Rollie Massimino

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Rollie Massimino

Date of birth	November 13, 1934 (age 72)
Place of birth	Hillside, New Jersey
Sport	Basketball
College	Vermont
Title	Head coach
Overall Record	515-391 (.568)
Championships   won	NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship (1985)
Coaching positions
1969-1971 1973-1992 1992-1994 1996-2003	Stony Brook Villanova UNLV Cleveland State

Roland V. "Rollie" Massimino (born November 13, 1934 in Hillside, New Jersey, United States) is a men's college basketball coach. He is known primarily for leading the Villanova Wildcats to an NCAA championship in 1985, despite entering the tournament as an eighth seed. He has a career coaching record (pre Northwood) of 515-391, ranking him 57th all time in wins among coaches with at least 10 years of experience at the NCAA division I level. His 515 career wins also make him one of only 17 coaches in NCAA history with more than 500 career victories. Massimino's club pulled off one the great upsets in college basketball history by knocking off top-seeded Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.), 66-64, in the 1985 final. The road to the finals was even harder, starting with a win on the home court of #9-seed Dayton, then wins over #1-seed Michigan, #4-seed Maryland with Player of the Year Len Bias, #2-seed North Carolina and Dean Smith, and then a Final Four victory over #2-seeded Memphis State, with the terrific Andre Turner at point guard and two NBA lottery picks in Keith Lee and William Bedford. He rejected a subsequent offer to coach the New Jersey Nets, claiming that he wanted more time for his personal life.

[edit] High School

Massimino began his coaching career in 1962 at Hillside High School in New Jersey where he laid the foundation for his future college coaching successes. With the support of high school All-American, Bill Shutsky (who later captained the West Point basketball team) and others such as Paul Freider and John Maddalena, he led the Comets to the state Group IV finals in 1963 and 1964 against Central High School of Newark in both seasons. Unfortunately, the Comets lost in both years to a team comprised of taller players.

Massimino began his coaching career in 1956 after graduating from the University of Vermont where he played varsity basketball for three years. His first three seasons he served as an assistant coach at Cranford High School in Cranford, New Jersey before securing his first head coaching job at Hillside (N.J.) High School, his prep alma mater, in 1959.

From there he moved to Lexington High School, Mass., in 1965, where he led one squad to a state championship and another to a 20-1 record, along the way laying the foundation for an elite scholastic program which has dominated the Middlesex League, winning state titles in 1971, 1972, and 1978 along with league championships in sixteen of the past thirty years. In ten seasons as a high school coach, Massimino compiled a 160-61 record.

[edit] College

He debuted at the collegiate coaching level in 1969 as the head coach of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His first team went 19-6, won the conference championship, and earned a berth in the NCAA small college tournament. Massimino’s next step was an assistant’s position at the University of Pennsylvania under Chuck Daly, most recently of the NBA's Orlando Magic. In March 1973, Massimino left Penn to succeed John Kraft as the head coach at Villanova. Massimino has a master's degree equivalent in health and physical education from Rutgers University (1959) and a bachelor’s degree from Vermont (1956) in education. Massimino and his wife Mary Jane have five children--Tom, Lee Ann, Michele, Roland (R.C.), and Andrew--as well as 16 grandchildren--Roland, Stephen, Tom, Michael, Kayla, John, Kristen, Leo, Matthew, Grace, Megan, Nicholas, Jessica, Nicole, Roland Michael, and Mellisa.

His grandchildren have also had moderate success. Roland (18) is a top Division I college football prospect who currently plays football and basketball for North Barrington High School in Barrington Illinois. Stephen (17) is a professional wrestler out of Philadelphia Pennsylvania.

In 1992, he resigned from Villanova to take the head coaching job at UNLV. Initially, the hope was that he would restore the success and credibility of UNLV after its 1991-92 probation and forced resignation of Jerry Tarkanian. But after two tough seasons, he was fired, and eventually, he ended up coaching at Cleveland State University, never again matching the success he had at Villanova. Noted for his "Family Style" coaching, Massimino is considered to be one of the greatest college coaches of all time. He is also a member of the Italian American Hall of Fame.

He returned to Villanova, and was embraced by the school once again, having travelled with the Villanova basketball team during the 2005-2006 season as part of Villanova's official traveling party.

He currently is the Director of Basketball Operations for the men's and women's teams at Northwood University Florida campus, a private school in West Palm Beach, Fla. He is coaching the Northwood University Seahawks. The 2006-2007 year will be the first basketball team the Northwood Florida campus (as members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, with hopes of joining the NCAA Division II ranks in the future) has ever had competing in the Florida Sun Conference. Coach Massimino hopes to lead the team to the NAIA Division II National Championship in their first season. The Seahawks' first game was against one of Coach Massimino's old teams, which he won a championship with in 1985, the Villanova Wildcats. Villanova won the contest between the coach and the student, 97-60.

[edit] Coaching Tree

Rollie's coaching tree is impressive and widespread.

• Tom Brennan, Vermont
• Pat Flannery, Bucknell
• Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech
• Fred Hill, Jr., Rutgers
• Steve Lappas, former Villanova and Univ. of Mass. head coach
• Tom Pecora, Hofstra
• Jay Wright, Villanova

Preceded by John Kraft	Villanova Head Men's Basketball Coach 1973 – 1992	Succeeded by Steve Lappas
Preceded by Jerry Tarkanian	UNLV Head Men's Basketball Coach 1992 – 1994	Succeeded by Tim Grgurich
Preceded by Mike Boyd	Cleveland State Head Men's Basketball Coach 1996 – 2003	Succeeded by Mike Garland