SHAKEY RODRIGUEZ:
THE GOD FATHER OF SOUTH FLORIDA BASKETBALL

One cannot have a true discussion about legendary coaches in Miami without mentioning the name Shakey Rodriguez. Many players, and even current coaches today, have said it’s an honor to play under Shakey. Coach Rodriguez is the 2nd most winningest coach in the state of Florida with 757 game wins, 5 State Titles and 17 District Championships under his belt. 

Shakey Rodriguez began his coaching career as a junior varsity coach at Miami High in 1978 and became varsity coach in 1981. In his 14 seasons as Head Coach of the Stingarees, Coach Rodriguez led his team to 6 Top-10 National finishes, 5 State Titles and an overall record of 428-62. 

In 1995, Rodriguez became Head Coach at FIU, blazing a trail as the 1st Hispanic Coach in Division I basketball. Additionally, Rodriguez’s team won 70 percent of their games whereas teams prior would only win 30 percent. However, FIU had four different athletic directors in a span of five years so after five seasons with FIU, Rodriguez resigned. Upon departing FIU, Rodriguez had three Division I coaching offers from University of Denver, Siena College, and University of Texas-Pan American (now University of Texas Rio Grande Valley). At the time, Rodriguez was going through a divorce and wouldn’t have been able to take his kids with him, which would have devastated him. So Rodriguez entered another line of business and assumed a position as Vice President of a mortgage company for 4 years. Despite being very successful in the mortgage business, Rodriguez realized that he had to go back to coaching. “I’m like E.T., I’ve got to go home. Home for me is coaching basketball. That’s what I’ve done all my life,” says Rodriguez.

Rodriguez became head coach at Dr. Michael Krop Senior High where he led the team to the state final four in 2010, as well as a No. 1 state ranking and No. 8 ranking in the country the following season. 

Rodriguez again attempted retiring from coaching in 2011. Despite receiving a retirement party where 300 former players attended, Rodriguez wasn’t ready to give up the game. “I got bored. You know what, I’m a coach. I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. I’m healthy, I feel good, and I need to get back to work,” said Rodriguez. This epiphany hit when Rodriguez was watching TV and heard Bobby Bowden say “there’s only one big event left for your life when you retire, and you’re not going to be present for it.” Surely enough, two days later Tiger Nunez, who is currently Principal at Mater Academy, called Rodriguez and said “you ready to get back to work?” Rodriguez responded, “Tiger, never have sweeter words been spoken. What do you want me to do? Do I need to clean the floor in the cafeteria? Wipe the dishes? What do you want me to do? I need to get out of here and do something.” Rodriguez joined Mater Academy. 

Rodriguez recalls his first day of practice at Mater where only 3 kids arrived on time so he threw them all out. The second practice they were up to 7 kids arriving on time so Rodriguez threw them all out again. Finally, the third practice all 12 of them showed up on time. From that point on, Mater Academy has won at least 25 games each season. 

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Rodriguez is proud to say that he has never shied away from competition. “When your target is high, you may not land on the moon but you’re going to come close,” says Rodriguez. “I don’t like losing, but I don’t mind risking it. Because I do think the greatest growth takes place when you get beat. Pity the opponent that is next in line after we get beat, because I feel sorry for them. A rage that comes from losing, not wanting to have that happen again, is a great emotion to have going into a game. There has to be a little of that in order to be great.”

With respect to his basketball philosophy, Rodriguez is known for having his team play up-tempo. “I like to get down the court fast because that exudes discipline. People think that’s run and gun. No. It takes discipline to get 5 kids to run down the floor in unison and get into the offense quickly and get into position to score,” says Rodriguez. His best teams at Miami High averaged close to 100 points a game. “We press every ounce of the floor. I would tell our kids, the moment they get off the bus, pick them up. Don’t turn them loose until they get right back on that bus.”

Rodriguez has coached some of the top talent that has come out of Miami. 

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In addition to his numerous accomplishments throughout his career, Rodriguez is very proud of his success with getting not only his own players, but also kids from other schools, off to college. He preaches that it is a coach’s responsibility to help kids post-grad and get them to school. “I feel like I’ve got to get these kids out of here. I’ve got to get them to college. That’s part of my responsibility. Any coach that coaches should understand that’s your responsibility,” said Rodriguez. “My biggest pride in coaching is the number of kids that have gone onto college and played. I have over 80 play Division I basketball and numerous Division II and Division III over the years. The other thing that I am very proud of is the number of assistant coaches that have gone on to become coaches. I’ve got 3 right now head coaches Division I level. There was Anthony Grant, Frank Martin, and I’ve got numerous in junior college and spread out throughout high school for many years. So to me, that’s a great source of pride that guys that have played for me want to do the same thing that I did because they enjoyed their experience so much doing it. That to me is one of my greatest sources of pride.”

As many know, there is little to financially gain when coaching high school basketball. “You have to have a passion for it. That’s what got me back into it. I really missed this stuff. I really need to coach kids. I don’t care if it’s in the park. I need to be teaching the game, that’s what I love doing. And that’s what got me back into this."

Coach Shakey Rodriguez is one of the most esteemed and respected coaches in Miami history.