Coach Massimino

In hospice care.

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Very sorry to hear. Always one of my favs as a coach and person. My daughter also a high school classmate/friend of his granddaughter. Prayers for Rollie.
 
One of the truly great Big East coaches.
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In hospice care.

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Very sorry to hear. Always one of my favs as a coach and person. My daughter also a high school classmate/friend of his granddaughter. Prayers for Rollie.
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Prayers indeed, I had the pleasure of being in his company twice, albeit in sizable groups both times but he seemed a genuinely nice man. Puts in perspective all the teeth gnashing over an 18 year old who changed his mind while dealing with the trauma of unexpectedly losing his Mom.
 
BREAKING: Rollie Massimino, who coached Villanova to unlikely ‘85 NCAA title, has died. He was 82. nydn.us/2vt83hi - @CRedRojo
 
BREAKING: Rollie Massimino, who coached Villanova to unlikely ‘85 NCAA title, has died. He was 82. nydn.us/2vt83hi - @CRedRojo
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Saddened to hear. RIP Coach. Prayers for him and his family.
 
I worked for Coach Mass for several years at his summer camp. He was a great guy and was always willing to share his knowledge of basketball with anyone at any time. The kids that played for Coach loved him. I always respected (and still do respect) the family atmosphere that has been fostered through the years at Villanova. I used to tell Coach that I rooted for him to win every game every year, except for the ones against St John's.

Coach was a wild man on the sidelines. At the end of every game, his hair was a mess, his shirt was always out of his pants and his tie was turned cockeyed to the side. He looked like he just finished a 12 round fight with the heavyweight champion of the world. He was a colorful character who was extremely passionate about the game.

I was sorry to see him follow the Tark at UNLV after winning the NCAA title at Nova. It was a lose-lose situation but it gave Coach an opportunity to make a lot more money than Nova could ever pay.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to see Coach continue his career for several years in Florida. He coached Northwood University (named later changed to Keiser University), an NAIA school. He built the program from scratch and did extremely well, going far in the national tournament.

RIP, Coach. You were a great coach but an even better man. The world was a better place because of you. You will be missed by anyone and everyone that ever crossed paths with you.


http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...9434/coaching-legend-rollie-massimino-dies-82
 
RIP Coach. I met him at a camp when I was kid and he was a special guest. He was always entertaining but well respected. Unfortunately. another part of the old Big East goes with him.
 
He was a real old school character mix of mania and class that you don't see coming up any more. The only guy I can think of that is even close to that mold is Frank Martin at SC
 
Wow, I was pretty sure he was still coaching, and sure enough, he did coach this past season.

I can only think of him as part of a group of wonderfully colorful, competitive, and successful coaches that built the Big East out of dust to one of the powerhouse conferences. Echo comments about him stalking the sidelines and be a total mess by halftime, looking like a crazed professor. Between Massimino, Looie, Boeheim, Jim O'Brien and Tom Davis (BC), Thompsom, Raftery, et al, they were animated, whiners, rode referees mercilessly, and competitive.

Rollie coached the greatest game in NCAA finals history, in process probably had 90% of the country rooting for Nova vs. the hated Hoyas. Looie would call it grabbing the brass ring. I went home from Lexington early rather than watch Georgetown cut the nets down - sold my ticket for face value, about $20, before leaving the arena.

That moment was the Big East's shining spot in the sun. Yea, the loss still stings for our win starved program, but still 30+ years later, the Big East had not only won the NCAA championship but dominated the highest echelons of the tourney, with 3 teams in the final four.

It's hard to ever dislike the guy who beat Ewing, Thompson, and the band of tough talented powerhouse that Georgetown had assembled. He's been out of the spotlight for a very long time, but his passing recalls the glory days, when just about any Big East game was an event. SJU has never been the same. Nova recovered and found something that perhaps is an even better coach. BC - forget it. Georgetown has their own rebuilding. But still, for a moment, we can recall Rollie stomping up and down like a madmen, exhorting his teams as if his gyrations and rants could squeeze out wins, and maybe they did.

