Hall of Fame
Men's Basketball Coach (1989-2001)
In his 12 seasons as RVC’s head men’s basketball coach, Carl Armato averaged 18 wins per season on his way to a 216-143 record. His teams won North Central Community College Conference (N4C) championships in 1996, 1998, and 2001, and an NJCAA Region IV championship in 2001. His 2001 team finished 25-8 (a program record for wins at the time) and went on to place seventh at the NJCAA national tournament. Carl earned Coach of the Year honors for the N4C three times (’96, ’98, ’01), and was also Coach of the Year in 2001 for Region IV, Division III Section II, and Illinois Basketball Coaches Association NJCAA Division III.
After graduating from Northern Illinois University in 1984, Carl began his coaching career at his alma mater, Rockford Boylan Catholic High School. He then served as varsity boys' coach at Winnebago (1985-87) and DeKalb (1987-89) high schools before being hired to lead RVC’s program in 1989. He was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame in 1989.
Carl left RVC to join the NIU men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach, a position he held from 2001 to 2007. He then spent the 2007-2008 season as an assistant coach for the NIU women’s basketball team before returning to Rockford to take the position of Director of Athletics for the Rockford Public School system. After three years with RPS, Carl went back to NIU and served as Associate Athletics Director for two years before Rockford called him home again. For the last three years, Carl has been an assistant principal at a Nelson Elementary School and in July 2015 took an assistant coaching position for the Jefferson High School girls’ basketball team.
On his induction into the RVC Athletics Hall of Fame, Carl stated, “I am very honored and humbled. It means I was blessed with outstanding players and assistant coaches. The 12 years I spent at RVC were some of the best years of my life. I had great support from my superiors and RVC was a first class institution- and still is!”
Carl and his wife Shari have five children- Abby (14), Anna (12), Sam (10), Molly (7), and Sarah (5).
