Rollie Massimino

Rollie Massimino

Massimino in Philadelphia on March 21, 2009
Sport(s) Basketball
Current position
Title Head coach
Team Keiser
Conference The Sun
Record 245–60
Biographical details
Born (1934-11-13) November 13, 1934
Hillside, New Jersey
Playing career
1953–1956 Vermont
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1959–1962 Cranford HS (assistant)
1962–1965 Hillside HS
1965–1969 Lexington HS
1969–1971 Stony Brook
1972–1973 Penn (assistant)
1973–1992 Villanova
1992–1994 UNLV
1996–2003 Cleveland State
2006–present Northwood (FL)/Keiser
Head coaching record
Overall 763–448 (college)
Tournaments 0–2 (NCAA College Division)
21–10 (NCAA Division I)
4–5 (NIT)
11–7 (NAIA Division II)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA Division I (1985)
3× Eastern 8 regular season (1978–1980)
2× Eastern 8 Tournament (1978, 1980)
2× Big East regular season (1982, 1983)
6× TSC regular season (2007–2009, 2011– 2013)
3× TSC Tournament (2010, 2012, 2014)
College Basketball Hall of Fame
Inducted in 2013

Roland Vincent "Rollie" Massimino (born November 13, 1934) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head men's basketball coach at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida,[1] a position he has held since 2006, when the university was known as Northwood University. Massimino previously served as the head men's basketball coach at Stony Brook University (1969–1971), Villanova University (1973–1992), the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (1992–1994), and Cleveland State University (1996–2003). At Villanova, he led his 1984–85 team to the NCAA Championship. Entering the 1985 NCAA Tournament as an eight seed, Villanova defeated their heavily favored Big East Conference foe, the Georgetown Hoyas, who had Patrick Ewing, in the National Championship Game. The upset is widely regarded as one of the greatest in North American sports history.[2]

Education

Roland Massimino graduated from Hillside High School in Hillside, New Jersey, in 1952. He has a master's degree equivalent in health and physical education from Rutgers University (1959) and a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Vermont (1956). While a student at UVM, he became a member of the Alpha-Lambda Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.[3]

Coaching career

High school

After graduating from the University of Vermont, where he played varsity basketball for three years, Massimino entered the coaching ranks in 1956. In 1959, he began a three-year tenure as an assistant coach at Cranford High School in Cranford, New Jersey.[4]

Massimino took his first head coach position in 1962 at Hillside High School in New Jersey. With the support of high school All-American Bill Schutsky and others (Schutsky later captained the West Point basketball team), Massimino led the Comets to the state Group IV finals in 1963 and 1964. In both seasons, Hillside was defeated in the final playoff game by Newark's Central High School. The Comets lost during both years to a team composed of taller players, despite pushing the thrilling 1963 championship game into double-overtime.

From there, Massimino moved to Lexington High School in Massachusetts. In 1965, he led the Lexington squad to a state championship and later led another to a 20–1 record. Along the way, Massimino was laying the foundation for an elite scholastic program which later dominated the Middlesex League, winning state titles in 1971, 1972, and 1978 along with league championships in 16 of the past 30 years.

In ten seasons as a high school coach, Massimino compiled a 160–61 record.[5]

College

Massimino's collegiate debut came in 1969 as head coach of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In his first season the Patriots (now Seawolves) won the conference championship after going 19–6, earning a berth in the NCAA small college tournament. Massimino's next stop was as an assistant coach under Chuck Daly at the University of Pennsylvania.

Massimino left Penn in March 1973, succeeding Jack Kraft as head coach of Villanova and leading the 1984-85 Wildcats team to one of the greatest upsets in NCAA tournament history by knocking off top-seeded Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) in the 1985 NCAA Tournament Championship Game. The road to the finals proved an even greater challenge, kicking off with a win on #9-seed Dayton's home court, followed by victories over #1-seed Michigan, #4-seed Maryland, #2-seed North Carolina, before culminating in a Final Four victory over #2-seeded Memphis State.

After Villanova's unexpected championship run, Massimino was offered the job of head coach of the National Basketball Association New Jersey Nets, which he declined in order to devote more time to his family.

Massimino resigned from Villanova in 1992 to assume the head coaching job at UNLV. The initial hope was that he could restore the success and credibility of the UNLV program after the basketball team's 1991–92 probation and the forced resignation of long-time coach Jerry Tarkanian. Two years later, Massimino was himself forced out when it was revealed that he and UNLV president Robert Maxson had cut a side deal to lift Massimino's salary above the figure being reported to the state of Nevada and the state commission ruled that this had violated both state ethics laws, as well as UNLV rules.

Moving on to Cleveland State University in 1996, Massimino's teams recorded a 90–113 record in his seven seasons as coach. Massimino's contract was bought out following a series of off-court issues. These included several players with drug and alcohol problems, other players arrested for serious crimes, and allegations of academic fraud.[6]

Massimino is currently the head coach of the men's basketball team at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida, members in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The 2006–07 Northwood coached by Massimino was its inaugural season in The Sun Conference. In his first four seasons with the Seahawks, Massimino led Northwood to four FSC regular season titles, four appearances in the NAIA National tournament, and the Seahawks reached the Elite Eight in 2008. Massimino and the Seahawks have received bids to the NAIA tournament in all of his eight seasons at Northwood, with the team's best finishes a place in the national semifinals in 2011 and a national runner-up finish in 2012. Though the end of the 2013-14 season, Massimino's overall record at Northwood stands at 227–48 (.825 winning percentage).

