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March 1, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia’s 87-85 win over North Carolina earlier this season marked the 300th careervictory for head coach Pete Gillen. To reach such a truly remarkable coaching milestone servesas a testament to coach Gillen’s constant drive for success. In just two seasons at Virginia, hehas taken the Cavaliers from a last-place conference finish a year ago to a team currentlyperched in the top half of the ACC standings. No stranger to winning, Gillen has only posted twolosing seasonsin his 14 years as a collegiate head coach.
Pete Gillen has left his mark not only as a successful coach but also as a great teacherof the game and a mentor to his assistant coaches. Since he took his first head coaching job atXavier, three of his former assistant coaches, Skip Prosser, Dino Gaudio, and Bobby Gonzalezhave all gone on to become Division I head coaches. Each credits coach Gillen as the oneperson who laid the necessary groundwork for them to become head coaches, and like any goodteacher, Gillen takes great joy in the success of his former students.
“They are special people, and as I get older it makes me feel good that they are doingwell, leading their own team, having a lot of success, and doing things their own way,” said Gillen.”They were certainly a big part of whatever I did as a head coach, and they certainly helped ushave some good competitive teams”.
During Pete Gillen’s eight years as head coach at Xavier University, Skip Prosser servedas his top assistant for every season. When Gillen left for Providence College in 1994, Prosserwas named the head coach at XU, and after only five seasons, he currently ranks second inall-time wins. Entering his sixth season at Xavier, Prosser had an overall record of 106-45,including five winning seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances. Regarded by many asone of the top head coaches in college basketball, Prosser attributes much of what he learned asa coach to his experience as Gillen’s top assistant.
“One thing he did when I was an assistant is he involved me in all phases, including therecruiting, scouting, game preparation, and practice planning,” said Prosser. “He was very opento listening to ideas from assistants, and that was something I really appreciated when I workedfor him. He really prepared me to be a head coach.”
In his first season as head coach at Manhattan College, Bobby Gonzalez is no stranger tomost Cavalier fans, after serving as Gillen’s top assistant at Virginia last year. In all, he spent sixseasons as an assistant under coach Gillen, one at Xavier, four at Providence and one at Virginia.While working as an assistant coach, Gonzalez became most known for his success in recruitingseveral big name players while at both Providence and Virginia. Gonzalez credits thethoroughness he learned from coach Gillen as both a major reason why he did so well recruitingand as an extremely beneficial trait that has helped him tremendously as a new head coach.
“I think the attention to detail, more than anything for me, was the biggest thing I learnedfrom coach Gillen,” said Gonzalez. “Pete is very meticulous and detail-oriented, and he leaves nostone unturned. That was great for me, because I think our backgrounds are similar, and Ialready understood the family aspects of his coaching philosophy. After being with coach Gillenfor six years, the extreme attention to detail in every area is what rubbed off on me, and that hasbeen a big help.”
Another former Gillen assistant, Dino Gaudio, joins Gonzalez as a head coach in theMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference. In his third year at Loyola University, Gaudio served sixseasons as an assistant coach for Gillen at Xavier. While at XU, he helped the Musketeerscompile an impressive 136-49 record, including five 20-win seasons and five NCAA Tournamentappearances. Gaudio admits it was coach Gillen’s hard work and determination that left the mostlasting impression, and it remains a trait he still continues to admire.
“I learned from him very early the type of work ethic you need to have. He is a blue collar,in-the-trenches type guy who still has a great work ethic,” said Gaudio. “A lot of coaches, as theymove up and get a little older, delegate a lot more responsibility, yet coach Gillen still watches anincredible amount of film and is always incredibly prepared.”
For Prosser, Gonzalez, and Gaudio, coach Gillen represents the only coach that any ofthem have worked under at the collegiate level. All three have built their programs around thefundamental ideals that continue to help coach Gillen achieve success. Each admits the yearsthey spent working with Gillen proved extremely formative and ultimately dictated the style ofbasketball they teach, the philosophies they practice, and the way they coach.
“He is the only coach I ever worked for at this level, so a lot of what we do is based onwhat he taught me. Most of what I learned about coaching at this level, I learned from him,” saidProsser. “The idea of having a family atmosphere and being very prepared for every situation arethe two biggest things [I took away from my experience with him].
Though all three coaches no longer work for Gillen, each continues to maintain a closepersonal relationship with their former boss. For Prosser, acting as the head coach for anationally-recognized program often makes it hard to keep in regular contact with coach Gillen.Though he rarely looks to Gillen for advice, Prosser admits he will occasionally watch Virginia playto see if the Cavaliers are doing anything he may want to implement in his own program.
Conversely, Dino Gaudio is extremely glad he does not have to watch Virginia playanytime soon. For the past two seasons, Virginia and Loyola have met in the regular season, butto the relief of coach Gaudio, this year’s contest finished out the series between the two schools.Forced to become competitors against one another, the head-to-head matchup, at times,temporarily disrupted their close friendship.
For Gonzalez, his first season as head coach now puts him on a more even level withcoach Gillen. Like a proud student, Gonzalez continues to try and make his former teacher proudby proving he is truly ready for his own program. With thoughts of Gillen constantly in the back ofhis mind, the first year head coach always strives to do things the way coach Gillen taught him.
“It is almost like when a son leaves home and becomes a man, there is a different rapport[between father and son]. Our relationship now is even better, because, though I am not on thesame level as coach Gillen, I am a head coach now, so it is different when we talk,” saidGonzalez. “He watches my scores, and I watch Virginia scores. When he heard we beatFairfield, his alma mater, he was so excited, and for me it was an incredible feeling. As soon asthe game ended, I was thinking about what Pete was going to say when he saw the score.”
Prosser, Gaudio, and Gonzalez all graduated from the Pete Gillen school of coaching,and each has gone on to become a successful college head coach. Each retains the utmostamount of respect for coach Gillen, and all three have nothing but kind words regarding him asboth a coach and a person. All three realize the important role coach Gillen has played in helpingthem succeed in life.
“If it wasn’t for coach Gillen, I would probably still be riding those yellow school buses allover eastern Ohio coaching high school,” said Gaudio. “He has done a tremendous amount, notjust for me, but for my family as well. I would never be where I am today if it weren’t for him.”