In his second tenure as head coach of the University of Alaska Fairbanks men’s basketball team, over a decade and a half after his first exit, Frank Ostanik seems to mix familiar and fresh. This will be the case with both principles and personnel.
As for the latter, he’ll have an assistant coach who was barely in elementary school when Ostanik last led the Nanooks. That would be Tobin Karlberg, the 2018 Alaska Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year.
Before going on to play at the University of Alaska Anchorage from 2018-22 and Point Loma Nazarene (in San Diego, California) for the 2022-23 season. Karlberg was a star prep player at Grace Christian, while Ostanik coached at Monroe Catholic. Their teams had several runs in the state tournament over the years, and their connection was heralded by a fateful conversation.
“I remember the head coach at Grace Christian telling me years ago, ‘we’re going to be very good in a couple of years because we have Tobin.’ And I think Tobin was probably in fifth grade at the time.”
Ostanik sought out Karlberg to work at his Alaska Basketball Academy summer camps and ultimately to be his lead assistant in his return to UAF.
“I needed someone involved in the recruiting process so we could really get going,” Ostanik said.
Karlberg, who essentially wrapped up his recruiting for the 2024-25 season at Lewis-Clark State College (an NAIA program where he was an assistant last season), knew Ostanik being hired in the summer meant he “ fought an uphill battle”. struggle in relation to recruitment.”
He reached out to Ostanik with a list of players to target as he rebuilt the program; without Karlberg’s knowledge, Ostanik wanted him to be his main assistant.
They got to work, retaining five players from UAF’s 2023-24 roster and adding eight others almost entirely from the junior high level. Half of those additions are from Alaska, a trend that Ostanik and Karlberg would like to continue and that worked well for the former in the past as an assistant coach and in his three years as head coach of the Nanooks.
“Back in the mid-2000s, we were in the NCAA Sweet 16 in back-to-back years (2004 and 2005),” Ostanik said. “And I think in those years we started three or four Alaskans.”
The ideal would be to begin recruiting top Alaskans out of high school, which would allow UAF to foster further development, continuity and stability. To do that, they will need to generate more funding for scholarships.
There are no underclassmen (freshmen or sophomores) on UAF’s 2024-25 roster. As it is, it makes more sense to allocate the scholarships to players who can contribute immediately rather than investing in players who require more development.
One of the four Alaskans returning to the 49th state to play for the Nanooks appears set to be among the team leaders.
“You always want to keep your best kids at home, your best local kids at home.” Karlberg said. “And I think we went out and got the best Alaskan available in Chris Lee.”
Lee, a Ketchikan native, was the first player Ostanik contacted when he was brought back to UAF this summer. He should be an integral part of a Nanooks team that plays differently than it did under former head coach Greg Sparling or in Ostanik’s first stint at UAF.
“When I was here before, we would push it, flip it and post it,” Ostanik said. “That was our philosophy. Now it’s push it, flip it and attack it. We want to create advantages and then maintain advantages and then exploit.”
Karlberg’s status as someone who played college basketball within the last two years lends him additional credibility. He can connect with potential recruits, may have even played against them and is familiar with the new trends in the game. Primarily, the Nanooks’ new coaches prioritize players who are triple threats when they catch the ball, meaning they can all shoot, pass and attack finishes.
“Positionless basketball is really popular right now,” Karlberg said. “Obviously the game is moving in that direction. We look at guys like you’re either a point guard, you’re a big, or you’re a basketball player. And I think we went and got those best basketball players we could find.”
Ostanik argues that as important as X’s, O’s and schedules are, building relationships is at the forefront of what’s important. His pillars of the program are love, responsibility, toughness and service.
According to an AP News article published at the time of Ostanik’s resignation in 2007, his 55-32 record while serving as head coach at UAF was the best in program history. In the time between his last stint at UAF and his most recent, Ostanik compiled a 369-85 record at Monroe Catholic High School en route to four boys 3A basketball state titles.
“I didn’t necessarily want to leave UAF at that point,” Ostanik said. “But I did the most, I think, by trying to go out and do something that was really special at the high school level.”
He aims to establish the same penchant for development, especially with Alaska-raised players, at UAF.
“365 days from now, if everybody that can be left is back, we’ll be really good,” Ostanik said. “I’ll tell you right now, we’re going to go out there and compete for a championship.”
UAF men’s hoops begins the 2024-25 season at the Hawai’i/Alaska Challenge in Honolulu on Nov. 8. The Nanooks’ first home game is Nov. 22 against Multnomah.