http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?s=6571402

Former Idaho State Guard Rafiq Named Head Coach of Afghanistan National Basketball Team

Idaho, USA 

                        The Afghan National Basketball team has announced it will name Mohammad "Mamo" Rafiq, a graduate assistant and athletics department leader from Idaho State University whom was born in Afghanistan as the head coach of their emerging national program. Mamo, 25 years old, born in Kabul, Afghanistan in December of 1981 during the conflict between Afghanistan and Russia, and as the nation continues to rebuild, Rafiq is hoping to contribute to the efforts, helping to train and formulate a national program that will eventually compete at the highest levels of international competition.

As the only Afghan Division I scholarship basketball player during the 2001-2002 season after September 11th, he was featured on ESPN's Sportscenter, helping to educate his fellow athletes and students about his religion and culture. Rafiq hopes to use his success in the athletic community as a native Afghan to lead the revival of the Afghan athletic programs, and inspire those in his home country who continue to rebuild their nation. Esmail Husseini, the manager of the Afghan National Team, who is helping to build this program for the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee-Afghanistan Amateur Basketball Federation, and was also a member of the 1973-75 Afghan basketball team is looking to Rafiq to coach the team to prominence, to "help build the bridges between the Afghan athlete with the rest of the world." Husseini likes the young talented new head coach's leadership background, and feels his experience will help build a contender the nation will be proud of. Mr. Husseini is also the Head Coordinator of the Afghan Sports Federations' basketball league in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area and is hoping to recruit new talent from the pool of young Afghan players.

Like Husseini, numerous coaches feel Rafiq's work ethic and leadership skills will be key to his successes at the head coaching level. Doug Oliver, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach at Stanford University, gave Mamo a Division I scholarship at Idaho State before hiring him on as a Graduate Assistant coach. Oliver believes his point guard experience and "high level of understanding for the game" are valuable tools Rafiq possesses. Oliver also feels Rafiq is "very capable of coaching and teaching basketball at a high level". Northeastern Junior College Head Coach Eddie Trinkle echoed the sentiments of Oliver. Trinkle praised Mamo's work ethic stating, "he worked harder than anyone else, with a great attitude and heart." Qualities that Trinkle feels will take Rafiq far in the coaching world. California State University Northridge Assistant Coach Louis Wilson also feels that Rafiq possessed qualities inherent in a successful head coach, both on the court and in the community as someone that "leads by example on the court, and in the community was a well respected Afghan American and a source of pride for the college town that readily embraced Rafiq as a representative of the Idaho State community." Greg Clink, an Associate Head Coach at the University of California-Davis saw an ability to persevere in Rafiq. During his stay at Davis, Mamo battled injuries that limited his play. Even while battling injuries, Clink saw a leader that was a "driven student and athlete that worked hard on the court to help the team any way he could, and in the classroom he took his academics very seriously." While Mamo has no formal head coaching experience, his leadership as a student athlete and graduate assistant attracted the (team organizers) to him in hopes of building a national contender that will be able to compete at Olympic levels.

The Afghanistan National Team competed in the 15th Asian Games in Qatar in November of 2006. Afghanistan upset Hong Kong 66-57 before falling to Syria the next day, 84-66. Rafiq recently completed his Masters in Athletic Administration and has been accepted into the educational leadership Doctorate program at Idaho State University which he will begin in August 2007 to go along with his bachelor's degree in History earned at the University of California-Davis. Rafiq currently assists the Idaho State women's basketball team that has contended in the NCAA post season play the last (two) years, as well as a graduate assistant and academics coordinator for the athletics department. In 2005, Rafiq was selected as the Giant Steps Award Winner in the category of Courageous Student-Athlete by the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS). Also in 2005, Rafiq was the recipient of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Ethnic Minority Postgraduate Scholarship for Careers in Athletics.

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