University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Head Coach Bob Rukavina
Before Bob Rukavina took over the men’s basketball program in 1989, the Mountain Cats had only four winning seasons from 1969 to 1987. In 18 years, he has turned the Mountain Cats into one of the top Division II programs in the country. Pitt Johnstown has made a pair of NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and has posted five 20-wins seasons, including back-to-back 21-win seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07 and three in a row from 1997-1999.
Along with the on-court coaching success, Coach Rukavina is also the East Region representative for the NABC national poll, a duty he began during the 2004-05 season.Rukavina enters his 19th season at Pitt Johnstown with a career record of 280-204 and a 227-126 over the past 13 years.
In 1998-99, Pitt Johnstown finished the regular season ranked fifth in the country. The Mountain Cats also tied the school record for wins in the regular season, duplicating the 23-4 mark set in 1997-98.
Pitt Johnstown posted an 87-23 record (.791 winning percentage) between 1996 and 2000. 1999-00 also marked the program’s sixth straight winning season.
In 1997-98, he guided the Mountain Cats to a 24-5 record, a second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and a school-record 24 wins, before losing in the East Regional Semifinals by one point to eventual Regional Champion Fairmont State (WV) College.The previous season, the Mountain Cats earned their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid and finished with a 21-6 record.
In 1992, Coach Rukavina led Pitt Johnstown to its first winning season since 1979, clinching it with a win over Division I Youngstown State University. It was the first win over a Division I opponent in school history.
Rukavina, the "winningest" coach in Pitt Johnstown history, is no stranger to turnarounds. When he took over at South Campus of the Community College of Allegheny County, the team was coming off a disastrous 2-22 season. Two years later, CCAC-South posted a 19-11 record and finished third in the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference. The team also placed second in the NJACC Region XX Tournament, the highest in school history.
A strength of Coach Rukavina's is recruiting. The Mountain Cats have had three players lead the NCAA in statistical categories on five different occasions. They have had five players receive accolades ranging from All-American Honorable Mention to All-East Region performers. Five former Mountain Cats have continued their basketball careers at the professional level in various countries.
One statistic that you won't see posted anywhere may be the most important to Coach Rukavina…the rate at which his players graduate. Since he took over in 1989, the program has graduated over 90% of its players, a rate which will stand up to any institution in the country, especially at an institution with such high academic standards as Pitt Johnstown.
In August 2004, Coach Rukavina was selected to be an instructor with former NBA Coach of the Year Jack McKinney at the MedQuest Coaching Clinic in Beirut, Lebanon. The clinic, sponsored by the Federation of Lebanese Basketball, taught Middle Eastern basketball coaches about the game. Prior to that, Rukavina coached an all-star team that traveled to Madrid and Vigo, Spain in the summer of 1998. The team won four of five games. The trip opened up contacts for recruiting and opportunities for playing professionally after college.
Rukavina, his wife Sharon and their son, Nicholas, reside in Lower Burrell, Pa.