Nick Rocco joins Rob Holloway as his Assistant Coach after a long, successful tenure at Lewis University as Associate Head Coach. In his 9 seasons with Lewis, Rocco has helped lead the Men’s Basketball program to new heights and program firsts that included; Lewis’ first number one overall conference seed in the GLVC tournament, a first time national ranking of 7th and 15th in the NABC Division II polls, the 2019 GLVC Regular Season Conference Championship, Lewis’ first Midwest Region number one seed in the NCAA tournament, the 2021 GLVC Conference championship, Lewis' first GLVC East Division Championship in ’22, another GLVC championship game appearance in ’24, and three NCAA tournament births.
Coach Rocco has developed multiple All Conference players during his time; Cris Wilson’s All-GLVC First Team selection. Delaney Blaylock's First Team All-GLVC selection. Adam Pischke's Second Team GLVC selection. Kendale McCullum's First Team All-GLVC selection, GLVC Player of the Year, GLVC Defensive Player of the Year, NABC All-Midwest Region, and NABC All-American. Anthony Davanzo’s Second Team GLVC selection. Artese Stapleton’s All Freshman team, and GLVC tournament MVP. Connor Niego’s first team all GLVC and All Midwest Region Award. Bruno William’s Second Team All-GLVC selection. Beau Frericks’ First Team All-GLVC selections. Ryan Renfro’s All Freshman Team and Second Team All-GLVC selections. Paxton Warden’s Second Team All-GLVC selection. Rob Stroud’s First Team All-GLVC selection, and Second Team All-Region selections.
Over his 9 seasons with Lewis University, Rocco has recruited and developed over 10 players that have transferred from their program to go to the Division 1 level. Coach Rocco has had eight players go on to play professional basketball out of Lewis in leagues ranging from the NBA to first through third Euro divisions overseas.
Prior to Lewis, Rocco spent four seasons as the assistant to the late, legendary prep basketball coach Gene Pingatore at nationally renowned St. Joseph's in Westchester, Ill. During his tenure with Coach Pingatore, St. Joseph's won two Chicago Catholic League championships, three regional championships, two sectional championships, two State Finals appearances and captured the 2015 IHSA State Championship.
A graduate of Benedictine University, he played for Coach Keith Bunkenburg. He also holds a Masters from Lewis in Business Leadership, and a certification in training to go along with his nutritional background.
