Marisa stills feels desire to coach
WAYNESBURG – An official’s call was not to Rudy Marisa’s liking in a recent game, and he let it be known without saying a word. The Waynesburg College men’s basketball coach briskly strolled out to the middle of the court during a time out soon after and, with another official blocking his way, he simply glared directly into the eyes of his target.
One almost expected the official to begin to melt.
It may seem to some that Marisa has little to prove as a basketball coach after an amazing run that has left him as the fourth-leading active coach in wins in NCAA Division III and seventh overall with 564, against only 297 losses, going into Saturday’s game against Westminster.
Anyone who watches Marisa in action in his 34th season with the Yellow Jackets certainly knows that’s not the case.
He acknowledges that he’s still stimulated, still has that desire to compete.
“After that night’s game, which was a strenuous game in which we almost blew a 28-point lead, I was walking out of the gym and thinking how some guys need various activities to entertain them, whether it’s mountain climbing or whatever,” Marisa said. “I get all the stimulation I need as a coach. I mean, coaching is such an emotional thing. I still have that competitive spirit, which I guess is my answer to not being a couch potato. I wound up sky high, emotionally, after that game.”
Marisa sports a .655 winning percentage at Waynesburg and shows no signs of slowing down. His Yellow Jackets won 15 of their first 21 games this season, and he hasn’t had a losing campaign since 1994-95.
Marisa turned Waynesburg into a national juggernaut in the 1980’s. He won 90 percent of his games from 1984 to 1989. His 1987-88 squad, led by Darrin Walls, went 32-3 and reached the NAIA Final Four at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena. That team scored 100 points in four consecutive games, twice.
The Yellow Jackets made 15 straight appearances in the District 18 playoffs and six in the NAIA national tournament during that span.
Marisa has already had the Yellow Jackets’ gymnasium named after him, and he’s been inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, to go along with several other national and local honors and awards. Still, the Beth-Center graduate and former Dunbar Township and Albert Gallatin coach is ready for more … and more.
Marisa harkened back to his high school coaching days when asked where his tremendous desire to win comes from.
“My high school tenure was the basis for surviving the competitiveness in college,” Marisa said. “When I coached back in Fayette County, we would play North Union, South Union, Redstone, Brownsville … they were all only a few miles apart, but the competition level was very high.”
Marisa has one main credo he goes by as a coach.
“It’s all about the program,” Marisa said. “No one individual and no one coach is bigger than the program.”
Waynesburg’s program has been highly successful in Marisa’s time there … and it’s unlikely that will change any time soon.