Bob Valvano (born January 29, 1957) is a former college basketball coach and an American sportscaster based in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

Broadcasting and coaching

During the college-basketball season, he is the lead game analyst for ESPNRadio, and occasionally for ESPNU. When not doing those games, Valvano is the color analyst for

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

men's basketball games on radio 93.9 The Ville. Valvano began his coaching career at

Hofstra University Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...

where he was an assistant to head coach Dick Berg for three years. Then he took over the head coaching position at Division II Kutztown. Valvano coached there for two years, setting the single-season record for wins his second year, before taking the head coaching position at St. Francis College in 1984. At the time of Valvano's hiring he was the youngest head coach in Division I men's basketball at 27 years old. While with the

Terriers Terrier () is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. There are five different groups of terrier, wi ...

, Valvano did not have a winning season but did win the college's first postseason game in over 30 years in 1988. In 1988, he left for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

to coach the Alvik Professional Basketball Club. After one year in Sweden, he returned to take the head coaching position at Division III Catholic University, where his third team there had the first 20-win season in school history, (20–6), and set 6 NCAA records for 3-point shooting. Valvano then went to St. Mary's (MD), where his team had that school's first winning season ever at the NCAA level in 1994. In 1994, Valvano took the head coaching job at

Bellarmine University Bellarmine University ( ; BU) is a private university, private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky, UNited States. It opened on October 3, 1950, as Bellarmine College, established by Archbishop John A. Floersh of the Archdiocese of Louis ...

, where his teams improved for four straight years, culminating in back-to-back winning seasons (16–11, 17–10) his last two seasons.

Radio

Valvano hosts a daily radio show (''The V Show'') on ESPN680 in Louisville from noon until 3 weekdays. He had hosted a late night show on ESPN Radio (under the same ''V Show'' moniker) for over twelve years. During that time, SI's Richard Deitsch named Valvano his National Sportsradio Voice of the Year in 2012. Valvano was also named Kentucky Sportscaster of the Year in 2016.

Personal life

Valvano graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from

Virginia Wesleyan College Virginia Wesleyan University (VWU) is a private university in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States. The university is nonsectarian but historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church. It enrolls 4,632 learners in all locations: 1,6 ...

in 1979, where he majored in communications and lettered in soccer, basketball and golf. (He was voted All-Conference First team as a goalkeeper and still holds the career record for saves at VWC.) He was inducted into the college's Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 2009. He and his wife Darlene have two sons, Nicholas and Jamison. Valvano is the younger brother of the late North Carolina State

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and TV commentator

Jim Valvano James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, culminating at NC State. Whi ...

. He is active in the V Foundation, Jim Valvano's legacy in the fight against

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, and authored a book about his brother titled "The Gifts of Jimmy V".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valvano, Bob 1957 births Living people American men's basketball players American people of Italian descent American sports radio personalities Men's association football goalkeepers Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York (state) Bellarmine Knights men's basketball coaches Catholic University Cardinals men's basketball coaches College basketball announcers in the United States Kutztown Golden Bears men's basketball coaches Soccer players from New York (state) St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers men's basketball coaches St. Mary's Seahawks men's basketball coaches Virginia Wesleyan Marlins men's basketball players Virginia Wesleyan Marlins men's golfers Virginia Wesleyan Marlins men's soccer players Association football players not categorized by nationality 20th-century American sportsmen