St. John's University Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
The Brooklyn native is coming off a historic run in the 2014-15 season at the University of Kentucky. Rohrssen served as an assistant on Hall of Fame Coach John Calipari's staff, and helped lead the Wildcats to a 38-1 record and the program's second-straight Final Four appearance.
Prior to his time at Kentucky, Rohrssen served his second stint as an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh for the 2013-14 season when he helped lead the Panthers to a 26-10 record and NCAA Tournament berth. Before returning to Pitt, Rohrssen worked for the Portland Trail Blazers organization in 2012-13 assisting their NBA Development League team.
On April 25, 2006, Rohrssen was named the 22nd head men's basketball coach at Manhattan College. He arrived back in his native New York after spending seven seasons as an assistant at Pittsburgh. Rohrssen mentored seven all-conference players and seven 1,000-point scorers at Manhattan, including two of the top-eight scorers in program history.
Three of his recruits led Manhattan to the 2014 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship. The senior trio accounted for more than 50 percent of the team's scoring en route to the program's first NCAA Tournament berth in a decade. Rohrssen also improved academic progress ratings at Manhattan as he graduated every player that stayed for four years and dramatically elevated the school's basketball NCAA Academic Progress Rate.
Rohrssen played a vital role in Pittsburgh's rise to prominence from 1999-2006 as an original member of Ben Howland's staff. During a five-year period, he helped guide Pitt to a 133-33 overall record (.801 winning percentage), a 59-21 BIG EAST regular season record (.738 winning percentage), four BIG EAST Championships (three regular season), three NCAA Sweet 16 berths and five-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. In addition, Pitt won its first-ever BIG EAST Tournament title in 2003. At Pitt, he served in three different capacities including the associate head coach under Jamie Dixon from 2004-06, assistant coach (2001-04) and director of operations (1999-2001).
Prior to his first stint at Pitt, Rohrssen served as the director of operations at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas from 1995-99 under head coach Bill Bayno. During Rohrssen's time at UNLV, the program experienced a resurgence as the Runnin' Rebels captured the 1998 Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship and advanced to postseason play in three of his four years. Rohrssen's duties included serving as a liaison to the athletic administration and other school officials, coordinating student-athletes' games, practice and daily schedules as well as serving as UNLV's director of summer basketball camps.
He also worked as an assistant coach at his alma mater, St. Francis Brooklyn from 1993-95 under head coach Ron Ganulin. He was responsible for organizing the film exchange program to scout upcoming opponents, overseeing the strength and conditioning program and monitoring the student-athletes' academic performance. Rohrssen played for the Terriers from 1981-83 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in business management in 1983.
Rohrssen also has extensive international coaching experience. In both 1991 and 1992, Rohrssen represented the United States at the World International Championships in both Poland and England, respectively. He also co-coached an American All-Star team in 1998 that finished 5-0 in Tahiti. In 2000, he served as an assistant coach with a USA Junior Team that competed at an international tournament in Leon, Spain. Later that summer, Rohrssen helped lead a New York City squad to a gold medal title at the 2000 Empire State Games.
Rohrssen has supported a variety of charitable efforts, including the V Foundation for cancer research. During the summer of 2008, he traveled to Iraq and Kuwait with a select group of NCAA basketball coaches to visit American troops as part of a goodwill program "Operation Hardwood V," sponsored by the USO and Armed Forces Entertainment. In 2009, Rohrssen was asked to take part in "Operation Hoop Talk" in Afghanistan. Both tours began with visits in the nation's capital to meet with wounded soldiers.
Rohrssen played in the Catholic High School Athletic Association at Xaverian High School in Brooklyn and is a member of the school's Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.
