Bob Sigholtz Dies

[EasyEd]

Former Athletic Director dies: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090902017.html

[Nevada Hoya]

I hadn't realized all this history. I think we can be thankful that he hired JTII. May he rest in peace.

[DFW HOYA]

I don't think he hired Coach Thompson--he may have been out as athletic director by that time. Any 72-era alumni that can confirm this?

[Nevada Hoya]

dfw said:

He didn't hire Coach Thompson. He may have been out as athletic director by that time.

Well, what do I know? I guess it said that he helped recruit JTII. I took it one step too far.

[DFW HOYA]

You may be right, but I think Sigholtz and Magee probably went out very closely thereafter. Apparently, the two never got along.

[Nevada Hoya]

Sounds like they had a bad relationship.

[lichoya68]

pretty sure sigholtz was not there when jtjr hired.. not sure if frank was the athletic director but may have been the godfather dfw im sure knows go hoyas may he rest in peace..

[SirSaxa]

I don't remember the details, but I was on campus at the time. As far as I recall, everyone believed it was Rienzo who brought in JT, endorsed by Fr. Henle. Frank and JT started about the same time. Perhaps Sigholz suggested JT, or also endorsed him, or something. But I believe it was Rienzo who really did it, Frank and JT had a very successful run together and were always very supportive on one another.. a great team. Fr. Henle has to be included there too. and later Fr. Healy. JT was controversial, but those guys always had his back.

At the time, hiring JT seemed like a good idea even though he was a HS coach. His teams had been reallly successful, he was sending kids to UNC etc, he was from DC and a former college star at a catholic college. Looking back, it seems odd that GU would hire a HS coach, but things were different then. Also, it is often said that GU's expectation for JT was to make the NIT frequently. That was pretty much true, but the NIT meant a lot more then. There were only 16 or maybe 24 teams going to the NCAA at that time, so the NIT was also a very competitive tourney.

And as many of you know, Rienzo was very successful with the overall GU athletics program, not only men's hoops. 30 or so years later, they even brought him out of retirement to find and hire another JT!

[2ndRyan]

'71-72 was my freshman year. If you think the '03-04 season was bad, try losses to D-II Assumption College at home and a loss to Penn State on a length of the court inbounds pass as time expired.

By the end of that nightmare, neither Sigholtz nor Magee had much credibility left. The feud between the two seemed well-known. Magee, I recall seemed to think scheduling which included a number of road games over the semester break and was engineered by Sigholtz was to blame for the team's lack of success.
It was a sad team- one senior Mike Laughna from the NIT year and a number of unproven sophomores and juniors (freshman were ineligible until '72).

Rienzo who was the track coach when he as hired as AD came on the scene at the same time John was hired. I don't recall the exact quote from Fr. Henle, but from the nadir of March of '72, getting to the post-season every few years or so seemed a bit optimistic.

[Cambridge]

dfw said:

I don't think he hired Coach Thompson--he may have been out as athletic director by that time. Any 72-era alumni that can confirm this?

According to Big Man on campus, Rienzo was the AD.