LINCOLN — Thomas Viglianco was at a crossroads when strangers approached him.
A salad and glass of water in front of him at Lazlo’s, it was a quiet Thursday night in Lincoln’s Haymarket, years before he’d train some of the best college basketball players in the region.
A few women asked the 6-foot-10 Viglianco the usual questions. Was he a basketball player? Did he play for Nebraska?
He wasn’t a Husker. He was a basketball player. At least he had been. And was hoping to be again.
His college career — two seasons at William & Mary, three at Birmingham Southern — was fresh in the rearview mirror before his first pro season in Italy had been cut short by a back injury. He came back to the U.S. for surgery and rehab when a doctor told him there was a chance he wouldn’t play again.
Viglianco recovered at home in Alabama, driving close to two hours round trip each day for rehabilitation. At the same time, his mother was going through chemotherapy, and he helped care for her.
Sprinkled on top were job interviews in finance, preparations for the possibility that his basketball career was over. He moved to Nebraska for the summer after a friend offered to let him stay in his downtown Lincoln apartment. He found an internship at a brokerage firm and his parents convinced him it was OK to leave as his mom recovered.
That led him to Lazlo’s that night in 2007, when the question came that changed his life: “Can you train my boys in basketball?”
Seventeen years later, Viglianco is a full-time mentor and trainer with a list of notable clients in the state’s basketball community. Sam Griesel. Isaiah Roby. Jaz Shelley. Bryce McGowens. Morgan Maly.
His blend of hoops knowledge and everyday experience give him a unique perspective and knack for connecting with people, on and off the court.
“It feels like what I do is not just basketball,” Viglianco said. “It’s life. And people don’t know that, can’t really understand that until they know me, they come to work out with me or they really get to know me as a person.”
Viglianco initially declined the offer in Lazlo’s. He had never coached before and wasn’t interested. But he took the woman’s card anyway.
He called her days later and, eventually, drove to east Lincoln to meet two fifth-graders in jean shorts with red Gatorade mustaches. One of them was Triston Simpson, who would go on to play at Lincoln North Star and South Dakota. Viglianco spent the summer working with the two before signing with a Danish team and returning to Europe.
The next summer, he was back in Lincoln as word began to spread.
’It’s not just basketball’
There are common threads in the way Viglianco approaches each player, but no cookie-cutter method.
Sessions can be individual or in a group, and Viglianco allows them to play out organically.
There’s always a lot of talking. Viglianco is a believer in working on the mental side, watching film and working through the intangibles of basketball. Accepting failure. Not allowing yourself to become consumed by the ebbs and flows of a game.
He also tries to have a conversation unrelated to basketball, something to build a relationship and get to know people beneath the surface. It’s helped develop close off-the-court relationships with the players.
“He wants you to be successful and just happy in all areas,” said Maly, a senior at Creighton and career 1,500-point scorer. “I think that’s the biggest thing when we always talk every few months. ‘Hey, how are you doing? How’s school going?’ Just making sure that I’m doing what I want to do and not what society or anyone else is pressuring or thinks is normal.
“I just think he works with good people and he encourages the best out of the people that he’s around. It’s not just basketball with Thomas.”
Viglianco credits his ability to relate to people to his own life experience.
So many of the challenges young basketball players face, decisions they have to make, Viglianco has been there. He spent nine years playing professionally overseas: three and a half years in Italy, three in France, a stint in Iceland.
In Naples, Italy, he played while fans were banging on drums the entire game. Sometimes a flare would go off in the crowd.
Throughout his time in Europe, he consumed as much culture as he could. On days off he went to museums and tried as much local food as he could. He hung out with soccer and rugby players.
His emphasis on the mental side of basketball goes back even further.
Viglianco’s dad, who played DI hoops at St. Bonaventure, preached hard work, toughness and not backing down. Those lessons were reinforced at a camp in Teaneck, New Jersey, while Viglianco was in high school.
Kobe Bryant made a surprise appearance, and spoke for 45 minutes until a question at the end for the campers: How much of basketball is mental?
High schoolers shouted out numbers before Bryant delivered his opinion: Basketball is 70% mental, 30% physical. And depending on the day, it could be even more mental.
“It’s never been more profound than now, and if you have strong mental, then you can accomplish things that you never thought you could, as cheesy as that sounds,” Viglianco said. “But it’s so true, because you’re gonna miss shots, you’re gonna turn it over, you’re gonna make mistakes, you’re gonna lose games. All these things that are negative, you gotta be able to bounce back.”
More than a coach
Griesel first met Viglianco at an Omaha Sports Academy tryout in 2017. Viglianco approached him after a scrimmage and told the senior-to-be at Lincoln East he should have dunked after a steal sprung a fast break.
They started working together shortly after that.
They connected over a shared philosophy that basketball should be enjoyable, that it’s only a small part of a player’s life. On the court, Viglianco saw potential Griesel hadn’t recognized in himself. He tried to instill confidence in his pupil.
Over the next four years, Viglianco watched Griesel at North Dakota State, then advised him while he weighed his options before transferring to Nebraska in 2022.
He helped Griesel get his German passport when he left the U.S. to begin his pro career, the same as Viglianco had done more than a decade earlier.
It fed into Viglianco’s goal of being more than a basketball coach. He wants to be a mentor. He wants to have an impact on the people he works with beyond the court.
His career was sparked one night at a restaurant, but his methods encompass a lifetime of basketball and life around the world.
“He’s been through a lot in life and I think he’s at the point now where he can teach a lot about not only basketball but life,” Griesel said. “He’s got a good perspective on things. I wouldn’t be here today, I don’t know that I would still be playing basketball if it wasn’t for Thomas.
“Obviously, he’s played a huge role, arguably the biggest role in my basketball career. Just very grateful for him.”
