John Giannini

From 1987 through 1989, Giannini served as a graduate assistant on coach Lou Henson's staff at the University of Illinois. In Giannini's final season on Henson's staff, the Fighting Illini, led by Kendall Gill, Kenny Battle, Stephen Bardo, Tyler Cottingham, Lowell Hamilton and Marcus Liberty, made the Final Four.[4]

Giannini's first head coaching job came at Rowan University, a Division III school, when he was hired as the men's coach in 1989. Giannini totaled a 168–38 record in seven seasons at Rowan, which included five NCAA Tournament appearances and three Final Four berths.[2] The 1995-96 squad reached the pinnacle, going 28-4 and captured the 1996 Division III national title, the only one in the program's history.[2] Following that season, Giannini owned the highest winning percentage (.814) in the nation among all active NCAA coaches.[2]

In 2004, Giannini was inducted into the Rowan University-Glassboro State College Hall of Fame while his 1996 national champion team was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.[2]

Following Rowan's championship season, Giannini accepted the head coaching position at the University of Maine, a position he held for eight years. His Maine teams made five trips to the America East Conference semi-finals or better, and made appearances in the conference championship game two of Giannini's last three seasons. Giannini's two 20-win seasons are the only two on record in program history, and his .530 winning percentage is the highest in school history.[6][7]

On August 23, 2004, Giannini was hired as the eighteenth head coach of the La Salle men's basketball team. He succeeded Billy Hahn, who was forced to resign that July.

The 2005–06 season, Giannini's second at La Salle, set records for most Atlantic 10 wins in a season (ten), most Atlantic 10 road wins in a single season (four) and was the program's first winning season since the 1992–93 season, when the school competed in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League). Giannini was named a Jim Phelan Award candidate for National Coach of the Year.[3]

Giannini spent 14 years as head men's basketball coach at La Salle, from 2004 to 2018, a tenure that was highlighted by an NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Sweet 16 appearance in 2012–13.[8] Under Giannini's leadership at La Salle, the basketball program achieved academic success as well. During his last four years as head coach, La Salle was honored by the NCAA for having one of the best academic progress rates in the country.[2] In addition, 100 percent of his seniors at La Salle graduated.[2]

On March 23, 2018, Giannini and La Salle mutually agreed to part ways after 14 seasons.[9]

The 2011–12 Explorers won 21 games, the program's highest win total since 1992, and received an invitation to the 2012 NIT, the program's first postseason tournament appearance since 1992. La Salle lost its first-round game at home to eventual tournament runner-up Minnesota.[3]

The following season, La Salle went 24-10 and defeated three nationally ranked squads during the regular season.[10] The Explorers received their first invitation to the NCAA tournament since 1992, when they received an at-large bid. In the opening round, La Salle defeated fellow thirteen seed Boise State, before defeating fourth-seeded Kansas State in the second round. After defeating twelfth-seeded Ole Miss in the third round, La Salle lost to Wichita State in the Sweet Sixteen. The Explorers captured the nation's attention during their run, in which they won three games in five days.[11] La Salle's appearance in the Sweet Sixteen made it only the sixth program seeded thirteenth or lower to advance that far, and its three tournament wins were the program's first since 1990. It was also the program's deepest tournament run since 1955, when the Tom Gola-led Explorers lost in the national championship game.[12] The team's 24 overall victories were the seventh-most in school history, and its 11 victories in the Atlantic Ten were the most ever. The Explorers also finished ranked 24th in the nation in the final USA Today Coaches Poll of the season.[13]