I'm too young to have remembered him as the head basketball coach, but he seems like he was quite the character.
Joe Cipriano
- Thread starter saluno22
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Way back in Cip's era many of the basketball arenas didn't have a clock that you could buzz at the end of the half or the game. A starter's pistol was used instead. Once in a game at Okie State Joe got "frustrated" with the way the gamed was being refed, grabbed the starter's pistol, aimed it in the general direction of a ref, and pulled the trigger. Not surprisingly, he was ejected.
Slippery Joe after Danny Nee was Nebraska best Basketball Coach.... Back in the day the Big 8 had a preseason tournament in December in Kansas City and Nebraska won it in 1967..
Joe was 254-196 in Lincoln.
He played under Tippy Dye at Washington, who hired him in 1963 the year before Tippy hired Bob Devaney..
Joe was 254-196 in Lincoln.
He played under Tippy Dye at Washington, who hired him in 1963 the year before Tippy hired Bob Devaney..
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His good teams scored more than you would think.
Nebraska scored 110 points points against Oklahoma and scored over 90, 3 other times during the 1966-67 season..
You might be thinking more about Moe Iba than Cip..
10 passes before you shoot Joe.
My father was a drinking buddy of Cip. I remember going over to his house with dad when I was 8 and he said, we're renting, in this business I could be gone tomorrow.
My father was a drinking buddy of Cip. I remember going over to his house with dad when I was 8 and he said, we're renting, in this business I could be gone tomorrow.
In fairness to Joe and Moe, it was a lot harder to make the NCAA tournament when they coached. Not sure exactly when the field expanded from 16 to 32, but I think 32 was as large as it ever got during Cip's tenure. I think it was at 48 for most of Moe's time at NU, then went to 64 for his last couple of seasons. I believe it was at 64 for all of the Nee years.
That doesn't mean Cip and Iba would have gotten a bunch of NCAA bids - not by a long shot. But they likely would have had a few.
You are correct. Could have swore he was older than that. Oh slippery CIP.
Joe Cipriano was my favorite, during slow Moe’s years I remember “bury Moe and dig up Joe” getting tossed around.
When I was a kid we used to see Cip scalping his.... er, I mean, graciously offering his football tickets to close family friends behind some well-placed bushes near Memorial Stadium. The close friends even gave him a few dollars to show their appreciation.
Joe and maybe Moe racked up lots of wins in the Coliseum. Talk about home team advantage. Fans and students at floor level. Very loud. Devaney much easier for visitors.
When the old coliseum got rocking dust would sift down from the rafters and if you were any distance from the court it would be like watching a game through a yellow fog. And as far as scoring goes, NU scored plenty in the era of Chuck Jura, Leroy Chalk, et al., and then shortly after that in the era of Jerry Fort and Bob Siegel. Plus they were nationally, if not a powerhouse, at least a very tough team in the mid-sixties. One year they didn't make the tourney because KU did and only 1 team from a conference could go, and still finished something like 6th in the country in one poll. Moe was the low scoring coach. He was considered a defensive coach and a genius at teaching low post offense. Anyone who could turn Andre Smith into a Big 8 player of the year had to be a genius at coaching the low post. Unfortunately, he was not a very good recruiter.
I sat on the floorside seats as a 14 year old kid during the Jerry Fort years. Listened to Jura, Chalk, and others at home on the radio with my Father before that.
Oh the memories, good ones, but in we always seemed to lose the important ones
Oh the memories, good ones, but in we always seemed to lose the important ones
Yep, Missouri, KU, or Jack Hartman's KSU teams always seemed to win the big one. I still have a photo from way back when autographed by Jura, Chalk, and Tom Scantlebury. Trying to find the perfect place to hang it in my new house in Lincoln.
Tom Scantlebury, a name I had forgotten.
My how time flies past us all.
Go Big Red, and hopes for success to come.
My how time flies past us all.
Go Big Red, and hopes for success to come.
Slippery Joe, recruited Stu Lantz and Nate Branch in the late 60s. These were 2 of our very few basketball recruits to make a name for themselves at a higher level. Stu in the NBA, Nate for the Harlem Globerotters. Joe could occasionally recruit, though he wasn’t a very innovative or very technical coach.