Legendary St. John’s basketball coach Lou Carnesecca dies at 99

Hall of Fame faculty basketball coach Lou Carnesecca, who received greater than 500 video games and led St. John’s to a few Big East titles and a 1985 Final Four look, died Saturday on the age of 99.

The college mentioned it was notified by a member of the family that Carnesecca died in a hospital surrounded by his household, only a handful of weeks shy of his one centesimal birthday. It mentioned Carnesecca “endeared himself to generations of New Yorkers along with his wit and heat.”

Carnesecca was a treasured determine in New York sports activities in his day, affection for “Looie” by no means wavering in a metropolis with little endurance for its gamers, coaches, executives and house owners.

He coached St. John’s for twenty-four seasons over two stretches — making a postseason match every year — and have become the face of a college whose campus enviornment in Queens would ultimately carry his identify. A statue of him was unveiled earlier than the 2021-22 season. When requested as soon as in a question-and-answer sit-down with the varsity to explain St. John’s, Carnesecca mentioned: “dwelling.”

It was dwelling the place he coached St. John’s to 18 20-win seasons and 18 NCAA match appearances. It was dwelling the place he completed with a 526-300 file and had 30-win seasons in 1985 and 1986. And it was dwelling the place St. John’s grew to become a part of the muse of the Big East.

He was the coach of the 12 months 3 times in a league that started in 1979 and shortly asserted itself as one of many nation’s finest. Among his gamers throughout these early Big East years have been Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson and Walter Berry.

Jackson known as him a “Game Changer” as a part of a social media publish Saturday evening.

Carnesecca coached St. John’s to the NIT title in 1989, though by then the match had lengthy been a poor cousin to the NCAAs. He entered the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, the 12 months he retired.

“I by no means scored a basket,” he mentioned at his induction, forgoing a sweater for a crisp swimsuit. “The gamers did every little thing. Without gamers, you possibly can’t have a recreation.”

He was an old-school coach, grounded in fundamentals. And by all of it, Carnesecca was a swirling, kinetic presence on the sideline, arms flailing, legs kicking, shirt tails flying, all 5-foot-6 of him curled in exasperation over a missed shot or agonizing name. But his antics by no means crossed the road into chair-throwing fury.

Carnesecca was merely consumed by his gamers, a love for a recreation in his marrow, a lifetime spent in schoolyards, beat-up gyms and big-time arenas. He cherished the “odor of the sweat” and the “really feel of rubber burning” when sneakers met a varnished ground.

He remained the consummate gentleman in a sport populated by outsized egos, fierce recruiting wars and a relentless pursuit of the subsequent contract. Mike Tranghese, a former Big East commissioner, as soon as known as him “our soul and our conscience” and “one of many giants of the sport.”

Carnesecca by no means took himself too famously. He all the time believed a tough loss ought to by no means get in the best way of a glass of Chianti and fettuccini with a Bolognese sauce. He held clinics everywhere in the world, making buddies, providing toasts wherever he went. He was there with a form phrase in addition to a wisecrack in his breathy, raspy voice. His household tree could have gone again to Tuscany, however he may maintain his personal with the most effective of Borscht Belt comics.

“I do not know if there’s anyone else in teaching like him,” longtime UConn coach Jim Calhoun as soon as advised the Hartford Courant. “Even if individuals hate the Big East no one hates Looie. If you want basketball, you want Looie. If you want children, you want Looie.”

Luigi P. Carnesecca was born on Jan. 5, 1925, the son of Italian immigrants. He grew up in Manhattan, in East Harlem, residing above the grocery retailer and deli owned by his father. He took his heritage significantly, rooting for such New York Yankees as Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio.

After a stretch within the Coast Guard throughout World War II, he grew to become the coach at his highschool — now the basketball energy Archbishop Molloy. In 1958, he took an assistant’s job at St. John’s, his alma mater, the place he had performed baseball however not varsity basketball.

He labored for eight seasons below one other Hall of Famer in Joe Lapchick, the teachings about humility and laborious work from the legendary coach lasting a lifetime. Carnesecca would later cross alongside to Mullin some recommendation he received from Lapchick: “A peacock right this moment, a feather duster tomorrow.”

“I realized extra when coach Lapchick cleared his throat than I may have at any clinic,” Carnesecca mentioned.

He succeeded Lapchick in 1965, the 20-win seasons piling up shortly. But after 5 years, Carnesecca was not proof against the siren track of the professionals. He coached the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association for 3 years, Rick Barry amongst his gamers.

Years later, throughout a 1982-83 season during which his St. John’s group would end 28-5, Carnesecca mirrored on the strain of faculty teaching and his time within the ABA.

“I misplaced 50 video games teaching professionally — that was strain,” he mentioned. “I did not really feel like getting away from bed. My mom may coach this group.”

Carnesecca is survived by his spouse of 73 years, Mary. Memorial companies will likely be introduced at a later date, in accordance with the varsity.

Information from The Associated Press was used on this report.