Georgetown didnt have players like that, except Patrick. Who the f--- do they think they are? Mitch was an unbelievable game coach and Rollie needed somebody like that. Won Southeast Regional Final (56-44) versus #2 North Carolina When they returned to their hotel, so many fans awaited that the players couldnt get off the bus. I do look back sometimes. Time heals all wounds. Several of McLains teammates used that expression in describing their relationship with their point guard. Whats more, said Craig Miller, Wildcat sports publicist, Season ticket sales are up from 800 in 1980, the year before we dropped football, to 7,000 now.. But its gotten better as the season has gone along. I didnt care about being liked. He says he wants to write a book about his life and perhaps to deliver his cautionary tale to kids. Massimino says, I never had any big problems with Lap., Lappas, who was fired at UMass after the 2004-05 season and now works as a broadcaster for CBS, says, Were cordial. The Vikings improved from nine wins in Massiminos first season to 19 in his fifth but tailed off and went 8-22 in 2002-03. BIG EAST Conference/Collegiate Images/Getty Images. But I dont think about it. This page is not available in other languages. Reserves played the last 17 minutes and Pitt won, 85-62. Future NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long was a senior nose guard on the team. It was Reggie Williams. Villanova University/Collegiate Images/Getty Images. Do you have a sports website? Maybe people thought I was a rat or I did something bad just for money, he says. Visit ESPN to view the Villanova Wildcats team roster for the current season horror novel thinner, by Richard Bachman (the pseudonym of Stephen King), reaches No. The peak, 685, was reached in 1948 with the deluge of GI bill federal funds. Because of their pressure, you couldnt break to a certain spot and be open. Golden Girls meets Dr. Naismith. Nothing the rest of the year takes the place of a long football weekend.. Villanova experienced very little roster turnover after the 1983-84 season. Many of them are on the north side of 50, when anger takes too much effort to hold. I feel bad about it, Lappas says of their estrangement. And then I took it. 1985-86 Villanova Wildcats Men's Roster and Stats Previous Season Next Season Record: 23-14 (10-6, 4th in Big East MBB ) Coach: Rollie Massimino PS/G: 69.8 (143rd of 283) More School Info Villanova (Men's) School History Roster & Stats Polls, Schedule & Results On this page: Roster Per Game Team and Opponent Stats Per Game Totals Per 40 Minutes Nineteen (Thirty) years are gone since Villanova senior forward Dwayne McClain stumbled to his knees and elbows on the floor of Rupp Arena, then cradled the last precious inbounds pass in his right arm and shot his left fist skyward as time expired. You know why? he asks, leaning forward in a lounge chair at his country club. I wear the ring and the watch from 85, he says. The team played their home games at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pennsylvania. 2022 Football Roster. Rollie Massiminos preferred mode of transportation is the golf cart he drives to meet a visitor at the front gate of the Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, Fla. All rights reserved. We have a great administration, great assistant coaches. The Philadelphia native has found a new home on the Main Line. We have a great administration, great assistant coaches. He wished he hadnt said those things about Buonaguro and he wished I hadnt written them. He loved to play against Patrick. One other thing they would do: Put the ball in McLains hands and let him beat Georgetowns swarming, 94-foot defense with his skills, his head and his heart. I said things, and I paid the price for saying them. (In a 2014 interview with the Associated Press, McLain said of the SI story, It hurts me that I hurt people.) He has had numerous jobs in the last 17 years, with a few of what he calls employment gaps. He once lived on a horse farm in rural Florida and once was in a relationship with a woman who ran an escort service. As Villanova traveled to Birmingham, AL for the Regional Semifinals, the Cats defeated 5th seed Maryland by three and then the Southeasts #2 seed North Carolina by six to reach the Final Four. Last November Villanovas basketball team hosted Northwood University, where 85 head coach Rollie Massimino is the 80-year-old head coach, and turned the weekend into a celebration of the 85 teams 30-year anniversary. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. But he doesnt come around as much as he did after we first got back together.). Ive had some challenges, some health challenges, not life-threatening, but difficult times in my life, he says, And I called upon the perseverance I learned back in that season.). Villanova can accept only about 1,000 of several thousand freshman applicants annually. In the spring of 1992 Massimino stunned the basketball world by accepting an offer to succeed Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, which at the time was an outlaw state, the opposite of cuddly, Catholic, graduate-em-all Villanova. At the same time, an average of nearly three colleges have been adding or resuming each year. ), (In a 2014 interview with the Associated Press, McLain said of the SI story, It hurts me that I hurt people.), (He told AP in 2014 that he was using drugs up until 2005. Every coach has a gimmick. Marty and Denise Marbach invited both Massimino and Lappas and seated them, with their wives, at the same table. Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use, which became effective December 20, 2019. (This still holds; no champion since 85 has come close to Nova's average. They played their home games at Villanova Stadium in Villanova, Pennsylvania. The game is widely regarded as a shot-clock victory, for Villanova, but thats not entirely true. Of course people outside the program believed, with Hoya Paranoia and all that s---, that we were a bunch of thugs. 1972 Villanova Wildcats football team - Wikipedia 1980 Villanova Wildcats Roster Previous Year Record: 6-5 (59th of 138) ( Schedule & Results ) Conference: Ind Coach: Dick Bedesem (6-5) Points For: 206 Points/G: 18.7 (87th of 138) Points Against: 137 Opp Pts/G: 12.5 (15th of 138) SRS: -3.00 (84th of 138) SOS: -7.64 (111th of 138) Villanova School History 1980 Villanova Statistics It absolutely gutted Rollie, says veteran NBA coach and TV analyst Mike Fratello, an early Massimino assistant and longtime confidante. 21 Richmond and No. Fordham, Chicago, Georgetown, Buffalo, Washington & Lee and most of the others are in Division III. And damn, I was a champion., (McLain remains mecurial. I felt very comfortable with the community that Coach Mass had built at Villanova.. Day 2 | Friday, Apr. To most schools and their alumni, the principal attraction of football, as compared with other sports, is indeed that long weekend. In 97 the family moved back to the Philadelphia area, where Marbach is a junior high school athletic director and coaches his youngest daughter, Elizabeth. 2000 Villanova Wildcats football team - Wikipedia Not rah-rah, like were going to run over these guys. See our list of forfeits and vacated games for more details. (Well, it briefly got a little better. There was screaming in that room, and there were tears. In between those last two national championships, Roland Vincent Massimino passed away at the age of 82 in the summer of 2017, when many of the Villanova Family (& all college basketball in general) came to celebrate his life. That is not happening. Villanova's 10-3 record included four victories over Top 25 opponents, including No. Buonaguro, who had joined Massiminos staff in 1977 when he was 24, was hired at Fairfield shortly after the 85 title game. The party raged until dawn, when the sun rose and a chartered jet ferried them back to Philadelphia for a parade. Or write about sports? Won Southeast Second Round (59-55) versus #1 Michigan And Mitch and I are good now.), (Since 2008, Marbach, 61, has been working as a sales rep for Ampro Sports in Philadelphia. A little of the first half, a little of the second, but never the whole game and never the finish. Just talking about it, right now, the hair is standing up on the back of my neck, says Wyatt Maker, a reserve sophomore center on the championship team, who sat on the bench during the title game, clutching the hand of junior teammate Chuck Everson, twin seven-footers willing balls into the basket like schoolgirl cheerleaders. You have to forgive. Why at Villanova, which had played football for 87 years on its campus in suburban Philadelphia, did the authorities first abolish, then shortly afterward restore the game? On Martin Luther King Jr.s birthday Thompson turned practice into an open discussion of Kings and Malcolm Xs influence. Reporters seeking postgame comment from Hoya players were subjected to a narrow window, with a publicists countdown from 10 minutes: Seven minutes! 1984-85 Villanova Wildcats Men's Roster and Stats Previous Season Next Season Record: 25-10 (9-7, 4th in Big East MBB ) Coach: Rollie Massimino PS/G: 68.7 (161st of 282) More School Info NCAA Champion Villanova (Men's) School History Roster & Stats Polls, Schedule & Results On this page: Roster Per Game Team and Opponent Stats Per Game Totals The Wildcats entered the 1984 NCAA tournament with an 18-11 record, then they entered the 1985 NCAA tournament with a 19 . Just say today. Bad matchups, bad history, everything. And Villanova got its wish: The Hoyas won easily, 75-59. With 70 seconds to go, Jensen dribbled from near midcourt to the top of the key, encountered no resistance and continued all the way to the basket for a layup that gave Villanova the lead and, eventually, the win. He came to the November reunion and asked to sing the National Anthem (teammates say McLain has a beautiful voice, but they talked him out of performing that night), and arrived at the Villanova-Northwood game wearing a black velour tuxedo and sneakers. Believe you can win. And then he sat back down. The game was a 13,400 sellout in the schools small stadium. Marys and Santa Clara are playing in Division II now, Boda said. The 85s remain an extraordinarily close group. Three starters, Dwayne McClain, Harold Pressley, and Gary McLain played all 40 minutes in the Championship. The Father of Villanova Football - VU Hoops He wouldnt return phone messages I left with him and intermediaries couldnt get him to budge. UCF football adds Villanova, completes 2023 non-conference slate Villanova NFL/AFL Players. