Joe Vancisin
Joe Vancisin (1922-2021)
Teams coached: Yale Bulldogs
Yale record: 206-242 (.460)
Overall record: 206-242 (.460)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 2 (1957, 1962)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- Ivy League Regular Season Champion: 3 (1957, 1962, 1963)
Awards:
- NABC Golden Anniversary Award (2005)
- National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame (inducted 2011)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1956-1975 | Yale |
| 1948-1956 | Minnesota (asst) |
| 1947-1948 | Michigan (asst) |
| 1944-1945 | Dartmouth (freshmen) |
Joe Vancisin Facts
- Joseph Richard Vancisin
- Born June 4, 1922
- Died March 23, 2021
- Hometown: Bridgeport, Connecticut
- Alma Mater: Dartmouth College (BA, 1944)
- Played basketball and baseball at Bassick HS (CT); was captain of the 1940 New England Champion basketball team as a senior
- Attended Dartmouth College, where he continued playing both baseball and basketball
- Was part of Earl Brown‘s team that finished as NCAA Runner-up in 1944
- Started his coaching career as the freshmen coach at Dartmouth under Ozzie Cowles
- Served in the US Air Force Strategic Air Command in Washington DC during World War II
- Rejoined Cowles in Michigan, where he spent one year as an assistant coach at Michigan
- Worked under Cowles for another eight seasons at Minnesota before becoming a head coach
- Hired in 1956 to be the head coach at Yale in his home state of Connecticut
- Went 206-242 over 19 seasons as the Bulldogs’ head coach
- Won three Ivy League titles and reached the NCAA Tournament in two of those seasons
- Went 206-242 over 19 seasons as the Bulldogs’ head coach
- Was an assistant for Team USA for the 1976 and 1980 Olympics (under Dean Smith and Dave Gavitt, respectively)
- During his coaching career, Vancisin was active with the NABC and served as board president in 1974
- Stopped coaching in 1975 and became the executive director of the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) in 1975; held that position until retiring in 1992
- Received the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993 and inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 2011
- Passed away in March 2021 at the age of 98; Vancisin was survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Elizabeth, their two children, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild
Joe Vancisin Coaching Tree
- Bob Wenzel (Rutgers, Jacksonville)