A sad day for all of us. A little bit of our own history died today. RIP.
 
" Unremarked upon in Saint John’s fan forums – where this Sunday morning I was treated to an amusing essay the gist of which was that negroes who play in the NBA go broke because they spend too much money tricking out their Escalades – was Rollie Massimino, who on Wednesday won the 800th game of his illustrious career when the Keiser University Seahawks defeated Trinity Baptist University 77-47, making the 82 year-old Massimino only the third active college basketball coach with 800 wins, Mike Scherwrenky and Jim Boeheim being the other two. And what a long strange trip it’s been. Massimino first coached at Stony Brook – the Seawolves, which almost brings him full circle but not quite – in 1969. Despite having no college coaching experience and being a Rutgers graduate he had immediate success, going 34 and 14 in two years before moving on to Villanova University after a year as an assistant to former Piston coach Chuck Daly, then at Pennsylvania University. Massimino won 300 plus games at Villanova in 19 years, including an improbable national championship in 1985, the year Saint John’s made its only final four in the modern era and its first since Democrats elected former Ku Klux Klan member Harry Truman president of the United States. It turns out that that championship was the apex of Massimino’s career – and the glory from that dimmed somewhat when it was revealed later that most of Massimino’s players were degenerate junkies who were snorting cocaine in the locker room at halftime. Massimino resigned from Villanova in 1992 to take the head coaching job at UNLV, where he was a respectable 35-21, but was fired after it was discovered that – in an ironic turn – Massimino was receiving payments under the table from the university president. After Nevada Massimino turned up at Cleveland State where he was a moribund 90 and 113 and where once again his players ran amok, forcing Massimino to resign amidst allegations of drug abuse, criminal behavior and academic fraud. In 2006 after a three year hiatus Massimino took the coaching job at Kaiser – then Northwood University, the Timberwolves, not the Seawolves – where his record stands at 245 and 61: he’s won 30 games three times, never lost more than 9 games in a season and made the NAIA tournament every year, including a loss a few years back in the national championship to powerhouse the Oregon Institute of Technology Hustlin’ Owls. Congratulations Rollie"

... and RIP

http://www.bigeastboards.com/?p=629
 
Mostly posted for Paul:

August 30, 2017

Dear Members of the Villanova Community:

It is with great sadness that I inform you that coaching legend Roland “Rollie” Massimino, who was the head Men’s Basketball Coach at Villanova from 1973 to 1992, passed away Wednesday afternoon at the age of 82. Coach was at his home in Florida, surrounded by family.

Coach Massimino won the hearts of the nation during the Wildcats’ 1985 championship run, when Villanova, as an eight seed, defeated the heavily favored Georgetown Hoyas in an upset that is widely recognized as one of the greatest in sports history.

This may have been his most notable win, however, during Coach Massimino’s tenure here, he led the Wildcats to 357 victories, including 20 in the NCAA Tournament. In addition to the 1985 NCAA title, he led Villanova to Elite Eight appearances in 1978, 1982, 1983 and 1988. Coach Massimino was named the BIG EAST Coach of the Year in 1982, and was inducted into the Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

A beloved member of the Villanova family, Coach leaves a legacy that will have a lasting impact on the Villanova Men’s Basketball Program for generations to come. He never forgot about his Villanova roots, and was there in 2016 to cheer the Men’s Basketball Team on to victory when they clinched the NCAA Championship title for a second time. Click here for more on the legendary life and career of Coach Massimino.

Coach Massimino’s dedication to and love for coaching never ended. After a three-year retirement, he returned in 2006 to Northwood, later renamed Keiser University. He earned his 800th career coaching win last December, finishing his career with 816 victories.

Coach’s love of family, community and team were always evident during his life, and we extend our deepest sympathies to his wife, five children and the entire Massimino family. A memorial Mass on campus will be held in his honor, and we will share that information once those arrangements have been finalized.

Please keep Coach Massimino’s family in your thoughts and prayers.


Sincerely,

Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA
President
 
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