From the stands during a recent men's basketball home game, Phil Keisman '07 looked like one of the Judges' coaches. Dressed in slacks and a blazer with a notebook in hand, he yelled at players until he was red in the face and jumped up and down like he was fighting for a rebound.But when play stopped and the team gathered around the bench for timeouts, Keisman fetched water for the players and helped towel them off before listening attentively to coach Brian Meehan's mid-game adjustments.

For now, Keisman is the team's student manager. But, as he announced to the 23 million adult readers of Sports Illustrated in the magazine's May 15 issue, Keisman has loftier long-term aspirations.

"I am a student manager at Division III Brandeis University, and I hope to start a career in coaching after my graduation," Keisman declared in a letter to the editor.

Keisman's letter was in response to Steve Rushin's April 24 profile of NBA coach Lawrence Frank. A short, white Jewish man with limited physical skills, Frank was the student manager of Indiana University's basketball team on his way to coaching the New Jersey Nets. In his quest for a professional coaching career, Frank is Keisman's biggest inspiration.

Meehan is confident that Keisman's involvement with the Judges could launch a bright future for him, much like it did for Frank.

"[Keisman] gets to be here every day and have access to the coaches, which is really good for him," Meehan said. "I have a staff that's very well-connected, and we'll be able to help Phil in his future."

With an intense passion for basketball but his own admitted physical limitations, Keisman has focused his energy toward teaching it to others rather than concentrating on his own play. On the Solomon Schecther High School basketball team in New York, Keisman would pay close attention to how his coach ran the team.

"I shied away from the playing aspect and more to the intellectual aspect," Keisman said.

But once he got to Brandeis, Keisman learned that the long winding journey to being a head coach isn't so glamorous. In his first season with the Judges, Keisman resented his role, a mixture of water boy and coaching protg. With his career goals in mind, Keisman wasn't interested in helping the team's players, only wanting to learn from coaches. But the Judges' coaches rarely met with Keisman at first.

"I didn't want to be part of the team and I didn't want to deal with players," he said. "I was sort of the guy who just hung around."

But as a sophomore, Keisman realized that he needed to contribute to the team in order to gain access to the coaches. He started doing some of the grunt work-getting water, toweling off the court-but still avoided the official title of manager.

Two years later, there is not a title he would rather have. Keisman said his work has earned him more than his volunteer salary of $0.

"Now I relish [being manager]," he said. "It's not glamorous work, but it's what I have to do to gain exposure for coaching. There's not much I haven't been taught by coach Meehan that someone else could have done. I get paid in knowledge."

Though Keisman is not scoring the points on the court, his dedication doesn't go

unnoticed by the team. He follows the same schedule as the players, and just like any player trying to improve, he hustles in practice.

"He's an integral part of the group," Meehan said. "He's as important to team chemistry as any player.Captain Stephen Hill'08 echoed: "He's a big part of our team. He puts in time, effort and hard work, and we appreciate that.

Keisman's efforts even earned him a very temporary coaching job. During spring vacation last semester, assistant coach Brian McKoy handed Keisman the reins of his AAU team, the Middlesex Magic, for one weekend, during which the team went 2-2.

His first stint at the head of the bench taught Keisman how much he still needed to learn about coaching, but he said he also realized that there were some coaching responsibilities he could already handle.

"More than anything, it taught me that I have to learn a whole lot more," Keisman said. "But I was surprised at how well I did rotations and having the confidence to talk to the team on the bench."

Keisman said he hopes to add to this experience after graduation by coaching at an elementary or high school, and eventually work himself up the ranks of the business.

But he's not without a sense of reality. His ultimate goal of coaching is a tough one, especially for someone with virtually no playing experience, and Keisman is willing to pursue other interests such as teaching history if coaching doesn't pan out in the long run.

"I'm following a dream, but in a pragmatic way," he said.

Still, if his letter to Sports Illustrated is any indication, it won't be surprising if Keisman's career at Brandeis turns him into the next Lawrence Frank.

"When someone cares so much about helping a team win, that's a huge asset," Judges' assistant coach Darren Erman said.

"There's a spot for Phil on any staff.