Tom Abatemarco has countless stories you want to hear. He will share them, but you will need to reach for the phone and bend his arm. You are in your late 30s, looking towards a lucrative career. He is 71 years old, looking forward to a more complicated future. You mention 21 of his coaching stops, including four Hall of Famers and an undefeated national championship. First-year Iona assistants bring forth their current employees, players, administration.
“This is the last story about me. Seriously, this should not be a story written about me. “I’m old school. It is about the players. It’s about the coach [Rick Pitino]. It is all about winning and being a team. “
Abatemarco is entering its 12th NCAA tournament, which holds the 15th-seeded gel. He arrived in the Sweet 16 with Lefty Driesel and Maryland. He went to the Elite Eight with L.E. Carneseca and St. John. He was one of the greatest upsets in history with Jim Valvano and NC State winning the 1983 national title.
But he was out of coaching for the past two seasons, living in a resort community after his latest run on the Florida Gulf Coast. Abatemarco thought of going to his daughters to California, unsure if his calling would call him back.
“I was wondering what I wanted to do, but I wanted to go back to coaching when the right opportunity came,” Abettardam said. “It was a home run. This is the best opportunity I can come up with. … I didn’t enjoy working with the coach more this year. I mean that wholeheartedly. It has been a special, special time.
He said, ‘I was with Coach Valvano when we won the national championship and now I’m more excited. I really went by myself and cried after [MAAC Tournament] Because of everything we do and through my relationship with the coach. It is unbelievable what has happened to us. “
The Long Island native began as an assistant at New York Tech, begging Vulvano for a job in Ilona in 1975. At a local All-Star game, Valvano learned that many players were moving toward NYIT’s low-level program. Then, he learned why.
Abatemarco, who worked as a teacher, received a part-time gig with Gaels, paying 20 percent of his previous $ 10,000 salary.
“So we lived at the top [my wife’s] Auntie’s house, “said Abetamarco. “We didn’t pay much.”
Abatemarco’s tireless recruitment enabled Iona to be the program’s changing star Jeff Ruland. While refusing to make direct contact, the young assistant left consecutive notes on Rulland’s car windshield, beating Kentucky and Indiana for his services. Roland, who later coached at Iona, led the Gaels to their first two NCAA Tournament appearances and a lone-win in 1980.
“Jeff put a spot on the map,” Abetmarco said. “I have a special place. The only reason I had it was because I could not survive. I was making $ 2,000. “
Abetmarco attracted future NBA talent (Dale Curry, Nate McMillan, Spud Webb, Buck Williams, Spencer Dinwiddie), writing hundreds of letters per day wherever he was recruited. At a crowded Five Star camp in Pennsylvania, he caught the attention of an “average shooter” and “incredible athlete” and pointed to his Maryland sweatshirt by jumping into a puddle of Michael Jordan. Jordan followed the coach’s car on his way home to school.
“I never saw anyone devoted to recruiting,” Pitino said. “If I go to the toilet … and I see him in the hallway, he says, ‘Wait a second, I’ll put Pitino in.” Everywhere I go… ”
Abatemarco has worked in 16 different schools. He had a few cracks as head coach (Lamar, Drake, Sacramento State). He had a six-year halt at the WNBA, a cup of coffee in the G-League, and a stent as a broadcaster for the Sacramento Kings.
“It’s been a tremendous experience and I’ve learned a lot,” Abetmarco said. “I’ve moved a lot of different places, but when I look back on it, my life has become really exciting.”
Abatemarco still works twice per day, but the gym at the Indianapolis Hotel in Iona is closed. He shares details of his life, as he walks up and down a different stairway. He is short of breath, but has continued climbing.
The end is not near.
He said, “I just want to have fun and win.” This is all I ever wanted. “It is not me or him recruiting, that the new generation is coming. I am not worried about it. If you look at my career, there are some good players that I have helped … but I did not find those people. The head coach did. I’m just a caddy. That’s all.
“I like being in college coaching and I like being an assistant. I like to recruit. I love sports “
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