Verge of history: St. Augustine basketball coach Paul Rodio nears milestone 1,000th win

Paul Rodio woke up at 1:30 in the morning and couldn’t fall back to sleep.

A few hours earlier, the St. Augustine Prep boys’ basketball coach watched the Hermits lose a four-point lead in the final minute of regulation and fall to Eastside 65-60 in overtime on Jan. 3. It was the team’s first loss of the season.

“We should’ve won that game,” Rodio says as he finishes off an ice cream cone on the elevator up to the second floor in Buondonno Forum and the walk to his office.

Above his door is a blue street sign that reads “Coach Dr.”

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The walls are plastered with plaques, pictures and framed memories from 46 seasons at the helm. There are South Jersey and state championship trophies on glass shelving near the ceiling, as well as a signed Villanova basketball from Jay Wright and the 2016 NCAA champion Wildcats and a Duke ball delivered by legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski.

The good has lapped the bad hundreds of times over during his career in Richland, but the loss to the Tigers was still eating away at Rodio.

“I went home, didn’t eat anything, didn’t have dinner,” Rodio said. “… I have medicines I have to take and I’m supposed to eat something with it, I took everything and went to bed. Slept from around 9:30 till about 1:30, got up and just could never get back to sleep. I came down, put the game on, let me see that second half. We were up 10 in that third quarter. It’s not like we were up 10 to start it and they steamrolled us. We were up 10 with I don’t know, five minutes, four minutes left in the quarter. We were still up 10, then they went on a run. I was trying to see what I did or what we did wrong.”

“It bothers me as much today as it did 25, 30 years ago,” he explains.

Junior Elijah Brown smirks as he sits at a table in the office, watching NBA highlights while eating his own lunch.

Brown couldn’t sleep either after the defeat, and the 16-year-old marveled listening to his 70-year-old coach.

“It shows it’s more than just a job, it shows he cares,” Brown said.

Rodio will lead the Hermits onto the court Wednesday one victory short of 1,000 for his career (999-255), a milestone only Bob Hurley (St. Anthony; 1,185) has hit in New Jersey history.

Rodio says he’s excited for the achievement, but it’s not the number that has him reaching for his handkerchief.

“It’s a little scary to believe you’ve done it for that long,” Rodio said as he wipes tears from his face. “… I’m just thinking of the longevity of it. (He pauses), the people I’ve affected.

“You know what else is weird with today’s situation, our games are all on TV, tape, computer, whatever. Everybody watches them all over, and you get a text the next morning from a kid who watched my game last night who didn’t play for me, he went here, from Australia. He says hey, I know you’re close to 1,000, it’s a shame. Don’t worry about it. That gets me emotional.”

There’s a reason athletic director Mike Rizzo says his phone has been ringing off the hook for two weeks from fans asking him when the milestone may come.

“I believe 100 percent he loves this place, but the place loves him,” Rizzo said. “He’s the place.”

'He has a genuine love and passion for this place'

Sports fans love to debate the Mount Rushmores of their favorite franchises. Who are the best four players to suit up for the Philadelphia Eagles or Los Angeles Lakers?

The same conversations happen at St. Augustine, not just the athletic teams, but the entire institution.

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Rizzo rattles off the pillars of the Prep – Father Stephen J. LaRosa, Father Paul Galetto and Anthony Spina – then comes to Rodio.

“He has a genuine love and passion for this place,” Rizzo said. “When you do that, it’s not a job, it’s a vocation. I love coming to school here. I don’t want to say I’m like him, but my love for St. Augustine, I think it came from the love I felt when he was the teacher and Mr. Spina was walking the halls.”

When Rizzo, a 1986 graduate, was going to school, Rodio was the reward for seniors. He taught accounting and psychology/sociology at the time. Students eagerly awaited their opportunity to be in his class.

“Everybody knew Coach and he knew everybody,” Rizzo said. “We were all in one building. You walked one hall. He’d go down the hall and high-five every kid. You just felt connected to him right away. His personality was loud and big and fun, and you couldn’t wait to go to school.”

The connection kids felt toward Rodio is why many have flocked to the school to play for him over the years.

“I’m a black kid from the urban area, a rough little spot, a short white man with white hair sitting in my living room telling me, my family, if I come to his program it’s bigger than basketball, he’ll be there,” said 2005 graduate and current Salem coach Anthony Farmer.

Rodio lived up to those words when Farmer’s father passed away.

