Hall of Famer Dan Rolfes

And Gold Medal Winner

(St. Louis, MO) – Hall of Famer Dan Rolfes never loses! The Incarnate Word Academy basketball coach is winning games and championships at an unparalleled rate and continues to be grateful and humble. His Red Knight teams have won twelve Missouri State Championships, including the last the six and this summer he coached the USA Basketball U16 team to a FIBA America’s Tournament title.

IWA players routinely find homes on college basketball rosters. Incarnate grad and WNBA star Napheesa Collier is what Rolfes calls a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ type of player. Incarnate has won 100 straight contests but Rolfes cares about much more than wins and losses.

His involvement in youth basketball finds him on the board of the Knights Basketball Club which fielded over 70 teams last basketball season. Rolfes is grateful that youth basketball, particularly on the girls’ side has grown spectacularly. He believes the role of ‘club basketball’ is more about training and educating, than winning games.

 

 

Collier enjoyed an All-American career at Connecticut and is starring in the WNBA. She is a unique talent. While IWA achieved great success before and after her arrival at the school, Rolfes says her ongoing involvement in the school and in St. Louis is valuable. He emphasizes that Collier’s character and life-style are also praise-worthy.

 

 

Collier is a three-time WNBA all-star for the Minnesota Lynx.

Going International

Rolfes was invited to coach USA Basketball’s U16 team in this summer’s FIBA Women’s U16 Americas Tournament. His team won all six contests and claimed the tournament’s gold medal. Team USA won its six games by an AVERAGE of over 30 points and claimed the title with a twenty-point win over Canada.

Rolfes says hearing the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ in that environment was an emotional experience. Even telling us about it, gave him goose bumps all over again.

 

 

The twelve-time state champion said that experience was different than any other basketball related event. Rolfes says the international game is so much faster, in part because of the 24-second shot clock. He believes Missouri should adopt a shot clock for prep hoops. While cautioning against the same 24-second international length, he believes some version of it would make the prep game better.

The collegiate and international game have shot clocks and he believes its inclusion in the prep game is the next adjustment that should be made.

 

 

Rolfes began his coaching career as a ‘restricted earnings’ coach at Saint Louis University. Then head coach Jill Pizzotti is proud of what he’s accomplished, but notes she could see his great potential back in the early 1990s.

“I loved having him on staff not only for his basketball mind, but also for his work ethic, passion,” said Pizzotti. “Being a “St. Louisan” he provided our players with a great role model. He has worked very hard to establish a nationally competitive basketball program.”

Pizzotti is an assistant coach at DePaul.

To see our entire interview with hall of famer Dan Rolfes head to YouTube. We discuss time at SLU, great high school rivalries and why he never took a college coaching position. You may listen to the interview at Valley Hoop Insider Podcasts.

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