Pete Gillen Memories

[DanofXav76]

WIth all of my new Providence friends on this board I was just curious of your memories of our Pete Gillen. In Pete's nine years at Xavier he took us to 7 NCAA tournaments (school's first ever Sweet 16 over Mourning/Mutombo led Georgetown squad), an NIT along with epic wins over arch rival Cincinnati. Obviously Pete is held in high esteem by most of the Muskie faithful for putting X on the college basketball map. If memory serves he got Providence to an Elite 8 game against eventual National Champion Arizona that went dow to the wire?

[sportstalkmatt]

My first job out of college (UMass) was as the voice of UVa's women's basketball team. Pete was the coach of Virginia then and could not have been a nicer guy to a New England native who had just moved to the south for the first time. I remembered his time at Providence and loved talking to him about New England. He would laugh about how my accent (didn't think I had one) stuck out in Charlottesville. I'm very happy to see him get a radio broadcasting gig and maybe to get back into coaching one day.

[EMT]

Pete took us to the Elite 8 and could have won the whole thing if a few things bounced our way in that Zona game. Initially we were so happy to get Pete because he turned down so many jobs before he decided to come to PC. We never thought he would leave.

He got to PC under a previous administration that didn't really commit the necessary resources to compete on a regular basis. That being said, he took a lot of public and private shots at the school on the way out so he is not as loved as Pitino who has sent kids to the school. Richard is an alum...

Gillen ended up being a function of his assistant coaches. Gonzo was his top recruiter and the he was the guy that got all the players for that Elite 8 run. In the end, he over reached going to UVa and mildly surprised he never landed anywhere again....or isn't a top TV analyst.

Great guy to grab a beer with and great stories.