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Former Villanova coach Rollie Massimino died in his Florida home on Wednesday at age 82. Massimino coached the Wildcats for 19 seasons from 1973-1992 and led the program to its first-ever national championship in 1985.
Massimino’s title run at Nova is considered one of the greatest in the sport’s history. The Wildcats were a No. 8 seed entering the tournament, but defeated the top two seeds in their regional to advance to the Final Four. In the national title game, Villanova upset Patrick Ewing and defending champion Georgetown.
The program issued this statement on his passing:
Villanova mourns the loss of former Coach Rollie Massimino. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Massimino family https://t.co/Ob0n33ezoa pic.twitter.com/coKH6u3VrH
— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) August 30, 2017
Massimino coached at UNLV, Cleveland State, and at NAIA Keiser University for the last 11 years. He ended his coaching career with a record of 816-462, good for a 63.8 percent wining percentage. He was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
Massimino had been battling lung cancer. He died at his Florida home.
