Joe Cipriano

Joe Cipriano (October 27, 1931 – November 25, 1980) was an American college basketball coach, the head coach at independent Idaho (1960–63) and Nebraska (1963–80) of the Big Eight Conference.

Playing career Born in Sumas in northwest Washington, he was an all-state guard known as "Slippery Joe" at Nooksack Valley High School in Whatcom County and graduated in 1949. "Jumping Joe" was an All-PCC guard in college under coach Tippy Dye at Washington in Seattle, and led the Huskies to a record in his three years on the varsity. In his senior season, the energetic and the Huskies advanced to the Final Four in March 1953 in Kansas City and finished third.

Assistant coach After graduation, he was the freshman coach at Washington and later an assistant coach under Dye and Johnny Grayson.

Head coach

Idaho At age 28, Cipriano became the head coach at the University of Idaho in May 1960. He succeeded Dave Strack, who left after a single season in Moscow to return to Michigan as the head coach. Cipriano's Vandal teams improved each year as an independent and went in three seasons.

His most notable player was future NBA star Gus Johnson, the tenth overall selection in the and a future hall of famer. After the successful season in 1962–63, Johnson turned professional and Cipriano moved east to Nebraska. The following season, the Vandals were fifth in the new six-team Big Sky Conference (4–6, 7–19 overall).

Nebraska In March 1963, Cipriano became the head coach at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, hired by his former mentor, Tippy Dye, who became the NU athletic director a year earlier (and hired head football coach Bob Devaney). Cipriano ran the Big Eight basketball program for over 17 years, until he lost his 18-month battle with pancreatic cancer in Lincoln in November 1980 at He compiled a record of with the Huskers.

At the time of his retirement, he was far and away the winningest basketball coach in Nebraska history, with 168 more wins than any previous head coach, handing the Jayhawks their sole conference loss, but did not garner a postseason bid. During this era, only the conference champion was guaranteed a berth in the 22-team NCAA tournament, and the NIT invited only fourteen.

Less than a year before his death, Cipriano returned to Moscow when his Huskers took on Don Monson's Vandals in the Kibbie Dome in early January. The two head coaches had played against each other 27 years earlier, as guards in the Pacific Coast Conference.

Cipriano spent his final week at Bryan Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, and is buried at Lincoln Memorial Park in Lincoln.

Head coaching record