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. But the NCAA Tournament expanded from 53 to 64 . Citing the evils of overemphasis, Chicago quit in 1939, then resumed as a Division III team 30 years later. 100 Years - Roster - Villanova University The perception in 1981 was that this is a sport that has become far too costly to maintain, said Athletic Director Ted Aceto. Maybe going through so many wars over the years, three seniors getting so comfortable with each other. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Georgetown stayed in a passive 1-3-1 zone, allowing Villanova to hold the ball. Players' Pro Stats. The Wildcats began celebrating on the floor with a minute to play when Tar Heels coach Dean Smith chose not to challenge the ball (for which Massimino is eternally grateful). Among the other prospective recruits at the camp were McLain, a Long Island native living with his high school coach in southeastern Massachusetts; McClain, a willowy 6' 6" forward from Worcester, Mass. 1984-85 Villanova Wildcats Men's Roster and Stats Villanovas iconic coach provided a little Mass entertainment courtside. Logos were compiled by the amazing SportsLogos.net. Everson stays in touch with everybody. By Tim Layden. Its a nice icebreaker around Philadelphia.), Lappas was the last to leave Villanova. But Gary is a family member and hes had problems. I said it then, and Ill say it now.. Marbach sold real estate and did radio commentary on Siena games for five years. Football Making a Comeback at Villanova After 4-Year Absence But he said I dont have to talk to anybody. ), (This section of the original story caused problems 11 years ago. We had a Mass before every game, he says, and nobody ever complained about going. I had to take it., Massimino says, That story is not true. He says that Gillen should have taken the job, and since he didnt, John Olive, another former Villanova assistant, should have gotten it. Eighty-three was the best team we ever had, says Massimino. I should never have gone. His teams went 49-94 in five seasons, and he was fired after the 91-92 season. The 14 Villanova players who dressed in blue that night in Lexington, Ky., are immortalized in a 150-foot-long mural just inside the main entrance to The Pavilion, where present-day Wildcats play their home games and are measured against the images in tight shorts on the wall, usually falling short (including this year's edition of the Wildcats, who were awarded a No. Everybody can see now that football is a universitys No. A family portrait was snapped, on the floor, before the game. Massimino cinderella team relied on a tight-knit group of players. He wanted to be a member of the family again, and of course I accepted that, Massimino said in mid-March. $17.09. (including this year's edition of the Wildcats, who were awarded a No. But everyone assumed we were locked in our rooms., As for being unpopular, in truth the Georgetown program of the mid-1980s was the precursor to UNLVs Runnin Rebels of 1990-91 and Michigans Fab Five of 1992 and 93, teams comprised primarily of African-American athletes who played with toughness and style (though Georgetown preceded the baggy shorts era that lives today) and made White America just a little uncomfortable. But he doesnt come around as much as he did after we first got back together.), (In the fall of 2006, Massimino, then 72, took over as head coach at Northwood University, an NAIA program in West Palm Beach. The title game, stolen from Georgetown, deprived coach John Thompson's hard-ass Hoyas of their second consecutive national championship and status as a mini-dynasty. It was like we were in 1985 all over again.) On the day before his team beat Memphis State in the Final Four semifinals, Villanova coach Rollie Massimino allowed the players to choose sides for a public workout at a nearly packed Rupp Arena. 1 seed, yet lost to North Carolina State in their second tournament game. During the 85 Final Four newspapers were stuffed with stories detailing the Hoyas being sequestered in Louisville, while the other teams partied in Lexington. Massimino, 69, looks healthier than the night he coached Villanova to the title, frightened into good behavior by a ministroke last spring. Would I have bet my golf clubs that Gary McLain was using cocaine? Lappas wanted to do his thing, he says, and separate the old stuff from the new stuff. Lappas won 174 games in nine seasons at Villanova, including the schools only Big East tournament title (in 1995). They had been to two Sweet 16s and fought tons of Big East battles. Pinckney, McClain, McLain and the junior Pressley had been joined in the starting lineup by junior shooting guard Dwight Wilbur from Paterson, N.J. Jensen would back up Wilbur, while the hulking Everson and Mark Plansky, a 6' 7" freshman sapling from the Boston area, would get frontline minutes off the bench. Use without license or authorization is expressly prohibited. Personally, I would have caught