Purdue basketball
He only coached basketball at Purdue for two seasons, but both were memorable. And he remains the last coach to take a Purdue team to the Final Four, in 1980.
His first season, 1978-79, Purdue finished in a three-way tie for the Big Ten championship. Michigan State wound up with the only NCAA bid from the conference and went on to win the national championship in that classic game with Indiana State. Purdue got a bad break that season, starting conference play by losing road games at Ohio State and Indiana. It had been unable to fly out of Hawaii where it played a holiday tournament because snowstorms in Indiana cancelled the flights. It wound up flying directly to Columbus and wasn’t fully rested and prepared to play two strong Big Ten teams on the road. That blizzard might have cost it an outright Big Ten title – and perhaps more.
The Boilermakers reached the Final Four during Rose’s second season, losing to UCLA in the semifinals. That team was led by Joe Barry Carroll, who became the first pick in the NBA draft, but still qualified as an overachieving team.
Rose was a brilliant tactician who had a soft-spoken but stern demeanor. I thought it brilliant the way he addressed under-performing players, as he describes in this conversation. Something like, “Is that the best you can do? It’s OK if it is, but I need to know if I’m getting your best.” To me, that’s better than screaming at a player. It forces him to respond and reconsider his effort.
Rose left Purdue after his second season to initiate a program at South Florida. It just wasn’t a good fit for him at Purdue. That can be viewed as a poor reflection of him or of Purdue’s athletic department, take your pick. Clearly, his relationship with athletic director George King wasn’t good. He also was frustrated by recruiting against Bob Knight and Digger Phelps in Indiana. He wasn’t able to get Indiana’s 1980 Mr. Basketball, Jim Master, to even visit West Lafayette despite an all-out recruiting push by assistant coach Billy Keller and lost another player to Evansville. Bottom line, he simply wasn’t all that popular or comfortable within the athletic department. But at least some of his players had great respect for him, namely Carroll and Jerry Sichting.
Life went on at Purdue as Gene Keady replaced Rose and enjoyed great success and popularity, but Purdue fans can’t be blamed for wondering how things would have gone had Rose stayed and established recruiting inroads.
Rose didn’t stay anywhere for long, it turned out. After having great success at Division II Transylvania, he coached at North Carolina-Charlotte for three seasons, leading it to a Final Four and a 72-18 record. He then coached at Purdue for two years (50-15), and USF for six (106-69). He finished his career in basketball as a longtime NBA assistant coach for four teams and a director of player personnel.
All in all, it seems he had more coaching talent than his career resume’ indicates. All those years spent in the NBA as an assistant seem a waste. You have to wonder how he would have done if he had coached at a major college program where he was comfortable.
Side note: I always mailed a CD of One on One episodes to my guests. It’s not that big a deal, but Rose was one of the very few who sent a thank you note for doing so. He remained a Southern gentleman to the end.
First aired 2014
You need to login to listen.
You need to login to read the rest of the story.
Please Login. Not a Member? Join Us
