Massimino was in Branson on business. At 8:30 a.m., just about tee time back home, Massimino's basketball team, Northwood University, was tipping off in the NAIA Division II national tournament in a little gym at the College of the Ozarks.
If that sounds sad, the coach of Villanova's 1985 national champions not letting go, slipping further away from his proudest moments, just another '80s relic showing up in Branson - sorry, wrong. Of his coaching stops after 'Nova, UNLV wasn't right (except for the fat paycheck; otherwise, the knives were out for Massimino as soon as he hit Vegas), and Cleveland State was no place for redemption. But this last stop on the trail, leading a program he started from scratch five years ago in West Palm Beach, Fla., his friends all say it's perfect.
If Massimino had stayed retired, "I think he would put Mary Jane in a home," jokes his friend Billy Cunningham, referring to Massimino's wife. "At the end of the day, it's the best thing for her."
In retirement, he'd bring his grandkids to Villanova in the summer, into the gym to work with them. But he was still a coach. One hot day, a Villanova staffer spotted Massimino throwing his own grandson out of the gym during a workout.
Cunningham, who coached the '83 championship Sixers and never attempted an encore, said Massimino and their buddy, the late Chuck Daly, were kindred souls, that Daly never would have quit the NBA except he'd get exhausted by February. In fact, Daly, who died last May, told friends that Massimino was the guy who got it right in the end.
" 'Did you see this player here? How about him? How do we defend this high-low?' " Villanova coach Jay Wright said, describing a round of golf with Massimino. "He likes playing golf to talk about that stuff."
