Rollie Massimino

Rollie Massimino
Massimino in Philadelphia on March 21, 2009
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Northwood (FL)
Record	201–41
Biographical details
Born	(1934-11-13) November 13, 1934 Hillside, New Jersey
Playing career
1953–1956	Vermont
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1959–1962 1962–1965 1965–1969 1969–1971 1972–1973 1973–1992 1992–1994 1996–2003 2006–present	Cranford HS (NJ) (assistant) Hillside HS (NJ) Lexington HS (MA) Stony Brook Penn (assistant) Villanova UNLV Cleveland State Northwood (FL)
Head coaching record
Overall	717–432 (college)
Tournaments	0–2 (NCAA College Division) 21–10 (NCAA Division I) 4–5 (NIT) 11–7 (NAIA Division II) 9–2 (EBCL / Eastern 8) 13–12 (Big East) 2–2 (Big West) 3–7 (MCC/Horizon) 10–5 (TSC)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 1 NCAA Division I (1985) 3 Eastern 8 regular season (1978–1980) 2 Eastern 8 Tournament (1978, 1980) 2 Big East regular season (1982–1983) 5 TSC regular season (2007–2009, 2011, 2012) 2 TSC Tournament (2010, 2012)

Roland V. "Rollie" Massimino (born November 13, 1934) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head men's basketball coach at the Florida campus of Northwood University in West Palm Beach, a position he has held since 2006. 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 Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Entering the 1985 NCAA Tournament as an eight seed, Villanova defeated their heavily favored Big East Conference foe, the Georgetown Hoyas, in the National Championship Game. The upset is widely regarded as one of the greatest in North American sports history.

Education

Massimino 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).

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.^{[citation needed]} In 1959, he began a three year tenure as an assistant coach at Cranford High School in Cranford, New Jersey; this was Massimino's high school alma mater.

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 Shutsky and others (Shutsky 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}

In ten seasons as a high school coach, Massimino compiled a 160–61 record.^{[citation needed]}

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 had a record of 19–6, won the conference championship, and earned a berth in the NCAA small college tournament.^{[citation needed]} Massimino's next step was the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as an assistant coach under Chuck Daly.^{[citation needed]}

In March 1973, Massimino left Penn to succeed John Kraft as the head coach at Villanova. During the 1984–85 season, Massimino's club pulled off one the great upsets in college basketball history by knocking off top-seeded Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.) by a score of 66–64 in the 1985 NCAA Tournament Championship Game. The road to the finals was even harder, starting with a win on the home court of #9-seed Dayton, then with victories over #1-seed Michigan, #4-seed Maryland, #2-seed North Carolina and a Final Four victory over #2-seeded Memphis State. After the championship season, Massimino rejected an offer to coach the New Jersey Nets, claiming that he wanted more time to devote to his personal life.

In 1992, he resigned from Villanova to take the head coaching job at UNLV. Initially, the hope had been that he would restore the success and credibility of UNLV after the basketball team's 1991–92 probation and the forced resignation of long-time coach Jerry Tarkanian. Two years later, Massimino was 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 that had been reported to the state of Nevada. A state commission decided that this had violated state ethics laws, as well as UNLV rules.

In 1996, he coached at Cleveland State University. Under Coach Massimino for seven seasons, the Cleveland State basketball squad tallied a 90–113 record. Massimino's contract was bought out following a series of off-court issues.^{[citation needed]}. These included several players with drug and alcohol problems, other players arrested for serious crimes, and allegations of academic fraud. See, http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/7613396/1

Massimino returned to Villanova, where he was embraced by the school that he brought to fame. Massimino travelled with the Villanova basketball team during the 2005–06 season as part of Villanova's official traveling party.^{[citation needed]}

Massimino is currently the head coach for the men's basketball team at Northwood University in West Palm Beach, Florida, which participates in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The 2006–07 Northwood team that Massimino coached was the first in which it competed 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 seven seasons at Northwood, with the team's best finishes being a place in the national semifinals in 2011 and a national runner-up finish in 2012. Massimino's overall record at Northwood stands at 201–41 (.831 winning percentage) after the 2012–13 season. http://seahawks.gonorthwood.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/index.

On November 1, 2012, Massimino returned to Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, the site of his 1985 championship triumph, for the first time since that game. His Northwood team was playing a preseason exhibition against reigning NCAA Division I champions Kentucky. Massimino had requested the game from Kentucky head coach John Calipari, telling Calipari that the 2012–13 season could be his last as a coach. 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." Kentucky introduced Massimino with a video montage of the final minutes of Villanova's 1985 victory.

Family

Massimino and his wife, Mary Jane, have five children—Tom, Lee Ann, Michele, Roland (R. C.), and Andrew—as well as 17 grandchildren—Roland, Stephen, Tommy, Michael, Kayla, John, Kristin, Leo, Matthew, Grace, Megan, Nicholas, Jessica, Nicole, Roland Michael, Melissa, and Rocco.

Head coaching record

College

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Stony Brook Patriots (Knickerbocker Conference) (1969–1971)
1969–70	Stony Brook	18–6	8–0		NCAA College Division Regional Fourth Place
1970–71	Stony Brook	15–10	7–2
Stony Brook:		33–16	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 8) (1976–1980)
1976–77	Villanova	23–10	6–1	2nd (East)	NIT Third Place
1977–78	Villanova	23–9	7–3	T–1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1978–79	Villanova	15–13	9–1	1st
1979–80	Villanova	23–8	7–3	T–1st	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	24–8	11–3	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1982–83	Villanova	24–8	12–4	T–1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1983–84	Villanova	19–12	12–4	T–2nd	NCAA Second Round
1984–85	Villanova	25–10	9–7	T–3rd	NCAA Champion
1985–86	Villanova	23–14	10–6	4th	NCAA Second Round
1986–87	Villanova	15–16	6–10	6th	NIT First Round
1987–88	Villanova	24–13	9–7	T–3rd	NCAA Eilte Eight
1988–89	Villanova	18–16	7–9	T–5th	NIT Third Round
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
Vilanova:		357–241	139–88
UNLV Runnin' 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
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	45–59
Northwood Seahawks (The Sun Conference) (2006–present)
2006–07	Northwood	23–9	9–3	1st	NAIA Division II First Round
2007–08	Northwood	27–8	12–2	1st	NAIA Division II Quarterfinal
2008–09	Northwood	27–6	11–3	1st	NAIA Division II Second Round
2009–10	Northwood	27–6	12–4	2nd	NAIA Division II First Round
2010–11	Northwood	33–4	16–0	1st	NAIA Division II Semifinal
2011–12	Northwood	34–4	14–2	1st	NAIA Division II Runner-up
2012–13	Northwood	30–4	14–2	1st	NAIA Division II First Round
Northwood:		201–41	88–16
Total:		717–432
National champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference tournament champion       Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference division champion

See also

• List of college men's basketball coaches with 600 wins

External links

• Northwood profile