Roland Vincent Massimino (November 13, 1934 – August 30, 2017) was an American

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coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at

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(1969–1971),

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

(1973–1992), the

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(1992–1994), Cleveland State University (1996–2003), and at Northwood University's Florida campus, which was sold in 2014 to Keiser University (2006–2017). He reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament five times (all with Villanova) and reached the NAIA Semi-final twice. 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

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foe, the Georgetown Hoyas, in the title game. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest upsets in NCAA history.

Education

Roland Massimino graduated in 1952 from Hillside High School in Hillside, New Jersey. In 1956, he earned a bachelor's degree in education from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

(UVM), where he played varsity basketball for three years. He earned a master's degree equivalent in health and physical education from

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

in 1959. While he was a student at UVM, he became a member of the Alpha-Lambda chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Coaching career

High school

After graduating from UVM, Massimino entered the coaching ranks, where he coached varsity baseball and freshman and JV basketball at Cranford High School in

Cranford, New Jersey Cranford is a Township (New Jersey), township in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increas ...

. In 1959, he began a four-year tenure as head varsity basketball coach at Hillside High School in Hillside, New Jersey, the town in which he had grown up. In his second year as head basketball coach at Hillside, he led his team to the finals of the State Group III Championship. They lost a tightly contested final game to Burlington High School from Burlington, New Jersey. The Hillside team was led by Frank Checorski, a unanimous Top-Five All-State Selection throughout The Garden State. In 1963, with the support of high school All-American Bill Schutsky—who later captained the Army Cadets basketball team—Massimino led the Comets to the state Group IV finals. 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. For the 1963–64 season, Massimino moved to Lexington High School in

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. 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.

College

Massimino's collegiate debut came in 1969 as head coach of

. In his first season the Patriots (now Seawolves) won the conference championship after going 19–6, earning a berth in the

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small college tournament. Massimino's next stop was as an assistant coach under Chuck Daly at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. 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 Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

(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

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's home court, followed by victories over #1-seed

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, #4-seed

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, #2-seed

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, before culminating in a Final Four victory over #2-seeded Memphis State. After Villanova's unexpected championship run, Massimino was offered the head coaching position of the NBA's New Jersey Nets. At the last minute, he declined the offer to stay at Villanova and devote more time to his family. After a few subpar years, Massimino left 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. Massimino was the head coach of the men's basketball team at Keiser University in

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, members of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...

(NAIA). Massimino continued his role as coach when Northwood University sold its Florida campus to Keiser University. The 2005-06 Northwood team 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 received bids to the NAIA tournament in all of his eight seasons at Northwood, and once as Keiser, with the team's best finishes a place in the national semifinals in 2011 and a national runner-up finish in 2012. Massimino's overall record at Northwood/Keiser stands at 298–75 ( winning percentage). On November 1, 2012, Massimino returned to Rupp Arena in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

for the first time since his 1985 championship triumph, playing a preseason exhibition game against reigning NCAA Division I champions

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. The game was played at the request of Massimino after indicating to Kentucky head coach

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (; born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (1996, 2 ...

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

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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. On December 14, 2016, Massimino, at 82 years old, reached coaching win number 800 when Keiser University defeated Trinity Baptist 77–47.

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released a 2018 television documentary titled ''The Maestro: The Rollie Massimino Story'', written and directed by Bill Raftery, which chronicles Massimino's final season (2016–17) coaching Keiser University. Massimino coached the season, against his doctors' recommendation, while battling terminal cancer.

Death

Massimino was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and brain cancer in April 2016 and given one year to live. Coincidentally, he was at NRG Stadium in Houston in April 2016 to see Villanova win the NCAA tournament. Massimino died sixteen months later on August 30, 2017. To honor Massimino's memory, Villanova wore throwback uniforms throughout the 2017–18 season in the style of those the Wildcats did during their 1984–85 championship season, and would go on to win their second national championship in three seasons that year.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Northwood profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massimino, Rollie 1934 births 2017 deaths American men's basketball players American people of Italian descent Basketball coaches from New Jersey Basketball players from Union County, New Jersey Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Deaths from lung cancer in Florida Hillside High School (New Jersey) alumni High school basketball coaches in the United States National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Northwood Seahawks men's basketball coaches Penn Quakers men's basketball coaches People from Hillside, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni Stony Brook Seawolves men's basketball coaches UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball coaches Vermont Catamounts men's basketball players Villanova Wildcats men's basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen