Bob Valvano (born January 29, 1957) is a former college basketball coach and an American sportscaster based in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

Television and coaching

During the college-basketball season, he is the lead game analyst for ESPNRadio, and occasionally for ESPNU. When not doing those games, Valvano is the color analyst for

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

men's basketball games on radio ( WHAS 840 and WKRD 790.) Valvano began his coaching career at Hofstra University where he was an assistant to head coach Dick Berg for three years. Then he took over the head coaching position at Division II Kutztown. Valvano coached there for two years, setting the single-season record for wins his second year, before taking the head coaching position at St. Francis College in 1984. At the time of Valvano's hiring he was the youngest head coach in Division I men's basketball at 27 years old. While with the

Terriers Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary g ...

, Valvano did not have a winning season but did win the College's first postseason game in over 30 years in 1988. In 1988, he left for Sweden to coach the Alvik Professional Basketball Club. After one year in Sweden, he returned to take the head coaching position at Division III Catholic University, where his third team there had the first 20-win season in school history, (20–6), and set 6 NCAA records for 3-point shooting. Valvano then went to St. Mary's (MD), where his team had that school's first winning season ever at the NCAA level in 1994. In 1994, Valvano took the head coaching job at Bellarmine University, where his teams improved for four straight years, culminating in back-to-back winning seasons (16–11, 17–10) his last two seasons.

Head coaching record

Radio

Valvano hosts a daily radio show (''The V Show'') on ESPN680 in Louisville from noon until 3 weekdays. He had hosted a late night show on ESPN Radio (under the same ''V Show'' moniker) for over twelve years. During that time, SI's Richard Deitsch named Valvano his National Sportsradio Voice of the Year in 2012. Valvano was also named Kentucky Sportscaster of the Year in 2016. A regular segment on ''The V Show'' was the "Zero-Thousand-Dollar Pyramid," which was inspired by the

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

series of game shows. His show also regularly featured the "Sports Radio Match Game", based upon the 1970s edition of

Match Game ''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity panelis ...

, complete with audio from that show.

Personal life

Valvano graduated cum laude from

Virginia Wesleyan College Virginia Wesleyan University (VWU) is a private university in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The university is nonsectarian but historically affiliated with The United Methodist Church. It enrolls 1,607 students annually in undergraduate and graduate ...

in 1979, where he majored in communications and lettered in soccer, basketball and golf. (He was voted All-Conference First team as a goalkeeper and still holds the career record for saves at VWC.) He was inducted into the College's Sports Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 2009. He and his wife Darlene have two sons, Nicholas and Jamison. Valvano is the younger brother of the late North Carolina State

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and TV commentator

Jim Valvano James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Caroli ...

. He is active in the

V Foundation James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Caroli ...

, Jim Valvano's legacy in the fight against

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, and authored a book about his brother titled "The Gifts of Jimmy V".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valvano, Bob 1957 births Living people American men's basketball players American people of Italian descent American sports radio personalities Association football goalkeepers Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York (state) Bellarmine Knights men's basketball coaches Catholic University Cardinals men's basketball coaches College basketball announcers in the United States Kutztown Golden Bears men's basketball coaches Soccer players from New York (state) St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers men's basketball coaches St. Mary's Seahawks men's basketball coaches Virginia Wesleyan Marlins men's basketball players Virginia Wesleyan Marlins men's golfers Virginia Wesleyan Marlins men's soccer players Association football players not categorized by nationality