Saint Joseph's head coach Phil Martelli offered a reflection on the passing of friend and former Villanova head coach Rollie Massimino:

On behalf of my family, Judy and I send our prayers to Mary Jane, the Massimino family, Jay Wright and the entire Villanova basketball community. Rollie has been a figure in our lives since the late 1970's when Judy was an assistant basketball coach at Villanova. He reached out to us when our daughter Elizabeth had a serious surgery at the age of three, and throughout my career at Saint Joseph's.

He has been a presence both on the sidelines at Villanova and in the Philadelphia basketball world. He willingly engaged in our fight against cancer as he attended the Coaches vs. Cancer BasketBall two years ago. At the beginning of August he made a stop at my camp in Avalon. The photo that we took together at his last “clinic” there will be a memento that I'll treasure the rest of my life.

God Bless Rollie; may he Rest in Peace.