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With the 2019 NCAA tourney tipping off next month, we will spend this month taking a walk down memory lane with a choice collection of players/coaches who are celebrating an awesome anniversary this year. From a comeback win to clinch the 1954 tourney title (65th anniversary) through a last-second loss in the 2014 Final 4 (5th anniversary), these legends have all carved out a little piece of history in past Marches. We continue our series with Lee Rose, who by any other name showed that Transylvania (University) is not such a scary place. After serving as both a player/coach for the Pioneers he commenced an amazing 5-year postseason run at 2 other schools: 1976 NIT runner-up and 1977 NCAA Final 4 as head coach at Charlotte, followed by 1979 NIT runner-up and 1980 NCAA Final 4 as head coach at Purdue. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Rose about the 40th anniversary of his 1979 NIT run all the way to the title game and working for a pair of Hall of Famers in the NBA.
At Transylvania University you played for Hall of Famer CM Newton and after graduation you served as his assistant: what made him such a good coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? There were a lot of things that made him a good coach. He played on a national title team at Kentucky: I lived in Lexington and was a very big fan. My brother played with CM in high school in Ft. Lauderdale and won a title with him. He was a fan of Coach Adolph Rupp’s philosophy: good guard play, fast-break basketball, and preparation. I learned to be decisive and recruit athletes who would graduate.
Take me through the 1976 NIT as head coach/AD at Charlotte:
Cedric Maxwell scored 27 PTS and made as many FTs as the entire opposing team (13) in a 1-PT win over NC State: how were you able to survive the Wolfpack getting several good looks at the basket in the final 10 seconds? I did not survive: I died right there! We were only able to schedule a few ACC teams when I was at Charlotte and we had lost a close game to the Wolfpack earlier that season. I thought it might be deja vu, but they did not go in and it was a big win for us.
Maxwell had 24 PTS/11 REB en route to being named NIT MVP despite a 4-PT loss to Kentucky in the title game: do you think that you would have won if Coach Joe B. Hall had not switched to a 1-3-1 zone defense in the final few minutes? It might have been a good defensive ploy but our biggest problem was that our starting PG Bobby Ball could not play due to a bad back. Our backup PG turned his ankle in the final minute of the NC State game so we had to convert Melvin Watkins into a PG for the Kentucky game. When you have a young program you do not have as much depth as the major teams that contend for titles every season. Give Kentucky credit, but I had more things to worry about than their zone defense. Melvin is now an assistant coach at Arkansas.
In 1977 the Sporting News named you national COY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding individual honor? It was a very high honor but I do not know how they pick people for those things. I was pleased/gratified.
Take me through the 1977 NCAA tourney:
Maxwell had 32 PTS/18 REB in a 5-PT OT win over Central Michigan in Bloomington: did you have a home-court advantage or were the Hoosier faithful rooting against you? I never felt that we had a home court advantage in the regional. They had a few shots at the end that rolled off: I am not a great coach in the final 10 seconds of a game.
Chad Kinch scored 11 PTS in a 7-PT win over top-ranked Michigan: where does Kinch’s dunk over Phil Hubbard rank among the best you have ever seen? When you include the significance of the game it is definitely the best dunk that any of my players ever had: it was a spectacular play.
Jerome Whitehead had 21 PTS/16 REB and made a tip-in at the buzzer in a 2-PT win by eventual champion Marquette: did you think it should have been called goaltending? There were 5 things they could call: 4 would have gone against us and 1 would have gone for us. The 5-second count almost elapsed, there was a possible foul, a walk, the goaltending, and we lost. I was told by the officials’ association that that play was used for years as an example of all the things to prepare for that can happen at the end of a game. Coach Dean Smith was ready to lead his team onto the floor: he told me that our player got fouled but there was nothing we could do about it. The call ended up coming from the official timer, which would probably not happen today due to instant replay.
You had an 8-PT loss to UNLV in the 3rd-place game: how on earth did you lose when Maxwell/Kinch each scored 30 PTS and had double-digit rebounds?! That UNLV team had 6 players drafted that spring! The Rebels had an extremely talented team and we had played our hardest against Marquette.
In the 1979 NIT title game Butch Carter made an off-balance jumper from the top of the key with 5 seconds left in a 1-PT win by the Hoosiers (the 1st-ever postseason meeting between the in-state rivals): what was it like to face Bobby Knight in the postseason, and where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? It was no different than facing Knight in the regular season: I was 3-3 against him. We could have won because we had a shot in the final seconds but we missed an 18-footer at the end. It was a good basket by Butch.
Take me through the 1980 NCAA tourney:
Joe Barry Carroll scored 17 PTS in a 5-PT loss to UCLA: what sort of a home-court advantage did you have (if any) playing at Market Square Arena? That was a different situation. Teams who get to the Final 4 by cheating have to vacate their wins and that UCLA team had to vacate their wins that year after Coach Larry Brown had some recruiting violations. There is no justice in that ruling: I think it is a rule that should be changed.
Carroll had 35 PTS (14-17 FG)/12 REB/4 BLK in the consolation game against Iowa and finished your 6 games with a tourney-record 158 PTS: how was he able to dominate for 3 straight weeks against the best teams in the country? Because he was our best player and we got him the ball! He was the #1 draft pick, had great hands, and shot the ball well. He was the epitome of a student-athlete and was a leader in every aspect of the program. We had good players but he carried us.
Take me through the 1985 World University Games in Japan as coach of Team USA:
You won each of your 1st 2 games against Jordan and Korea by 100+ PTS: how does your coaching style change when you are up by triple digits?! International tournaments involve some teams who cannot wait to take a team photo with you because they are so excited to play against the USA.
In the gold medal rematch against the USSR Valdemaras Khomitchus had a game-high 30 PTS including a 3-PT shot with 3 seconds left in a 3-PT win by the Soviet Union: what was it like to face the Soviets during the Cold War? We were the 1st team from a free country to participate in the Spartakiad. We flew into Moscow with Joe Barry, Herb Williams, and a couple of other future pros. They told us to get back on the plane because the facilities were not ready so we had to fly to Lithuania. Herb even broke the backboard on a dunk and shattered it into pieces! We were the guinea pigs to see what the food/lodging/transportation would be like when the real Olympians showed up.
You still rank in the top-75 all-time in winning percentage for coaches with a minimum of 10 years of D-1 experience: what made you such a great coach, and how were you able to be so successful at so many different schools? I had good players: you do not win without good players. I also had good people, which is a great combination. I moved around a lot but we just tried to make the best decisions that we could. 1 of my proudest coaching accomplishments came at South Florida. We would play against some of the other Florida schools ever year in a small tournament. In back-to-back years we beat Florida and Florida State, which really helped put our school on the map.
After retiring from the college ranks in 1986 you served as an assistant coach for 4 NBA teams (San Antonio/New Jersey/Milwaukee/Charlotte: what was it like to work for a pair of Hall of Fame players-turned-head-coaches like Willis Reed/Dave Cowens? I read something the other day that just because you are a Hall of Fame athlete does not mean that you will be a good instructor. If you check the record book, success does not always follow the best players. Cowens had 2 of his best seasons ever with me on the sideline. He asked me what problems he would encounter: I said that he was a blue-collar player who would be coaching players who made a lot more than him but would not work as hard as him. He did not agree with that but 2 years later he quit. Silas was a great player but he had a bad record with the Bobcats. Someone told me that if you did not play in the NBA you should not coach in the NBA, but I countered with championship coaches like Gregg Popovich/Erik Spoelstra.
You were a member of the selection committee for Dream Team 2, which ended up winning the gold medal at the 1994 FIBA World Championship in Toronto: how hard was it to come up with a 12-man roster, and how much pressure was there on you after the success of the original Dream Team? The coach has a chance to express what he wants to do. Lenny Wilkens was the coach and he gave his say-so as to who he was interested in. The thing you want to do is make sure your coaches are satisfied with the players they get. They won it all so there was not much controversy that year!