it. Broadnax says, A lot of people said it was a tough pass. Gary McLains 1987 SI cover story on his cocaine use shocked the sports world and opened lasting wounds in the Villanova basketball family. With his team trailing Pittsburgh 40-23 at the half in Pitts Fitzgerald Field House, Massimino told his starters at halftime, Youve got two minutes to show me something, or youre coming out. He gave them three before yanking them for good. And he carried the hurt with him for a long time. Villanova players from 85 publicly disputed the details of McLains account and claimed they knew nothing of McLains drug use. The Wildcats and Pirates are long-time rivals, with the series dating back to the 1985 season. Four minutes! --By 1983, with football in limbo, only 700 of Villanovas most loyal former students were there for homecoming. In three seasons from 2007-10, Siena went 77-26, won three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles and twice earned first-round victories in the NCAA Tournament. I thought, What is this? says Jackson. Pressley and Everson in 1986, and Jensen in 1987. 6-ranked Nittany Lions, it will complete a 40-year journey. My inner sanctum never changed. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? It was an ignominious finish to his career, and 85 seemed ever more distant. He occasionally goes on phoning binges with old teammates and then seems to disappear. That doesnt sound so hard, but it was a lot better than they did the year before, or two years before, or three. We picked the top-5 players all-time for Villanova football On Dec. 28, at Wrights urging, Massimino and his extended family attended Villanovas game against North Carolina-Greensboro at The Pavilion. 1985-86 Villanova Wildcats Men's Roster and Stats Villanova college basketball championships: Complete history (The publicist usually charged with policing the locker room was Bill Shapland, a loyal lieutenant to Thompson who suppressed his own good nature beneath an enforcers exterior in service of the program. Backers of Kentuckys Wildcats had made Villanovas their own for the weekend, and any other neutrals in attendance lined up behind the underdog. It never got better than April 1, 1985, for the man called Daddy Mass. In big-time football, private schools are almost the only ones that have ever dropped the sport, Boda said, naming Chicago, Fordham, St. Marys, Hardin-Simmons, Marquette, Loyola Marymount and others. Villanovas football deficits reportedly exceeded $500,000 a year in the 1970s. than any program in the country, he says. Hes still a part of the family. It was a low pass, Martin says. We played fine, says Ewing now. All rights reserved. Plansky, seven months removed from his high school graduation, found himself subbed in for Pressley and guarding Maryland All-America forward Len Bias. Villanova played a "light"[2] schedule against four NCAA Division III opponents and the United States Naval Academy JV team. The goal, says Lappas, was to make Georgetown run a zone offense while we were playing man-to-man, and they wouldnt realize it. They also dropped a guard down to double-team Ewing, but from his blind side, which they had not done in the regular season. But still.) Villanova Wildcats football | American Football Database | Fandom Tim, I got your text, McLain said, exuberantly, as if he remembered me and was anxious to talk. What Kentucky is today, Georgetown was in 1985, only with older players. 2009 Villanova Wildcats football team | American Football Database | Fandom When we won the title, the players handled themselves with class in interviews, and Rollie went on television and talked about the family atmosphere, and everybody wanted a piece of that, says Lappas. Call (800) 327-5050 or visit gamblinghelpline.ma.org (MA), Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). It was a family that came together like never before in that final run of 1985. 1984-85 Georgetown Hoyas Men's Roster and Stats - College Basketball at Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. We knew we intimidated people, and we milked that, and John was the leader, along with Patrick, who was about as intense an individual as I have ever met. 1984-85 Villanova Wildcats men's basketball team - Wikipedia (Asked recently if that silence still remains, Martin said, I talked to Horace a few days ago. A lot of fans dont know Division I from Division II. Massiminos three top assistants would quickly become head coaches. Villanova vs. Georgetown: 1985 National Championship | FULL GAME See terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Very bad.. Even on the road Rollie never wanted to be alone in hotel suite, says Mitch Buonaguro, his top assistant in 85. 