Lou Carnesecca, the charismatic basketball coach who introduced St. John’s to nationwide prominence and have become one of many faces of the Huge East’s golden period, died Saturday at age 99.
St. John’s confirmed the Corridor of Fame coach’s demise Saturday evening. The college didn’t present particulars on the reason for his demise.
In Memoriam of Lou Carnesecca (1925-2024) pic.twitter.com/wpSon2v9k2
— St. John’s Males’s Basketball (@StJohnsBBall) December 1, 2024
Carnesecca received 526 video games and misplaced simply 200 in his 24 years at St. John’s, main the crew to 18 NCAA Tournaments and the 1985 Remaining 4. He seemed like everyone’s favourite uncle, a pocket-sized man in a world filled with giants, shuffling about in his ugly sweaters. Lovable “Looie,” the king of one-liners and the maestro of the run-on sentence, charmed all of them, and because it seems, snookered all of them.
“Looie? Please, he’d begin the sport with a, ‘Bless you, my son,’ after which add a bunch of phrases I received’t repeat,’’ former Maryland coach Gary Williams stated. “He had a mouth on him. He simply made positive everybody knew he went to Mass within the morning.”
At all times excessive theatre, Carnesecca additionally was excessive caliber, the self-described awful basketball participant crafting a program full of native highschool stars who turned the toast of New York.
Teaching at a time when Huge East basketball had extra plot twists than a Broadway play, Carnesecca was forged completely for St. John’s. A local New Yorker who believed town had all he wanted to construct a winner, Carnesecca trumpeted town’s parochialism for all it was value. St. John’s was New York’s crew, taking part in in New York’s basketball epicenter, Madison Sq. Backyard, and Carnesecca served as the right showman. Animated on the sidelines and a colourful quote within the newspapers, he endeared himself to a city that suffers neither fools nor phonies as a result of he was actual.
“He by no means made an excuse, by no means stated something however ‘nice recreation,’’’ former Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim stated. “By no means blamed anyone. In some ways, he was the most effective to compete in opposition to. It was by no means any of that bulls—. I’ve great respect for him, most likely probably the most I’ve for any coach that I’ve coached in opposition to.’’
Carnesecca grew up in Manhattan, the son of a grocery retailer proprietor who dreamed of one thing larger for his son. He tried to pursue his father’s extra scholarly ambitions, however the child who grew up dashing from basketball playground to baseball sandlot couldn’t think about a life with out sports activities. Carnesecca idolized the native legends, school gamers and coaches of his youth, wide-eyed as he watched them play at Madison Sq. Backyard.
Carnesecca tried to understand his mother and father’ ambitions, even enrolling in a pre-med program at Fordham. However he transferred to St. John’s after one yr.
“I informed him I wished to be a coach and my mom stated, ‘Look what you raised, he disrespected the household.’ They wished me to be a health care provider,’’ Carnesecca as soon as stated.
As an alternative, when he graduated, he went straight to the basketball courtroom. He landed a job at his outdated highschool, St. Ann’s (now Archbishop Molloy). He coached his first recreation within the Backyard with St. Ann’s in opposition to one other Queens crew coached by Rocco Valvano, whose son, Jim, would change into a basketball legend in his personal proper.
What Carnesecca failed to realize as a participant, he quickly realized as a coach. Though strict and hard, he was additionally a individuals individual and a trainer and beloved referring to his gamers. He devised unorthodox follow schemes — he preferred to make his gamers shoot over a brush in follow to discover ways to arc the ball over shot-blockers — however might X and O with anybody. After an preliminary 11-loss season, St. Ann’s misplaced simply 23 video games within the subsequent six seasons. In 1958, the highschool crew completed 32-0.
Carnesecca’s teaching prowess — and highschool connections — received the eye of faculty coaches, and after that excellent season, he landed an assistant gig beside Joe Lapchick at St. John’s. Carnesecca’s pleasant demeanor and New York authenticity helped St. John’s win loads of dwelling rooms in recruiting. Necessary retirement guidelines pressured Lapchick to step down when he turned 65 in 1965, and athletic director Jack Kaiser tabbed Carnesecca, the apparent selection, for the pinnacle teaching job.
Carnesecca continued the success Lapchick started, incomes Metropolitan Coach of the Yr honors in his second season. However after 5 years, he had his head turned by the professional recreation and jumped to the New York Nets of the ABA. His second crew made it to the ABA Finals in 1972, however after star Rick Barry left, so did the profitable.
“It wasn’t for me,’’ Carnesecca stated of his dalliance with the professionals.
By success, simply as Carnesecca was in search of an exit plan, his St. John’s alternative, Frank Mulzoff, was writing his personal. Unable to agree with college directors on the size of a brand new contract, Mulzoff walked and Kaiser, the athletic director, turned to Carnesecca, providing him the job once more.
“If Frank didn’t go, I might be chopping salami!” Carnesecca joked. As an alternative, he got here dwelling and by no means entertained leaving once more.
St. John’s flourished anew beneath Carnesecca, the coach drawing on his lifelong contacts to persuade native children to remain dwelling and star. “I believe the furthest we went was Jersey,’’ he stated.
