Massimino Resurfaces From Exile

Rollie Massimino has steered through velvet waters and raging seas, his voyage soaked with triumph, hidden treasure, sneak attacks, hard escapes. From basketball exile he has landed on the shores of Lake Erie and become leader of the Vikings.

The Cleveland State Vikings.

Scarcely refined but apparently eager, they opened their 1996-97 season here Saturday with a 77-67 loss to Georgetown. Cleveland State was 5-21 last season; it has a coach accustomed to crosswinds.

“We’ve tried to change the entire atmosphere to develop a positive self-esteem” among the players, Massimino, 61, said Friday. But first he had to redisplay himself after being shown the door by Nevada-Las Vegas two years ago.

How the currents have shifted since Massimino led Villanova’s meticulous, two-point upset of Georgetown in the 1985 NCAA title game, a game he says he seldom recalls. But his friendship with Georgetown coach John Thompson continued, which explains why and how the Hoyas got here.

Hoping to start his term with a robust challenge, Massimino (427-278 in his career) called Thompson (553-208) and invited Georgetown. Thompson, himself a conscious host, agreed to come if Cleveland State would visit Georgetown next season.

Thompson said he’d prefer that such a young Georgetown team begin its schedule at home, but here acceded. “I feel that if you want to get out and play,” he said, “you might as well enjoy it with people you like as opposed to getting involved with people you don’t much care for.”

Thompson admitted he wasn’t sure what to expect from Cleveland State prior to Saturday’s opener. “Any team that Rollie Massimino has is going to be very competitive,” Thompson said. “I’m glad to see him back in the business because I think he belongs in coaching.”

For the past two seasons, Massimino’s basketball insights were spoken into a TV microphone, or at a golf course in Florida. After 18 years at Villanova and two tumultuous seasons at UNLV, he often explained the game to those not playing. Occasionally he’d talk to college teams at a coach’s request.

In less than a decade, the coach of an NCAA champ was coaching no more. A steep fall yes, but not so hard; Massimino landed with a $1.9 million parachute.

In the seven years after Villanova won it all, the Wildcats reached the NCAA Tournament only four times under Massimino. The slow, calculated style that had brought them the title was rendered ineffective by the advent of the shot clock.

As it ticked, incongruities began to surface: Massimino as innovative but unyielding; well-dressed but disheveled; engaging but quick-tempered; wise but impulsive. After 357 victories, 11 NCAA Tournaments and one trip to Eden, Massimino left Villanova in 1992 to succeed Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV.

The day Massimino took the job, he said neither he nor his players would embarrass the university. Tarkanian’s supporters were outraged, taking the remark as a slash at him.

The Runnin’ Rebels were 21-8 in his first season (including a blowout of Georgetown) and 15-13 his second, failing to reach the NCAA Tournament both years. The effect was such that when UNLV played at home, potential spectators arranged to be elsewhere. The 18,500-seat Thomas and Mack Center averaged less than half its capacity in the 1993-94 season.

After Kenny Guinn replaced Maxson as UNLV president, he learned that Massimino was being paid an undisclosed $375,000 a year in addition to the $511,000 advertised to the board of regents. UNLV proceeded to buy out the remaining three years on Massimino’s contract for nearly $1.9 million.

Massimino sought not to discuss his time at UNLV in detail Friday, speaking only in generalities.

He could have coached in the ensuing seasons but said he had to purge the sourness of his experience at UNLV. On April 30 he accepted the challenge of rebuilding Cleveland State’s program, which has floundered since it had three consecutive 20-win seasons in the mid-1980s and reached the NCAA Tournament round of 16 in 1986 with upsets of Indiana and St. Joseph’s.

“I really missed the kids,” he said.