OT: Former Villanova coach Rollie Massimino dies at 82 | The Boneyard

OT: Former Villanova coach Rollie Massimino dies at 82

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Remember seeing Rollie at Villanova during parents weekend and was surprised that he wore lifts. A real friendly guy who talked with everyone and one of the original power coaches in the old BE. He was a real character.
RIP Rollie.
 
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Rest in piece.

My favorite Massimino story comes from when Calhoun was just starting out. He felt that Massimino was running up the score and told him so. Massimino replied. "Jim there are two teams on the floor. You only get to coach yours."
I believe that JC attributed that quote to Carneseca.
 

CL82

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Rest in piece.

My favorite Massimino story comes from when Calhoun was just starting out. He felt that Massimino was running up the score and told him so. Massimino replied. "Jim there are two teams on the floor. You only get to coach yours."
I thought that was Louie Carnesecca who said that. He got the same thing from Massimino?

Calhoun on one of his most memorable stories about St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca, who will be honored at The Garden tonight: ``They were drilling us down there by 30 and they got 32 and I'm not sure who it was, it may have been Mark Jackson, made the last basket. And I'm screaming and I'm really really discouraged that a guy would drill you. And all of a sudden, I feel a little tug, and of course he's down here someplace,'' Calhoun said pulling on his waist. ``And he says: `Irish. Irish. Come here.' I said, `What?' He said, `Remember the great thing, you can only coach one team at a time.' And it's probably one of the really insightful, Al McGuire-type things or in this case, Louie, because really it was true. He's 100 percent right. If you just coach your own team, it's amazing how all the good things happen and it really stuck in my mind.''

Uconn At St. John's

(Edit: Looks like Danzz already set you straight.)
 

CL82

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I thought that was Louie Carnesecca who said that. He got the same thing from Massimino?

Calhoun on one of his most memorable stories about St. John's coach Lou Carnesecca, who will be honored at The Garden tonight: ``They were drilling us down there by 30 and they got 32 and I'm not sure who it was, it may have been Mark Jackson, made the last basket. And I'm screaming and I'm really really discouraged that a guy would drill you. And all of a sudden, I feel a little tug, and of course he's down here someplace,'' Calhoun said pulling on his waist. ``And he says: `Irish. Irish. Come here.' I said, `What?' He said, `Remember the great thing, you can only coach one team at a time.' And it's probably one of the really insightful, Al McGuire-type things or in this case, Louie, because really it was true. He's 100 percent right. If you just coach your own team, it's amazing how all the good things happen and it really stuck in my mind.''

Uconn At St. John's
Ugh, as everyone reads that post, I'm going to get one of these.
:(

Deservedly so...
 

FfldCntyFan

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Rest in piece.

My favorite Massimino story comes from when Calhoun was just starting out. He felt that Massimino was running up the score and told him so. Massimino replied. "Jim there are two teams on the floor. You only get to coach yours."
IIRC that story was about Lou Carnasecca.
 
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Most fired up I ever saw Calhoun was after beating 'Nova at Gampel the freshman year of Ollie/Marshall/Marshall/Fair/Ashmeade/Boo. Student slow chanted "Rollie" all game.....Jim seemed to appreciate that.
 
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Called into talk radio in 1987, WIP, I think, and spoke with him. Asked him what he thought about UConn becoming a good BB team. He laughed at me and basically said "ain't never gonna happen at that hick cow college. Always wished I ran into him after the first title in '99.
RIP Rollie.
 
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Most fired up I ever saw Calhoun was after beating 'Nova at Gampel the freshman year of Ollie/Marshall/Marshall/Fair/Ashmeade/Boo. Student slow chanted "Rollie" all game.....Jim seemed to appreciate that.

One of my best moments of the 89-90 magical run was playing Nova in December. We lost by about 10...but the "Rollie" chant was alive and well...HCRM was fired up and ready to go into the student section and fight. Great character...helped make the Big East a great conference...RIP Rollie
 

David 76

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Showed the importance of eating together for a basketball team.
RIP

The BE had a lot of Italian-American coaches at that time.
 
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Wow. Rip. A little piece of your youth dies when you read this. Instantly brought back memories of Murray Williams going to coast to coast to stick a layup at the buzzer to beat Nova at the Civic Center.
 
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Remember that game, Was there. We also beat him 53-51 on a John Gwynn offensive rebound at the buzzer.
 
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The real Big East was a Coaches league and Rollie was never intimidated and rarely out coached (as all the others).

The BE had a lot of great Coaches, and Rollie was one of them. RIP

Pretty amazing that in the early years the league had hall of famers like Calhoun, Boeheim, Pitino, Carnasecca, Thompson and Gary Williams. Plus Rollie and PJ. It was a little before my time so I don't know if they all over lapped and Williams became big after he left BC but wow, what killer list of coaches in the 80's.
 

Fishy

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At what point is is okay to say that I didn't think he was nearly as good a coach as the other big-time Big East coaches and that he really ran kind of a loose ship everywhere he went?

Probably tomorrow?
 

pj

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At what point is is okay to say that I didn't think he was nearly as good a coach as the other big-time Big East coaches and that he really ran kind of a loose ship everywhere he went?

Probably tomorrow?

But he coached his team to shoot 70% in an NCAA final! Once.

Comparing him to KO, winning a national championship used to garner a lot more respect.
 
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At what point is is okay to say that I didn't think he was nearly as good a coach as the other big-time Big East coaches and that he really ran kind of a loose ship everywhere he went?

Probably tomorrow?
At his funeral.
 

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