Stephan Thomas Lappas (born March 18, 1954) is an American former

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. He coached at

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

(1988–1992), Villanova (1992–2001) and UMass (2001–2005), compiling a 280–237 (.542) record over a 17-year coaching career. He is currently a basketball color commentator and studio analyst for

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

Biography

Education

Lappas graduated from

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Spec ...

in 1972, where he was sixth man on its 1971 city championship team and a starter as a prep senior. He went on to the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, where he was a three-year letterwinner in basketball and served as the team's captain in his junior season. He graduated in 1977 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

Coaching career

In 1977, Lappas started coaching at

York College, City University of New York York College is a public senior college in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. It is a senior college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Founded in 1966, York was the first senior college founded under the newly formed CUNY system, ...

as a volunteer, and moved to Fort Lee High School the next year, becoming an assistant. After one season, he assumed his first head coaching job with Harry S. Truman High School (in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

), staying there through 1984. Lappas fashioned a 91–32 record, and was named ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' Coach of the Year twice (1981 and 1984). Harry S. Truman High School won a New York State Class A championship under Lappas in the 1983–84 season, during which it was 27–3. In 1984 Lappas joined

Rollie Massimino Roland Vincent Massimino (November 13, 1934 – August 30, 2017) was an American basketball coach. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Stony Brook University (1969–1971), Villanova University (1973–1992), the University of Nevada, L ...

's staff at Villanova University.

Head coach

In 1988 Lappas became head coach at Manhattan College, where he turned around the program from a 7–21 season in 1988–89 to a 25–9 season and a berth to the 3rd round of the NIT in 1992. In 1992, he succeeded Rollie Massimino as head coach at Villanova, where he guided the team to seven postseason tournament appearances (four NCAA, three NIT), posting an 8–6 record and winning the

1994 National Invitation Tournament The 1994 National Invitation Tournament was the 1994 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. Of note, in Kansas State's 115–77 victory over Fresno State in the quarterfinals, Askia Jones of Kansas State set the NCAA postseaso ...

. In 2001, he resigned as head coach after Villanova declined to sign him for a long-term contract due to multiple years of poor recruiting, and a subsequent lack of success in the postseason. He became head coach of the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medica ...

on March 26, 2001. In four seasons at UMass, the Minutemen struggled under Lappas, and finished with a record of 50–65. His contract was not renewed and he was let go on March 14, 2005.

Head coaching record

College

* A-10 record includes a forfeit victory vs. St. Bonaventure, but season's overall win total does not include it.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lappas, Steve 1954 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New York (state) Basketball players from New York City The Bronx High School of Science alumni CCNY Beavers men's basketball players College basketball announcers in the United States College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States Manhattan Jaspers basketball coaches UMass Minutemen basketball coaches Villanova Wildcats men's basketball coaches