2022 Football Roster - Villanova University Rollie always had a big ego. When Fran left and I got the job, it was a difficult thing, says Buonaguro. But in an era of nationally televised major college games, whats in it for MacMurray and Buffalo State? Pressley talks to Pinckney on the phone at least three times a week. His battles with the church arent over, How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! . We lost a lot of good players and we were coming off an incredible run. Buonaguro was a basketball coach for 38 years and says now he misses it, and would consider a less stressful coaching job somewhere in the business. This list looks at players since that season, taking into consideration things including, but not. Massimino was also angry, as if Plansky had violated the groups collective omerta. After getting no satisfaction from the officials, Massimino sprinted off the floor with his team, pumping his right fist as he disappeared from the television image. 1 ranking afterward) and Syracuse by a total of three points. Here's the schedule and how you can watch all the college events. Coach Mass helped me through it. And effective. The McLain story would scar him terribly. "It was painful," says Thompson, but I would be disappointed as hell if the sum total of any of our guys lives was that loss to Villanova. And yet the memory lingers for them, as well. In the National Championship, Villanova played what many consider The Perfect Game as the Wildcats shot 78.6% (22 of 29) from the field in the 66-64 victory over the reigning National Champion Hoyas, including 90% in the second half. The relationship today between the coach and his former star remains tenuous. He has been divorced for six years, but his 11-year-old daughter, Jade Alexis McLain, lives nearby in Florida and stays with McLain every other weekend. If its that important to them, its that important to the university., At the alumni office, Capone, the former coach who recruited Raider end Howie Long for Villanova, said: Compared to the total budget at any college, the football budget isnt that bad.. And it was real. Jensen says, I was recruited by Providence, Syracuse, UCLA and South Carolina. Although a recent poll suggested that some 98% of Villanovas students were in favor of restoring football, another poll showed that two-thirds of the faculty were against it. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. 8 seed in the Southeast region. 1 seed Michigan (59-55) and Maryland (46-43). Worse yet, he was accused of pulling Villanova out of the annual Big Five round robin with LaSalle, Penn, Saint Josephs and Temple. Sure, I knew that. Unbelievable! he says, recounting the swift climb. The 1985 squad remains tight to this day. That incident just swept the whole team into the locker room on a wave, says Marty Marbach, one of the assistant coaches. Villanova gave up football for four years (1981-84) before bringing it back by popular demand (in 1985), Coach Andy Talley said the other day. At that time in my life I was putting incredible pressure on myself. He will always be Giz. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? A big bowl of spags, with clam sauce. He was laughing madly as he said it, spreading his hands as if to illustrate a massive vat of pasta. Intense, glowering and, at 6' 10", truly larger-than-life, John Thompson cut a very different figure than Massimino. Some of his former players have made a tradition of visiting Massimino on Super Bowl weekend and attending a Northwood game. 1 seed for Division 1 baseball playoffs, High school tennis: Southern Section playoff pairings, High school baseball: Southern Section playoff pairings, Dig this: Long Beach States Mason Briggs could be next big thing at libero, Kentucky Derby storylines: Training death puts early pall over Churchill Downs. Dwayne McClain says, Im elated to have Gary close with us. He was telling me that I was playing soft, and I took serious offense at that. The Jake Nevin Field House is the main center of athletic activity on campus. Though their lives, and the game of basketball, would take them all in very different directions, every member of that 1985 championship program remains connected through the power of their improbable, unforgetable, victory. There was one more stop. The stall lasted less than half a minute before Martins hard pass bounced off Broadnaxs shin near the sideline in front of the Georgetown bench. Its a nice icebreaker around Philadelphia.), (Eleven years later, Maker says, I was still very angry then. A couple of days ago I heard from eight players in one day, he says. Massiminos teams had gone this far three times previously but had never made it to the Final Four. Several hours later Villanova players sprinted onto the floor of Rupp Arena, filled to its capacity of more than 23,000 fans, raucous in their support of Villanova. He wished he hadnt said those things about Buonaguro and he wished I hadnt written them. [1] Future NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long was a senior nose guard on the team. If youre going to win championships, youve got to catch those. Is he kidding? In his 13 years at Georgetown, Thompson had built the Hoyas into a powerhouse. Patrick Ewings 30-2 Georgetown Hoyas were overwhelming favorites. The coach, a round, cartoonish man with a special gift for building team chemistry and employing zone defenses to confuse opponents, would leave Villanova seven years later and spend the rest of his coaching career simultaneously chasing the standard his Wildcats set in LexingtonAs close to the perfect game as any team [has played], ever, says San Antonio Spurs assistant P.J.