OT: RIP Rollie Massimino, dead at 82
- Thread starter RUMBA-JK
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R.I.P. Rollie. A colorful coach who helped make CBB exciting. Coached the biggest NCAA final's upset of all time!
RIP Rollie. I loved his sideline antics.
I rooted for Villanova when he was the coach there....One of the best players from Linden who lived down the street from me ( Aaron Howard) went to Villanova and I started rooted for them....after Rutgers of course.
I'm curious, did Rutgers ever make a play for Rollie to coach here ? He is a Jersey guy.
I rooted for Villanova when he was the coach there....One of the best players from Linden who lived down the street from me ( Aaron Howard) went to Villanova and I started rooted for them....after Rutgers of course.
I'm curious, did Rutgers ever make a play for Rollie to coach here ? He is a Jersey guy.
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I liked Rollie as well. I give him a lot of credit. After he was done at Villanova I think he went to Cleveland State and maybe to UNLV before he went to coach in Florida at a lower division team. He just loved to coach. I think he was still coaching this past season or the one before. I remember when he was the coach at Hillside High School.
He coached in Fla for some 20 years in semi-retirement, signing kids that played a year or two, max. Saw his Northwood teams a few times near W Palm--he wasn't all that mobile, and needed help some from his assistants, but he was doing what he loved. And his teams generally won. Think Keiser is one of those not-for- profits that advertises for students. In West Palm, and Rollie won his 800th there, one of just 9 to do so. That includes his non-D1 programs the last two decades.
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RIP Rollie. He added color and fun to the game .... as well as being a helluva shrewd coach.
What he did against Georgetown on that one night was the equivalent of Ali and the rope a dope vs Big George Foreman.And for that he makes my list of all timers.
The BE of the 80'S... Carnesseca; Boeheim; Calhoun; Thompson; Massimino; Pitino; Gary Williams (BC); PJ Carlisimo......a 8-10 team league such as the BE in the 80's or even the power conferences now will never have such a HOF and charismatic group of HC's as the BE had. Rollie was funny; loved by his players but he made a mistake when he looked for bigger things after Nova. Most of the HC's above basically remained knowing their MT Everest was where they were.
I think it happened during the Eastern Eight tournament one year. Rollie had been criticized on WRSU the day before. How or why he knew this, I don't know. (who cares what some kids had to say on a college radio station?) The WRSU announcers happened to get on the same elevator as Rollie. He asked are you the guys from Rutgers? They admitted it. He yelled at them, "Get off my elevator!" They obeyed and sheepishly exited.
I met Rollie once, in Syracuse, at the Carrier Dome, after Nova beat Princeton in NCAA tournament up there. I was with a Nova alum friend of mine and he got me into a postgame Nova party somewhere in the bowels of Carrier. Naturally, he was being lauded by everyone there and was having a great time. He seemed like a great guy but I guess he was not as nice about accepting criticism.
RIP Rollie.
I met Rollie once, in Syracuse, at the Carrier Dome, after Nova beat Princeton in NCAA tournament up there. I was with a Nova alum friend of mine and he got me into a postgame Nova party somewhere in the bowels of Carrier. Naturally, he was being lauded by everyone there and was having a great time. He seemed like a great guy but I guess he was not as nice about accepting criticism.
RIP Rollie.
Rollie was my gym teacher at Hillside High School in 1962-63 and was a great guy. He also coached our basketball team and took them to the Group 4 finals 2 years in a row only to lose in the finals to Newark Central.
Of course it would be interesting to know in how many of those games his team was the dog.
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