“(Rodio spoke) at my father’s funeral,” Farmer said. “I didn’t ask him to. It’s touching. I know how much my father trusted him and had faith in him. To have all those people there, have different people among the crowd, and for him to come up there and say a few words and talk about family, and to say the things he said about my father and my family, it takes me back to 14 years old and that white-haired guy sat in my living room and said if St. Augustine was right for me, it’s a lifelong relationship. That was his testament and he held true to that.”

Even when Rodio had to give difficult news, he made kids believe in him.

Rodio told Rizzo during his freshman year basketball wasn’t for him. It was a difficult moment for Rizzo, but it led him to become the team’s manager, at Rodio’s behest.

That prompted Rizzo’s interest in coaching, and he sat on the bench with Rodio from 1993-2008.

“After two years of being just an assistant, he gave me the freshman job and I was scared to death because I didn’t want to let him down,” Rizzo said. “He set the standard at St. Augustine, of excellence or nothing, and how you get kids to play hard and guess what, it’s not just (his players). I was a kid walking the halls and if he told me to run through that wall, I would’ve ran through that wall just like his players. That’s motivational.”

'The greatest to do it'

Trivia time.

How many state championships has Paul Rodio won at St. Augustine? If you guessed five, you’d be incorrect.

Yes, Rodio has won five state basketball titles (1982, 1999, 2004, 2011, 2016), but he also has four cross country crowns.

“He’s the coach,” Rizzo emphasizes. “We have coaches here. I have 75 coaches here. … We have a lot of coaches, but he’s the coach.”

Rizzo’s first fall at St. Augustine came immediately after Rodio’s first state basketball title in 1982.

“It was the largest freshman class the school had ever seen at the time, 93 kids in my freshman class,” Rizzo said. “Was it because we won a state championship? I don’t know, but he kind of put us on the map. We were a little small school in the middle of the woods no one knew anything about to they won a state championship. Every coach in our building now felt it can happen. He paved the way to our coaches believing you could win it all here.”

Rodio has just one losing season (1987-88; 11-16). He’s had 35 of at least 20 victories. He’s 79-42 in the playoffs alone. He’s won 15 South Jersey championships, which he admits he hasn’t appreciated as much as he should.

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“The last one we had (2020-21), I look back at it and say, gee-whiz, that’s a lot of titles to win when you look at what everybody else is trying to do, all trying to win that,” Rodio said. “… Understand something, most of ’em I lost to St. Anthony’s, who was No. 1 or 2 or 3 in the nation most of the time. You get to that point, I had some really good teams that couldn’t win it (because of St. Anthony’s).”

It’s not just the wins and losses that make him revered amongst his peers though. It’s the commitment.

Rodio nearly died in 2021 when blood clots forced emergency surgery. He spent 35 days in the hospital, yet he didn’t miss a day of practice.

“He has fall league, summer time, practices, booster club stuff, it’s amazing,” said Paul Wiedeman, who has more than 500 wins over 24 seasons at Haddonfield. “It’s not just the basketball stuff, game time, there’s so much to basketball than the three months of the regular season. He’s put in so much other stuff that we have no idea as fans can really appreciate. I give him a lot of credit for having that passion and that will to coach at a high level. He’s such a role model.”

Farmer models much of his coaching after Rodio.

He often laughs at himself when he sees Rodio in his own mannerisms. He too bellows Rodio’s legendary “ho, ho,” in practice. He uses his pointer finger to summon a player to him and can bring the same scowl to let his kids know he means business.

But what Farmer really tries to emulate is Rodio’s impact.

“I’m in the business of impacting lives, changing lives, helping kids see a different perspective,” Farmer said. “Look how many lives he’s changed, how many kids he’s helped.”

It took Rodio decades to find that outlook. After his first few years on the job, he assumed he’d pursue a marketing career or the like. It wasn’t until much later that he began to truly cherish his own influence.

“I got a phone call from a parent, could he drink a thing of soda at dinner,” Rodio said. “I said what are you talking about? He said you (told him he) can’t drink soda, never drink soda, he used to drink it all the time, and I don’t have anything else for him to drink, do you mind? Yeah, let him have a soda. I remember hanging up saying, this kid is hanging on to that stupid statement I made. You’re definitely affecting kids. You’re definitely doing that. To me, that’s why you coach.”

And it’s why so many are ready to celebrate the momentous occasion.

“He’s the greatest to do it,” Farmer said. “… He’s the greatest showman out there, the greatest coach, the greatest motivator and the greatest person I’ve come in contact with that holds that title. It’s a great achievement to get those 1,000 wins and it’s even greater for the guys he’s coached and the lives he’s impacted to get a chance to see him live it out.

“I’m glad he gets his flowers now.”

Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at jfriedman2@gannettnj.com. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Paul Rodio closes in on 1,000th win as St. Augustine basketball coach