Don't Mess with Happy

If you're involved in the world of sports, success is defined as "wins over losses." But when there's something more important than wins and losses, that definition can be questioned.

That was the situation facing longtime college basketball coach Fran Fraschilla. All he ever wanted to do was coach college basketball. When his career path took a different turn, he found a new career that kept him connected to the game. Then, when the opportunity to coach returned, Fraschilla had to choose whether chasing his own dream trumped what was best for his family.

Don't Mess With Happy chronicles Fraschilla's life, first in coaching and then in his second career of broadcasting. His introspective approach lets you inside his thought processes as he defined success and then measured life-altering decisions against that definition.

This autobiography includes life lessons Fraschilla learned while coaching under college coaching legends, making his own successful mark in coaching, and through immersing himself in the game as a closely connected outsider.

It's a story driven by passion for the game that is only exceeded by his passion for his family. Fraschilla was in high demand for coaching jobs because of the successful career he had experienced, first as an assistant and then for nine years as a head coach. But with his sons getting into their own playing careers, he chose to forego coaching to be available to his kids.

"After 23 years of coaching someone else's kids, I was going to coach my own for a while," Fraschilla said of his decision. "Basketball has been an important part of my life, but my family is infinitely more important."

Don't Mess With Happy is published by Storyteller Publishing, LLC, a firm bringing nearly 50 years of combined industry expertise to the forefront of emerging literature. The book is available for purchase at www.DontMessWithHappy.com.

Author: Fran Fraschilla,David Smale
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Storyteller Publishing, LLC
Published: 10/20/2026
Pages: 476
Weight: 1.79lbs
Size: 9.25h x 7.50w x 0.96d
ISBN: 9798996541003