After 26 years as an assistant, Pilipovich gets his chance

The parking spot at Air Force for the head men’s basketball coach has been empty the past few days.

Dave Pilipovich could park there if he wants. He is the Air Force coach, for at least the next four weeks.

“Nah,” Pilipovich said. “Just staying the same. Keeping everything normal.”

He doesn’t want to make a big deal out of his interim gig, which begins Saturday against Boise State, but it is a big deal. Pilipovich started coaching in 1986. He said he got a chance to be a head coach a couple of games through the years, filling in when his boss was sick or out. That is nothing like the opportunity he has now.

Jeff Reynolds was fired this week, and athletic director Hans Mueh said Pilipovich, who has been on Air Force’s staff since 2007, has a legitimate chance to earn the job permanently. He said it was bittersweet to get his shot under these circumstances, but it is a shot nonetheless.

“Dave’s been preparing for this for 26 years,” Kelly Pilipovich, Dave’s wife, said. “No assistant goes into it saying ‘I want to be an assistant my whole life.’ It’s so surreal.”  

Kelly Pilipovich knows. She and Dave have been married for 22 years, and they started dating in college. She has been there through all the stops – such as Robert Morris and Georgia State and Florida Atlantic, even some pressure-filled years at Michigan – so she’s aware what it means for him.

Dave Pilipovich doesn’t want to be the focus. When he’s asked about himself he talks about the players, and making sure they have a great experience the rest of the season.

“Whatever happens, we’re going to be OK,” Pilipovich said, referring to himself and the rest of the staff. “But we owe it to these kids. They need to finish on an uptick.”

The biggest knock against Pilipovich as he auditions for the full-time gig might be that he was an assistant for Reynolds, who couldn’t win enough games to save his job and was fired because the players weren’t enjoying playing for him anymore. The two men are very different, however. Pilipovich has a more laid-back personality, which could work in his favor, especially if Falcons players who publicly supported him when he was named interim coach rally around him.

Even as he prepared for his first game, he was relaxed, telling jokes and stories about playing basketball against Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy in high school and former Michigan coach Tommy Amaker giving him two tickets to see his beloved Steelers in Super Bowl XL with his son.

“I don’t know one person that doesn’t like him,” Kelly Pilipovich said. “And really, not one person he doesn’t like.”  

Pilipovich wants everything to remain the same these next few weeks. Yet, when the texts and calls started pouring in this week, from Michigan coach John Beilein, Amaker, Navy coach Ed DeChellis, or former Indiana interim coach and ESPN analyst Dan Dakich, he said it started sinking in what was happening to him.

“I said to our son, this is like when you’re playing in the minor leagues and you get a call-up to ‘The Show,’” Pilipovich said. “So, I guess, this is our call-up. We got added to the roster in September, but your goal is to become a Division I head coach. Now, if it’s only eight games no matter what – if we’re 8-0 or 0-8 or whatever it may be – they can’t take it away from you.”

Contact Frank Schwab: 476-4891

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