Giannini's program coming together

By Mike Petty
Collegian Staff
November 15, 2006

The date was Feb. 4, 2006, and the opponent was Broad Street and Atlantic 10 rival Temple. The clock read zeroes, and the first capacity crowd in four years roared as it looked to the Tom Gola Arena scoreboard and saw “La Salle 62, Temple 56.”

The deafening roar of the crowd made it impossible to hear the person next to you, but one thing, above all, stood out loud and clear: the smile on Coach John Giannini’s face.

Giannini looked into the crowd with both arms raised and repeated two simple words: “Thank you.” This was a “thank you” to the fans for sticking with the program, and it was clear that as important as this win was for the standings, it meant just as much to the coach who was entrusted to bring the La Salle men’s basketball program back to national prominence.

On Aug. 23, 2004, Giannini was hired to coach the men’s program, a job many would have been scared away from because of all the distractions surrounding the program. The only question was how Giannini would deal with the outside issues and how he would begin to make his mark on the program.

There was no question that the team would improve and be successful, because a simple glance at Giannini’s track record would quell any fears about his coaching ability.

In seven seasons at Rowan University he amassed a 168-38 record and a Division III national championship. He then moved on to the University of Maine, where he spent eight seasons at the helm, and he finished the most successful coach in school history with a 125-111 record.

To see what lies ahead for La Salle, one simply needs to look at what Giannini has done in his first two seasons as the head coach.

Just last season, he led the Explorers to their highest win total in 14 years, with 18. Those 18 wins led the Explorers to their first winning season since 1992-93, and their third-place regular season finish in the A-10 is the program’s highest since joining the conference.

The team collected its first ever win at the Cintas Center, home of the A-10 Tournament champion Xavier Musketeers just seven days after the Temple win. The win against Temple was the first Explorer Big 5 win in five years.

The 18th head coach in the history of the program was rewarded for all these accomplishments when he was named to the Jim Phelan Award list for the National Coach of the Year.

In a world of “what have you done for me lately” mentalities, past accomplishments will not keep the program in the national spotlight and in high school recruits’ minds. This is an idea that Coach Giannini knows all about, and if history repeats itself, the next years should be even more successful for the Explorers.

Nearly 55 percent of the roster has been recruited by Giannini, and as the years progress and as he gets the players that fit his system, the product on the court should only continue to get better.

In two years the Explorers will completely be recruited by the current coach, and in the past that has been a good situation for a Giannini-coached team. At Rowan and Maine when the entire roster comprised of his recruits, his teams have amassed a 174-67 record for an astonishing .722 win percentage.

While that situation is still a few years off, his style of coaching has already begun to show. The roster consists of nine players who are between 6’5” and 6’8” and are very versatile. This type of player is what Giannini envisions when he looks at his La Salle team.

The 2006-2007 season for the Explorers could be deemed a “rebuilding” season by some, as the team looks to fill the shoes of players like Steven Smith and Jermaine Thomas, but there’s not one team out there that should overlook Coach G’s squad.

The career .653 winning coach has a bright future in front of him with the Explorers’ program, and as he enters his third year in charge, one can only hope that he’ll be around to enjoy the same success at 20th and Olney as he has at his past schools.

pettym1@lasalle.edu