Boston Ball: Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, Gary Williams, and the Forgotten Cradle of Basketball Coaches
Autor Clayton Trutoren Limba Engleză Hardback – noi 2023
Before Pitino became the face of the Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville programs, before Calhoun turned UConn into a national power, and before Williams brought Maryland to its first national championship, all three of these coaches cut their teeth in front of modest-sized crowds in the crumbling college gymnasiums of Boston during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Boston Ball charts how this trio of coaches, seemingly out of nowhere, started a basketball revolution: Pitino at Boston University, Calhoun at Northeastern University, and Williams at Boston College. Toiling in relative obscurity, they ignited a renaissance of the “city game,” a style of play built on fast-breaking up-tempo offense, pressure defense, and board crashing. Part of a fraternity of great coaches—including Mike Jarvis, Kevin Mackey, and Tom Davis—they unknowingly invented Boston Ball, a simultaneously old and new path to the top of college basketball. Pitino, Calhoun, and Williams took advantage of the ample coaching opportunities in “America’s College Town” to craft their respective blueprints for building a winning program and turn their schools into regional powers, and these early coaching years served as their respective springboards to big-time college basketball.
Boston Ball is the story of how three ambitious young coaches learned their trade in the shadow of the dynastic Celtics, as well as the story of how the young players—in their recruitment, relationships, and basketball lives—made these teams into winners.
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Specificații
ISBN-13: 9781496233356
ISBN-10: 1496233352
Pagini: 376
Ilustrații: 28 photographs, index
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 mm
Greutate: 0.7 kg
Editura: Nebraska
Colecția University of Nebraska Press
Locul publicării:United States
ISBN-10: 1496233352
Pagini: 376
Ilustrații: 28 photographs, index
Dimensiuni: 152 x 229 mm
Greutate: 0.7 kg
Editura: Nebraska
Colecția University of Nebraska Press
Locul publicării:United States
Notă biografică
Clayton Trutor holds a PhD in U.S. history from Boston College and teaches at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. He writes about college football and basketball for SB Nation and is the author of Loserville: How Professional Sports Remade Atlanta—and How Atlanta Remade Professional Sports (Nebraska, 2022). Trutor is a regular contributor to the SABR Biography Project.
Extras
1
Pay Cut (Calhoun)
In September 1972, Jim Bowman received a letter from the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He’d been accepted to the FBI Academy,
fulfilling a longtime dream of the Quincy, Massachusetts, native. Two
years earlier he’d received a similar letter, offering him an appointment
to the federal law enforcement agency, but he turned it down. Bowman
was twenty-seven at the time and an assistant basketball coach at his alma
mater, Northeastern, where he’d been a stalwart on Dick Dukeshire’s
tough and physical basketball teams of the mid-1960s. Northeastern had
been a power in the ncaa’s “College Division” (now Division II) during
the 1960s, earning six bids to the ncaa Tournament. Bowman took over
as the coach of Northeastern’s freshman team in 1969, a time of transition
for the basketball program, which was in the multi-year process of moving
up to Division I, then called the ncaa “University Division.” In the fall
of 1971 he became Northeastern’s interim head basketball coach when
Dukeshire took a season-long sabbatical, agreeing to coach the Greek
national team as it attempted to qualify for the 1972 Summer Olympics.
The letter from the FBI arrived as Bowman neared his thirtieth birthday,
the cutoff for enrollment in the Bureau. He had less than a week to decide
whether to accept the FBI’s offer or to continue on at Northeastern, where
he may well have become the permanent head basketball coach. Dukeshire
had returned from Greece, where he had contracted an undisclosed illness
that prevented him from returning immediately to his job. While
on the mend, Dukeshire put off his decision on coaching the upcoming
season at Northeastern but eventually decided against it. When he was
physically able, Dukeshire returned to Greece, where he again became
coach of the national team. Jim Bowman, too, decided against returning
to Northeastern. He accepted the FBI’s offer and served with distinction
as a special agent for the next thirty years. “I was set on joining the FBI
because I knew from my experience that to be a successful D-1
[Division I] coach, your family makes a lot of sacrifices. Also, it was assumed that
Duke was coming back. I had turned down the FBI in 1970 and knew I
couldn’t do it again,” Jim Bowman recalled.
Northeastern athletic director, Herb Gallagher, and his assistant Joe
Zabilski, who had recently retired after nearly a quarter century as the
school’s football coach, had to find themselves a new head basketball coach
less than a month before practice began on October 15. They asked around
but found no takers among the incumbent college coaches they contacted.
University of Pennsylvania assistant Rollie Massimino, New Hampshire’s
Gerry Friel, and Assumption’s Joe O’Brien all apparently said no. Several
area high school coaches with strong ties to Northeastern applied for the
job, as did Northeastern assistant and basketball alum Mike Jarvis, the
twenty-seven-year- old coach of the Huskies’ freshman team. Gallagher
and Zabilski instead went in a different direction, causing consternation
and confusion within the Northeastern basketball family by hiring a little-known
high school coach from Dedham to lead the program.
On October 2, 1972, Northeastern University announced that thirty-year-
old Jim Calhoun would be its new head basketball coach, the school’s
third in less than one calendar year.4 Calhoun accepted a pay cut to take
the job. At Northeastern he would earn $13,800 a year. As a high school
teacher and basketball coach in nearby Dedham, he’d made $14,600.
Nevertheless, when Calhoun told his wife Pat that he thought he was
going to get the job, he later wrote that “it sounded like I was saying, ‘You
know, I think Ed McMahon is going to pull up on the front lawn with the
big check from Publishers Clearing House.’”
“We were all in the dark. It was a little bit of a shocker. We didn’t know
much about him. [Calhoun] wasn’t a whole lot older than us,” freshman
center Jim Connors remembered.6 “They [Northeastern] never really interviewed
anybody else. Herb Gallagher and Dukeshire sort of had a falling
out,” Paul Solberg said, making Calhoun the beneficiary of intrigue within
the athletic department. Rather than hiring a Dukeshire disciple, Gallagher
and Zabilski instead selected someone from outside the Husky basketball
orbit. Solberg had been one of Dukeshire’s most accomplished students.
Twice the Northeastern point guard earned Little All-American
honors while leading the Huskies to the District I College Division Championship
in 1962 and 1963. He later served as an assistant coach for Dukeshire. Years
earlier Solberg met Calhoun in Quincy’s summer basketball league. The
cocky Calhoun rubbed Solberg and his friends the wrong way, a feeling
that remained when Calhoun got the Northeastern job.
Calhoun would be one of the country’s youngest head basketball coaches
in the 1972–1973 season. Nevertheless, the thirty-year-old brought a wealth
of basketball and life experience to the job. What came off as pugnaciousness
and being stuck on himself to some was the product of hard-earned
success bought with self-reliance and self-assurance.
Pay Cut (Calhoun)
In September 1972, Jim Bowman received a letter from the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He’d been accepted to the FBI Academy,
fulfilling a longtime dream of the Quincy, Massachusetts, native. Two
years earlier he’d received a similar letter, offering him an appointment
to the federal law enforcement agency, but he turned it down. Bowman
was twenty-seven at the time and an assistant basketball coach at his alma
mater, Northeastern, where he’d been a stalwart on Dick Dukeshire’s
tough and physical basketball teams of the mid-1960s. Northeastern had
been a power in the ncaa’s “College Division” (now Division II) during
the 1960s, earning six bids to the ncaa Tournament. Bowman took over
as the coach of Northeastern’s freshman team in 1969, a time of transition
for the basketball program, which was in the multi-year process of moving
up to Division I, then called the ncaa “University Division.” In the fall
of 1971 he became Northeastern’s interim head basketball coach when
Dukeshire took a season-long sabbatical, agreeing to coach the Greek
national team as it attempted to qualify for the 1972 Summer Olympics.
The letter from the FBI arrived as Bowman neared his thirtieth birthday,
the cutoff for enrollment in the Bureau. He had less than a week to decide
whether to accept the FBI’s offer or to continue on at Northeastern, where
he may well have become the permanent head basketball coach. Dukeshire
had returned from Greece, where he had contracted an undisclosed illness
that prevented him from returning immediately to his job. While
on the mend, Dukeshire put off his decision on coaching the upcoming
season at Northeastern but eventually decided against it. When he was
physically able, Dukeshire returned to Greece, where he again became
coach of the national team. Jim Bowman, too, decided against returning
to Northeastern. He accepted the FBI’s offer and served with distinction
as a special agent for the next thirty years. “I was set on joining the FBI
because I knew from my experience that to be a successful D-1
[Division I] coach, your family makes a lot of sacrifices. Also, it was assumed that
Duke was coming back. I had turned down the FBI in 1970 and knew I
couldn’t do it again,” Jim Bowman recalled.
Northeastern athletic director, Herb Gallagher, and his assistant Joe
Zabilski, who had recently retired after nearly a quarter century as the
school’s football coach, had to find themselves a new head basketball coach
less than a month before practice began on October 15. They asked around
but found no takers among the incumbent college coaches they contacted.
University of Pennsylvania assistant Rollie Massimino, New Hampshire’s
Gerry Friel, and Assumption’s Joe O’Brien all apparently said no. Several
area high school coaches with strong ties to Northeastern applied for the
job, as did Northeastern assistant and basketball alum Mike Jarvis, the
twenty-seven-year- old coach of the Huskies’ freshman team. Gallagher
and Zabilski instead went in a different direction, causing consternation
and confusion within the Northeastern basketball family by hiring a little-known
high school coach from Dedham to lead the program.
On October 2, 1972, Northeastern University announced that thirty-year-
old Jim Calhoun would be its new head basketball coach, the school’s
third in less than one calendar year.4 Calhoun accepted a pay cut to take
the job. At Northeastern he would earn $13,800 a year. As a high school
teacher and basketball coach in nearby Dedham, he’d made $14,600.
Nevertheless, when Calhoun told his wife Pat that he thought he was
going to get the job, he later wrote that “it sounded like I was saying, ‘You
know, I think Ed McMahon is going to pull up on the front lawn with the
big check from Publishers Clearing House.’”
“We were all in the dark. It was a little bit of a shocker. We didn’t know
much about him. [Calhoun] wasn’t a whole lot older than us,” freshman
center Jim Connors remembered.6 “They [Northeastern] never really interviewed
anybody else. Herb Gallagher and Dukeshire sort of had a falling
out,” Paul Solberg said, making Calhoun the beneficiary of intrigue within
the athletic department. Rather than hiring a Dukeshire disciple, Gallagher
and Zabilski instead selected someone from outside the Husky basketball
orbit. Solberg had been one of Dukeshire’s most accomplished students.
Twice the Northeastern point guard earned Little All-American
honors while leading the Huskies to the District I College Division Championship
in 1962 and 1963. He later served as an assistant coach for Dukeshire. Years
earlier Solberg met Calhoun in Quincy’s summer basketball league. The
cocky Calhoun rubbed Solberg and his friends the wrong way, a feeling
that remained when Calhoun got the Northeastern job.
Calhoun would be one of the country’s youngest head basketball coaches
in the 1972–1973 season. Nevertheless, the thirty-year-old brought a wealth
of basketball and life experience to the job. What came off as pugnaciousness
and being stuck on himself to some was the product of hard-earned
success bought with self-reliance and self-assurance.
Cuprins
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Forgotten Cradle of Coaches
1. Pay Cut (Calhoun)
2. You Come Highly Recommended (Pitino)
3. Once Again, Not That Much Is Expected of the Eagles (Williams)
4. Getting over a Hump (Calhoun)
5. Great Kids (Pitino)
6. Pack the Bags. We’re Off to Albuquerque (Williams)
7. Northwestern (Calhoun)
8. Like the Pacific Ocean (Pitino)
9. They Probably Achieved as Much as They Could (Williams)
10. Our Best Recruiting Year Ever (Calhoun)
11. Truly a Team of Character (Pitino)
12. I was Happy at BC (Williams)
13. Where Did You Get That Guy? (Calhoun)
14. Proper Perspective (Pitino)
15. Homecoming (Williams)
Epilogue: March 31, 1988
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Forgotten Cradle of Coaches
1. Pay Cut (Calhoun)
2. You Come Highly Recommended (Pitino)
3. Once Again, Not That Much Is Expected of the Eagles (Williams)
4. Getting over a Hump (Calhoun)
5. Great Kids (Pitino)
6. Pack the Bags. We’re Off to Albuquerque (Williams)
7. Northwestern (Calhoun)
8. Like the Pacific Ocean (Pitino)
9. They Probably Achieved as Much as They Could (Williams)
10. Our Best Recruiting Year Ever (Calhoun)
11. Truly a Team of Character (Pitino)
12. I was Happy at BC (Williams)
13. Where Did You Get That Guy? (Calhoun)
14. Proper Perspective (Pitino)
15. Homecoming (Williams)
Epilogue: March 31, 1988
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Recenzii
“From Auerbach to Belichick, Boston has long been the home office to coaching titans in the pros. In this fascinating book, Clayton Trutor summons a time when the city was also home to three relentless college coaches whose frenetic, full-court approach mirrored the region and paved their way to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Clayton Trutor has crafted a wonderful must-read reminder that the Celtics aren’t the only ones responsible for Boston’s love affair with the city game.”—Ian O’Connor, New York Times best-selling author of Belichick: The Making of the Greatest Football Coach of All Time
“Boston Ball is a fascinating journey through an underappreciated time and place in the history of college basketball.”—Pat Williams, co-founder of the Orlando Magic and author of Who Coached the Coaches
“In the early 1980s the proverbial ‘pro sports town’ of Boston was home to three remarkable young college basketball coaches. . . . Clayton Trutor brings that era alive and reminds us of a time when these future Hall of Famers were unproven, ambitious, and hungry for more.”—John Gasaway, ESPN writer and author of Miracles on the Hardwood: The Hope-and-a-Prayer Story of a Winning Tradition in Catholic College Basketball
“Through his essays and books, Clayton Trutor is quietly becoming one of the very best sports historians that we have. In Boston Ball he takes you for a journey in his time machine back to an era (the 1980s) and a city (Boston) that was clearly the king of the NBA but more quietly the spawning ground for three coaches (Gary Williams, Jim Calhoun, and Rick Pitino) who would soon dominate the collegiate game. The great, excavated stories and the rock-solid analysis are all part of the Trutor magic.”—Jack Gilden, author of Collision of Wills: Johnny Unitas, Don Shula, and the Rise of the Modern NFL
“Boston Ball takes you on an amazing ride following the careers of Hall of Fame coaches. Trutor masterfully weaves a story of hard-working men who grew up as coaches in a city know for great ones. If you’re a basketball fan, you need to read this book.”—Jon Meterparel, ESPN college basketball and football announcer and the voice of Boston College football
Descriere
Boston Ball is the story of how three ambitious young college basketball coaches learned their trade in Boston in the late seventies and early eighties in the shadow of the dynastic Celtics, and who in their various careers played a big role in reshaping their sport.