 Cazzetta in the 1958–59 season. | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1925-09-24)September 24, 1925 New Britain, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | May 4, 2005(2005-05-04) (aged 79) Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school | New Britain (New Britain, Connecticut) |
| College | Bridgeport |
| Career history | |
| As coach: | |
| 1956–1958 | Seattle (assistant) |
| 1958–1963 | Seattle |
| 1963–1967 | Rhode Island (assistant) |
| 1967–1968 | Pittsburgh Pipers |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Vincent C. Cazzetta (September 24, 1925 – May 4, 2005) was an Americanbasketball coach. As coach of thePittsburgh Pipers in the inaugural season of theAmerican Basketball Association, he led the team to the championship, the first and only championship for a major basketball team in the city.
Cazzetta was raised inNew Britain, Connecticut. He served in the 95th Infantry of theUnited States Army inWorld War II, fighting in theBattle of the Bulge. He later attended Arnold College (later known as Bridgeport University) and graduated in 1950. He obtained a master's degree from Columbia. He became a football coach at Massachusetts and Connecticut high schools.
Cazzetta was promoted to replaceJohn Castellani as head coach atSeattle in 1959, where the team had received a two-year postseason ban due to NCAA violations.[1] He ranked second in school history with a .711 winning percentage and 96 wins. On February 7, 1963, he resigned as coach with nine games left in the season after a dispute with management.[2] Athletic director Eddie O'Brien had refused to give Cazzetta total control of the program in terms of scheduling and budget and the faculty board sided with O'Brien, which led Cazzetta to cite "willful interference" by O'Brien as his reason for leaving; Cazzetta's son later stated that his father was fired after committing an infraction by purchasing a plane ticket home for a player fromWashington, D.C. on Christmas..[3][4]
Cazzetta moved on to become an assistant coach at theUniversity of Rhode Island from 1963 to 1967.[5]
Cazzetta became head coach of the fledglingPittsburgh Pipers during the ABA's first season. He made major changes to the roster throughout the season; at the end of the season the team only had four players who had been there at the start of the season. His personality as a coach was cited as a key reason the team pulled together and won the championship. During the season the Pipers had winning streaks of 15 and 12 games and won 18 out of 19 games at one point.[6] The Pipers won the1968 ABA Championship in seven games over theNew Orleans Buccaneers. Cazzetta was the ABA's Coach of the Year for the 1967–68 season.[7][8]
As it turned out, the Game 7 win on May 4 was his final game as a coach. Cazzetta resigned as coach of the Pipers after team owner Gabe Rubin refused to grant him a raise (specifically a $10,000 raise and $2,000 in moving expenses) in order to help move his wife and six children, as the franchise was leaving Pittsburgh to become theMinnesota Pipers. As it turned out, the owners' refusal and move were both mistakes, with the team returning to Pittsburgh as the Pipers after only one season in Minnesota. Cazzetta was replaced as the Pipers' head coach byJim Harding ofLaSalle College.[9][10]
For his efforts as a coach, he was inducted into the Connecticut High School Coaches Hall of Fame and the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame.[11]
Cazzetta worked a variety of jobs after leaving the Pipers, serving as a sales representative for shoe companies (Converse and later Puma) before becoming a professor in the Sports Management department at theUniversity of Massachusetts.
He was later a scout for the Minnesota Timberwolves andToronto Raptors.[12]
Cazzetta died in 2005 inHartford, Connecticut at the age of 79 on May 4, 2005.[13]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle Chieftains(Independent)(1958–1963) | |||||||||
| 1958–59 | Seattle | 21–6 | |||||||
| 1959–60 | Seattle | 16–10 | |||||||
| 1960–61 | Seattle | 18–8 | NCAA University Division first round | ||||||
| 1961–62 | Seattle | 18–9 | NCAA University Division first round | ||||||
| 1962–63 | Seattle | 21–6 | NCAA University Division first round | ||||||
| Seattle: | 94–39 (.707) | ||||||||
| Total: | 94–39 (.707) | ||||||||
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win–loss % |
| Playoffs | PG | Playoff games | PW | Playoff wins | PL | Playoff losses | PW–L % | Playoff win–loss % |
| Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | 1967–68 | 78 | 54 | 24 | .692 | 1st in Eastern | 15 | 11 | 4 | .733 | WonABA Finals |
| Total ABA | 78 | 54 | 24 | .692 | 15 | 11 | 4 | .733 |
