{"id":6121,"date":"2015-11-18T00:26:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-18T05:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=6121"},"modified":"2015-11-18T13:00:31","modified_gmt":"2015-11-18T18:00:31","slug":"pitt-basketball-the-roy-chipman-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/11\/18\/pitt-basketball-the-roy-chipman-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitt basketball: The Roy Chipman Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pitt <\/a>
Pitt Athletic Director Cas Myslinski, left, along with Roy Chipman, right, and Chipman’s wife, Kathi, after Roy Chipman was named Pitt’s new men’s basketball coach. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pitt <\/a>
Pitt coach Roy Chipman and players look on from the bench in the closing moments of a loss to West Virginia in December 1983. (Marlene Karas\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"Roy <\/a>
Roy Chipman is not happy with Pitt’s performance in the first half against Xavier in December 1984 (Marlene Karas\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Roy <\/a>
Roy Chipman, right, and David Gavitt, left, the first commissioner of the Big East Conference, which Pitt would join to start the 1982-83 season. (Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Roy <\/a>
Roy Chipman compiled more than 100 wins as Pitt men’s basketball coach. (Marlene Karas\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Roy <\/a>
Roy Chipman, left, talkes with Foge Fazio, former Pitt football coach, after Chipman announced he will resign as Panthers men’s basketball coach. Fazio had recently been fired. (Gene J. Puskar\/Associated Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A year after his resignation from Pitt, Roy Chipman worked at Edwin Bell Container Co. in Bridgeville. (Melissa Farlow\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

With the college basketball regular season less than a week old, we figured it was the perfect time to reflect on an era of Pitt men\u2019s basketball: The Ron Chipman Years.<\/p>\n

Wait \u2026 Roy. Roy Chipman.<\/p>\n

Just a slip of the tongue — or fingers — but it\u2019s pretty similar to the verbal missteps of Pitt Athletic Director Cas Myslinski, who, Post-Gazette sports editor Phil Musick wrote in April 1980, referred to the Panthers\u2019 new head coach as \u201cRon\u201d during Chipman\u2019s initial introduction with the Panthers.<\/p>\n

Myslinski name-dropped \u201cRon\u201d on three more occasions, and several in the room snickered at the repeated mistake. But Roy didn\u2019t waver. He was the man of the hour, regardless of his name, and it was time to start talking Pitt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that we\u2019re able to be highly competitive in our league, and in four or five years, close to parity with the football program,\u201d Chipman, who previously was head coach at Hartwick and Lafayette colleges, said during his first media luncheon.<\/p>\n

\"Introducing<\/a>
Introducing … Ron Chipman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Panthers were certainly that. Pitt captured Eastern 8 Tournament championships in 1981 and 1982.<\/p>\n

But perhaps Chipman\u2019s biggest task was leading the basketball program into the much tougher Big East Conference, which had formed a few years earlier as a league for so-called \u201cbasketball\u201d schools in the northeast. The conference thrived over the next three decades, even sending three teams to the NCAA men\u2019s basketball tournament\u2019s Final Four in 1985 (Pitt made the tourney that year, but lost in the first round.)<\/p>\n

\"Chipman<\/a>
Chipman was hired in early 1980.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thanks to the money football generates and numerous conference realignments, the Big East that college basketball fans came to love (or loathe) eventually disintegrated, existing now without mainstays such as Pitt, Syracuse and Connecticut and with programs as far west as Nebraska.<\/p>\n

Looking back, Chipman may not have been able to deal with the constant change and financial considerations that come with college athletics these days.<\/p>\n

During his sixth season at Pitt, after recruiting Panthers legends such as future Big East Player of the Year Charles Smith and Jerome Lane (send it in, Jerome!), Chipman announced he would step down at season\u2019s end — at 47 years old.<\/p>\n

There were a few murmurs about how Pitt landed such big-name recruits. But mostly, Chipman was \u201ctired\u201d and said he wanted to \u201cdo something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has nothing to do with Pitt,\u201d Chipman was quoted saying in a Dec. 18, 1985, Pittsburgh Press story. \u201cIt has something to do with the state of the art. And the state of the art stinks.<\/p>\n

\"Roy<\/a>
Roy Chipman died in August 1997.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe damn game has become too important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chipman went 102-76 in his six Panther seasons. His successor, Paul Evans, led the team to Big East championships in 1987 and 1988, building on the foundation laid by Chipman.<\/p>\n

The former coach later succeeded in the business world and founded his own packaging company, Chipman Group L.P.<\/p>\n

He died in 1997 at his Allison Park home, but not before making a name for himself and the Panthers.<\/p>\n

Oh, and Ron, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe damn game has become too important,\u201d the coach said when he resigned at age 47<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesPitt basketball: The Roy Chipman Years<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":6109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1066,944],"tags":[964,1036,1050],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/chipman001.jpg?fit=1849%2C1365&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6669,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/03\/29\/the-1978-dapper-dan-roundball-classic-featuring-pitt-coach-kevin-stallings\/","url_meta":{"origin":6121,"position":0},"title":"Pitt coach Kevin Stallings and the 1978 Dapper Dan Roundball Classic","date":"March 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Not only was Stallings on the roster for that March 31, 1978, game between the U.S. and Pennsylvania teams, but as Post-Gazette sportswriter Phil Axelrod wrote 10 days earlier, Stallings was one of the first players announced for the United States squad in the 14th annual event.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"Pitt head basketball coach Kevin Stallings is introduced March 28, 2016, at the Petersen Events Center.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/stallings_introduced.jpg?fit=1200%2C1137&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2386,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/22\/pitt-stadium-football-mecca\/","url_meta":{"origin":6121,"position":1},"title":"Pitt Stadium, football mecca","date":"October 22, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pitt Stadium was completed in 1925, and on Sept. 26 of that year, Pitt christened the concrete bowl with a 26-0 victory over Washington and Lee.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3wd6wDJb1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C765&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2389,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/22\/pitt-stadium-razed\/","url_meta":{"origin":6121,"position":2},"title":"Pitt Stadium razed","date":"October 22, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pitt Stadium was razed to make room for the Petersen Events Center.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mc3uzyA35P1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C796&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":48,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/11\/24\/pitt-cuse-then-and-now-pitt-took-on-syracuse\/","url_meta":{"origin":6121,"position":3},"title":"Pitt-Cuse, then and now","date":"November 24, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Not much has changed over the past three decades.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/tumblr_nfestxRH7M1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=793%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8265,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/10\/25\/marshall-goldberg-pitt-football-prototype\/","url_meta":{"origin":6121,"position":4},"title":"Marshall Goldberg, Pitt’s prototype","date":"October 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Long before there was Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald, LeSean McCoy, Aaron Donald or any other transcendent football star who once donned a University of Pittsburgh uniform, there was Marshall Goldberg. 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