He discovered stars within the excessive faculties and the playgrounds, utilizing the draw of starring for the hometown crew and taking part in on the Backyard.
On the time, East Coast basketball nonetheless performed second fiddle to its friends within the ACC, with the Northeast missing the group {that a} convention affiliation provided. So when St. John’s knocked off Duke within the 1979 NCAA Match second spherical, the victory despatched shock waves across the nation and introduced St. John’s as a brand new participant on the nationwide scene. That crew would go on to the regional finals earlier than shedding to underdog Penn.
By the following season, St. John’s had a brand new dwelling. Carnesecca wasn’t initially offered on Dave Gavitt’s pitch for an East Coast-based convention. He preferred the way in which issues had been, scheduling as he noticed match. However Gavitt wooed the coach over a couple of bottles of wine, and instantly, Carnesecca noticed Gavitt’s plan for the genius concept that it was. Promoting St. John’s turned even simpler within the Huge East.
Carnesecca coaxed an increasing number of gamers to remain dwelling and star. He signed Invoice Wennington out of Lengthy Island, Mark Jackson out of Brooklyn and Walter Berry, who carried the nickname “The Reality,” from Benjamin Franklin Excessive to the St. John’s campus.
In 1981, he landed his largest recruit, a candy shooter out of Brooklyn who was a daily at Carnesecca’s camps.
Chris Mullin thought of all the school basketball powerhouses, however in the long run, he couldn’t discover a good purpose to depart dwelling. Collectively, he and Carnesecca elevated St. John’s to its pinnacle, the arrival of the nice participant dovetailing completely with the arrival of one other highschool nice to the Huge East, Patrick Ewing at Georgetown. The 2 gamers put their faculties and convention on the nationwide stage, deepening outdated rivalries cast within the ECAC and igniting new ones with Huge East members. The identical St. John’s crew seen as an upstart when it knocked off Duke grew in nationwide prominence, led by the entertaining coach who was at all times prepared with a quip.
Carnesecca carrying one in all his daring sweaters at a 1991 recreation in opposition to Duke. (Photograph: Richard Mackson / Sports activities Illustrated through Getty Photographs)
All of it coalesced completely in 1985 when St. John’s rolled to the No. 1 rating and a showdown with No. 2 Georgetown. Earlier that season, an under-the-weather Carnesecca tossed on a sweater — pretty hideous maroon, with V-shaped stripes in blue and purple — earlier than a recreation in opposition to Pittsburgh. St. John’s received, and the superstitious Carnesecca stored carrying the sweater. St. John’s stored profitable, all the way in which as much as that February recreation in opposition to Georgetown.
It was a recreation constructed for the hype machine — No. 1 versus No. 2, rivals, Mullin versus Ewing — on nationwide tv. “Thick with stress,’’ was how broadcaster Len Berman remembered it. Till John Thompson Jr., whipped open his grey go well with jacket, revealing an actual duplicate of Carnesecca’s sweater.
“It instantly subtle all the stress,’’ former Huge East commissioner Mike Tranghese remembered.
Everybody remembers the sweater recreation. Few bear in mind Carnesecca’s response. The following time he confronted Thompson, he walked onto the courtroom with a string of white towels tied collectively, managers holding them aloft as if he was a king in a processional. That was at all times the factor about Carneseccca; he might give as a lot as he might take and was as a lot part of the Huge East mayhem as his friends. However between his colloquialisms and his measurement, he received away with extra. He stubborn at officers and prolonged the teaching field to close halfcourt, hardly ever incomes a lot as a second look not to mention a technical.
“I don’t know if it was his measurement or individuals couldn’t perceive what the hell he was saying,’’ former Seton Corridor coach P.J. Carlesimo stated. “He stated some unbelievable stuff, however he additionally stated it in a pleasant approach.’’
And to Boeheim’s level, Carneseccca dealt with shedding with grace. The 1985 St. John’s crew, simply his greatest, received its option to the Remaining 4, one in all a trio of Huge East groups to make it to the nationwide semifinal. As soon as once more, although, Georgetown bested its rival to advance to the title recreation. Requested in regards to the loss years later, Carnesecca selected to speak in regards to the trip as a substitute. “It was fantastic,’’ he stated.
Carnesecca retired in 1992 and was inducted into the Naismith Corridor of Fame the identical yr. In 2004, the varsity renamed Alumni Corridor in his honor. Carnesecca by no means coached once more however by no means fairly left St. John’s both. He retained an workplace on campus, working as the varsity’s de facto goodwill ambassador, a daily at video games till his well being made the journeys somewhat tougher.
A path of coaches didn’t match his success at St. John’s. Mike Jarvis took the crew to the Elite Eight in 1999, the deepest run for a St. John’s crew not coached by Carnesecca.
“ what it was for me?” Carnesecca stated. “It was heaven.’’
(High photograph of Lou Carnesecca and his gamers on the 1983 Huge East Match: Andy Hayt / Sports activities Illustrated through Getty Photographs)
