was graduated from Emerson High and was also inducted into Emerson High (1998) and Hudson County (1999) Hall of Fames. Barakat resided in Greensboro, NC with his wife, Florence, and was the parent of four adult children: Nancy, Christie, Amy, and Rick. Barakat died in Greensboro of a heart attack on June 21, 2010, at the age of 71. His daughter Nancy is currently the Mayor of Greensboro. For all of his contributions to basketball and the

, Barakat was inducted into the Guilford County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

References

External links

Dick Vitale Tribute to Fred Barakat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barakat, Fred 1939 births 2010 deaths Basketball coaches from New Jersey UConn Huskies men's basketball coaches Fairfield Stags men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Union City, New Jersey Basketball players from Hudson County, New Jersey Assumption Greyhounds men's basketball players New York Knicks draft picks American men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen