WINNING AT EVERY LEVEL


Standing outside a recent NABC meeting, Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan was holding court and directing traffic. Among those in the crowd was former Division III coach of the Year John Giannini. And Bo’s tongue-and-cheek message to passer-bys, “Hey, this area is for Division III guys only.”

Ryan turned Wisconsin-Platteville into a division III powerhouse, winning four national championships en route to becoming the all-time winningest coach at the DIII level (353-76, .822).

Ryan’s non-DI accomplishments have gotten a lot of attention, given his great success with the Badgers in the Big Ten. But while Ryan was making noise in the Midwest, Giannini was getting a little attention back East at Rowan College in New Jersey.

“If John were coaching at a high-profile school everyone would be aware of his great success at Rowan,” says Ryan. “John may not get a lot of attention, but he is certainly a great coach.”

Ryan makes no bones about the fact that he doesn’t keep close tabs on the college basketball landscape. Bo can tell you a lot about his team’s upcoming opponent, but he would be hard pressed to tell you who sits on top of the Southeastern Conference standings. But not surprisingly, Ryan keeps relatively close tabs on Giannini.

“Division III guys have to stick together,” says Ryan. “It was fashionable to hire young, high-profile assistant coaches, but Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Maine took chances and hired two guys from the division III ranks. I think we proved that coaching is still coaching, regardless of the level.”

Both coaches have enjoyed more than their share of success, since making the transition to division I. Ryan’s resume may be more publicized, but Giannini isn’t exactly an unknown in the coaching fraternity.

“It’s all about geography,” says Ryan. “Orono, Maine is a great city tucked away in upper New England, but it doesn’t often make the college basketball map. John’s record speaks for itself. His teams have simply played in the shadow of other more publicized teams within the league (America East).”

Jay Wright’s run with Hofstra, Dennis Wolff’s success with Boston University and the recent surge of Tom Brennan and Vermont have all overshadowed Giannini’s success at Maine. Under Giannini the Black Bears advanced to three America East Conference Championship games and over the past seven seasons, nobody had a better record than Maine.

It’s simply been a case of that one elusive win. That win, which would have ticketed Maine for the NCAA Tournament. That win, which would have put Maine on the collegiate map. That win, which would have brought attention to Giannini’s coaching abilities.

“We were close,” said Giannini who is now the head coach at La Salle. “As coaches we understand that perception plays a big role and that perception changes if you make the NCAA Tournament. Had we won one of those three Conference Championship games, the perception of our program would have been different, but that doesn’t take away from what my staff and the players accomplished.”

In Giannini’s first season, Maine won only eleven games (11-20), but one of those eleven victories came on the road at Marquette. Although it wasn’t the lead story on ESPN, the win over eventual Conference-USA champion Marquette was the first indication that the former Division III mentor could work his trade at any level.

Just a year removed from leading Rowan to a DIII National Championship, Giannini wasn’t exactly accustom to losing, but he believed that he and his staff could get things turned around in Orono.

“We had no illusions that we were going to win a lot of games, in those first couple of years,” says Giannini, “but we were confident that it would not take years to start making progress.”

In just his third season, Maine posted 19 wins, which was the third best turnaround in all of division I basketball. The 19 wins were also a school-best and never before had more people filed into Alfond Arena to watch Maine basketball.

With school records for wins and attendance under his belt, the big question was could he sustain it? Was the 1998-99 campaign an aberration or a glimpse of the future? It didn’t take long to answer such questions.

“When your program hasn’t won recently, it’s natural for people to wonder if you can do it again,” says Bo Ryan. “People get excited when you exceed expectations, but they also wonder if you can repeat it. With success comes greater expectations.”

Anything approaching the year’s previous mark would have been a great season for Giannini’s Black Bears. After all, Maine was exactly steeped in winning tradition. So when Giannini improved from 19 to 24 wins, even the doubters had to become believers.

During that 24-win season, Maine posted a win at Northwestern, which would later be invited to the NIT. A year later Providence, which would finish second in the Big East, fell victim to Giannini’s gang. In a three-year span, Giannini had amassed 61 wins.

In addition, under the guidance of Giannini, Maine was the only conference member to advance to the America East Tournament semifinals or championship game in five of the last six seasons. He is credited with the school’s only twenty-win season (two) and his recruits have earned all-conference honors 16 times in the last six years, the most of any team in the conference.

Not bad for a former DIII guy.

“I am sure Bo (Ryan) would agree with me when I say that we feel an obligation to all the coaches who have come up through the non-division I ranks. Hopefully our success has encouraged athletic directors to take a good look at successful coaches at every level of college basketball.”

Giannini, who served on Lou Henson’s Illinois staff (1987-89), which advanced to the Final Four in ’89, has spent most of his career coaching in the shadow of others. But just seven wins shy of the 300-win plateau, Giannini is finally getting his long-deserved attention from the national media.

“Coaching is still coaching,” says Bo Ryan. “John has proved that.”

Once again he faces a big challenge in getting La Salle back to its glory days, but you’d have to believe that Giannini will get things back on track, sooner than later.