On November 1, 2012, Massimino returned to Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky for the first time since his 1985 championship triumph, playing a preseason exhibition game against reigning NCAA Division I champions Kentucky. The game was played at the request of Massimino after indicating to Kentucky head coach John Calipari that the 2012–13 season could be his last in coaching. In a later interview, Massimino hedged somewhat, saying, "I don't know if it's my last [season]. I hope I can go another year or so."[7] Kentucky introduced Massimino with a video montage of the final minutes of Villanova's 1985 victory.[8]

Head coaching record

Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Stony Brook Patriots (Knickerbocker Conference) (1969–1971)
1969–70 Stony Brook 19–4 8–0[9] 1st NCAA College Division First Round
1970–71 Stony Brook 15–10 7–2[9] 2nd
Stony Brook: 34–14 15–2
Villanova Wildcats (NCAA Division I independent) (1973–1976)
1973–74 Villanova 7–19
1974–75 Villanova 9–18
1975–76 Villanova 16–11
Villanova Wildcats (Eastern Collegiate Basketball League/Eastern Athletic Association) (1976–1980)
1976–77 Villanova 23–10 6–1 2nd (East) NIT Third Place
1977–78 Villanova 23–9 7–3 T–1st (East) NCAA Sweet 16
1978–79 Villanova 13–13 9–1 1st (East)
1979–80 Villanova 23–8 7–3 T–1st (East) NCAA Second Round
Villanova Wildcats (Big East Conference) (1980–1992)
1980–81 Villanova 20–11 8–6 T–3rd NCAA Second Round
1981–82 Villanova 22–8 11–3 1st NCAA Sweet 16
1982–83 Villanova 24–8 12–4 T–1st NCAA Sweet 16
1983–84 Villanova 19–12 12–4 T–2nd NCAA Second Round
1984–85 Villanova 25–10 9–7 T–3rd NCAA Champions
1985–86 Villanova 23–14 10–6 4th NCAA Second Round
1986–87 Villanova 15–16 6–10 6th
1987–88 Villanova 24–13 9–7 T–3rd NCAA Elite 8
1988–89 Villanova 18–16 7–9 T–5th NIT Quarterfinal
1989–90 Villanova 18–15 8–8 T–5th NCAA First Round
1990–91 Villanova 17–15 7–9 T–7th NCAA Second Round
1991–92 Villanova 14–15 11–7 4th NIT First Round
Villanova: 355–241 139–88
UNLV Rebels (Big West Conference) (1992–1994)
1992–93 UNLV 21–8 13–5 2nd NIT First Round
1993–94 UNLV 15–13 10–8 T–5th
UNLV: 36–21 23–13
Cleveland State Vikings (Midwestern Collegiate Conference/Horizon League) (1996–2003)
1996–97 Cleveland State 9–19 6–10 T–6th
1997–98 Cleveland State 12–15 6–8 T–5th
1997–98 Cleveland State 12–15 6–8 T–5th
1998–99 Cleveland State 14–14 6–8 5th
1999–00 Cleveland State 16–14 9–5 2nd
2000–01 Cleveland State 19–13 9–5 3rd
2001–02 Cleveland State 12–16 6–10 7th
2002–03 Cleveland State 8–22 3–13 9th
Cleveland State: 90–113 51–67
Northwood (FL)/Keiser Seahawks (Florida Sun/The Sun Conference) (2006–present)
2006–07 Northwood (FL) 23–9 9–3[10] 1st[11] NAIA D-II First Round
2007–08 Northwood (FL) 27–8 12–2[10] 1st[12] NAIA D-II Quarterfinal
2008–09 Northwood (FL) 27–6 11–3 1st[13] NAIA D-II Second Round
2009–10 Northwood (FL) 27–7 12–4 2nd[14] NAIA D-II First Round
2010–11 Northwood (FL) 33–4 16–0 1st NAIA D-II Semifinal
2011–12 Northwood (FL) 34–4 14–2 T–1st[15] NAIA D-II Runners-Up
2012–13 Northwood (FL) 30–4 14–2 1st NAIA D-II First Round
2013–14 Northwood (FL) 26–7 14–4[16] T–2nd[17] NAIA D-II First Round
2014–15 Northwood (FL) 18–12 10–8[18] T–3rd
Northwood (FL)/Keiser: 245–61 112–28
Total: 763–448

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Rollie Massimino". KEISER UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS. Keiser University. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Carey, Jack (March 15, 2010). "Efficient '85 Villanova team mounted tourney's greatest upset". USA Today. Retrieved October 16, 2011.
  3. ↑ The Ariel. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont. 1954. pp. 200–201.
  4. ↑ "Keiser University Bio". Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "The New Jersey Nets are expected to announce Rollie...". 19 June 1985. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  6. ↑ http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/7613396/1
  7. ↑ Tipton, Jerry (October 31, 2012). "UK notes: Massimino revisits site of "historic moment"". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  8. ↑ Associated Press (November 1, 2012). "Kentucky Rolls Past Northwood in Exhibition". University of Kentucky Athletics. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  9. 1 2 http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ston/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/2014-15/misc_non_event/2014-15-mbb-record-book.pdf
  10. 1 2 http://issuu.com/nuseahawks/docs/2013_men_s_basketball_media_guide
  11. ↑ http://www.thesunconference.com/standings.aspx?standings=20
  12. ↑ http://www.thesunconference.com/standings.aspx?standings=21
  13. ↑ http://www.thesunconference.com/standings.aspx?standings=22
  14. ↑ http://www.thesunconference.com/standings.aspx?standings=23
  15. ↑ http://www.thesunconference.com/standings.aspx?standings=65
  16. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20141107201100/http://seahawks.gonorthwood.com/sports/mbkb/2013-14/schedule
  17. ↑ http://www.thesunconference.com/standings.aspx?standings=93
  18. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20150507023411/http://seahawks.gonorthwood.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/schedule
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