Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Legendary head coach Rollie Massimino dies at 82

ROLLIE MASSIMINO UNL

11 Mar 1994: UNLV HEAD COACH ROLLIE MASSIMINO KNEELS ON THE SIDELINE DURING THE RUNNIN’ REBELS GAME VERSUS THE SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS IN THE 1994 BIG WEST TOURNAMENT PLAYED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA-LAS VEGAS.

Getty Images

College Basketball Hall of Fame coach Rollie Massimino, who led Villanova to an improbable national championship as a No. 8 seed in 1985, has died at the age of 82. Massimino passed away at his home in Florida after dealing with recent health issues.

A former head coach with the Wildcats, UNLV, Cleveland State and Stony Brook, Massimino had most previously been the head coach at NAIA Keiser University, building the program from scratch beginning in 2006 when they were known as Northwood University. Still head coach at the school through the 2016-17 season, Massimino notched his 800th career victory as a head coach last December.

Massimino started his head coaching career with two seasons at Stony Brook before starting at Villanova in 1973. Staying with the Wildcats until 1992, Massimino moved on to UNLV and eventually Cleveland State. Massimino teams made five trips to the Sweet 16 during his Division I head coaching career.

With a career record of 816-462, Massimino is among the game’s greatest coaches as he was a head coach at the college level for 41 seasons and 45 seasons overall.