HARRISONBURG, Va. – Former James Madison men’s basketball coach Lou Campanelli, who ranks among the most influential figures in the history of JMU Athletics, passed away on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, at the age of 84.

A 1999 inductee into the JMU Athletics Hall of Fame, Campanelli orchestrated the growth of men’s basketball from a non-scholarship program to one that won three consecutive NCAA Tournament first-round games from 1981 to 1983. The Dukes were a giant killer, contributing to the unpredictability of March before the words “Madness” and “Cinderella” became widespread.

Over 13 seasons spanning 1972 to 1985, Campanelli went 238-118 (.669) and had a winning season every year but his last, when he went 14-14 in 1984-85. Overall, his teams qualified for two NCAA Division II Championships and three NCAA Division I Championships and finished either first or second in its conference six times.

His success was immediate as Campanelli led his second JMU team to NCAA Division II Tournament play, his third won the state small college title and his fourth returned to NCAA Division II post-season play.

In 1976-77 JMU moved to Division I, where his first four teams won 71 games and his next three (1981, 1982, 1983) advanced to the second round of NCAA play. The 1981 team beat Georgetown in NCAA play, the 1982 team beat Ohio State and the 1983 team beat West Virginia. The 24-6 1982 team in second-round play held a late lead and battled into the final seconds against an eventual national champion North Carolina team that included future first-round professional draft selections Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Sam Perkins before losing 52-50. Jordan was limited to six points against the Dukes.

In addition to Campanelli’s Hall of Fame induction in 1999, the 1981-82 squad was inducted as a team in 2018 both for its achievements and for its overall impact altering the trajectory and relevance of JMU Athletics to where it stands today on the national landscape. Six of his players also earned JMU Hall of Fame Induction, including Sherman Dillard (1989), Pat Dosh (1993), Charles Fisher (2012), Dan Ruland (2000), Steve Stielper (2002) and Linton Townes (1998).

Campanelli left JMU in 1985 to take the helm at California and guided the Golden Bears to four postseason appearances in eight seasons after it hadn’t qualified for an NCAA Tournament in 30 years. His first Cal team defeated UCLA for the first time in 25 years, and his 1990 NCAA squad, like his JMU teams, also won a first round game by upending Indiana.

A native of Elizabeth, N.J. and most recently residing in Northern California, Campanelli is a 1960 graduate of Montclair State. In addition to his collegiate coaching career, he also had further international coaching experience in Japan, coordinated officiating for the Pac 10 (now Pac 12), conducted multiple clinics, worked as an NBA scout, served as a television commentator and coached high school basketball in California.

A lifelong coach, Campanelli told ESPN’s Diamond Leung in 2011, “To me, once you coach, if your heart’s in the right place, you coach for the rest of your life.”

Campanelli authored a book, Dare to Dream: How James Madison University Became Coed and Shocked the Basketball World in 2015. The Campanelli Club in JMU’s Atlantic Union Bank Center, which debuted in 2020 as JMU’s new basketball facility, was anonymously named in Campanelli’s honor by a donor.

— JMU Athletics —