Staak scouting for the Magic

[Mr. Neutral]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/b ... 3827.story

Bob's name comes up 5 paragraphs into the story.

[muskienick]

My Lord, Gary! That was a championship "find." Coach Staak has got to be proud of what he got turned around in what was then the woeful Xavier University Musketeers basketball program. He also must be completely nuts about the game of basketball to be living the vagabond life described in that story.

[Mr. Neutral]

Yep, Bob's the guy who started the turnaround, and handed Pete Gillen a 4 senior & Byron Larkin team that went on to win 25 games.

You can argue that '84 NIT run (wins over Ohio State and Nebraska, 1-pt. loss to Michigan) was the first step in establishing X as a legitimate b-ball school.

Plus, as I've posted before, just after Bob took the XU job, he made a PR trip to Chicago, got drunk with Dave Piontek, myself and my girlfriend, and made a pass at my girlfriend.

She thought it was funny, as did I. She liked the fact that Bob had a dark side.

[muskieman]

Unfortunately that dark side has kept him from getting to the top of the profession. Bob was a good guy that was very approachable. He like his drink and his good times. I wish him success.

[Mr. Neutral]

You may be right, mm. Bob's certainly done OK in the b-ball world, but you can argue that more doors should have opened for him. Whether he had a part in that not happening, I can't say.

[Masterofreality]

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! Dave Twardzik. Anybody remember him? I do.

He played at Old Dominion, who we played at Schmidt Fieldhouse in December 1968 and December 1969. He was their floppy haired point guard who led them to the Division II Championship game in 1971.

I'm sure that Wise, Moose, Muskieman and Q all remember him. We split those two games winning in '68 by 2 and losing in '69 by 3.

[Mr. Neutral]

I don't remember his as much as I wish I did, MOR. Keep in mind we were usually blind drunk when we walked into the games, and then proceeded to do more damage during the games.