New York (AP) – Lou Carnesecca, the excitable St. John’s coach whose outlandish sweaters grew to become an emblem of his staff’s dazzling Final Four run in 1985, has died at 99, just some weeks shy of what would have been his one hundredth birthday.
The college mentioned it was notified by a member of the family that Carnesecca died in a hospital on Saturday surrounded by his household. St. John’s 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 persistence for its gamers, coaches, executives and homeowners.
He coached St. John’s for twenty-four seasons over two stretches – making a postseason match annually – and have become the face of a college whose campus area in Queens would finally carry his title. 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 college 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 Tournament appearances. It was dwelling the place he completed with a 526-300 document 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 Conference.
He was the coach of the yr thrice in a league that started in 1979 and rapidly asserted itself as one of many nation’s finest. Among his gamers throughout these early Big East years had been Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson and Walter Berry.
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 yr he retired.
“I by no means scored a basket,” he mentioned at his induction, forgoing a sweater for a crisp swimsuit. “The gamers did all the pieces. Without gamers, you’ll be able to’t have a sport.”
He was an old-school coach, grounded in fundamentals. And via all of it, Carnesecca was a swirling, kinetic presence on the sidelines, 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 sport in his marrow, a lifetime spent in schoolyards, beat-up gyms and big-time arenas. He liked the “odor of the sweat” and the “really feel of rubber burning” when sneakers met a varnished flooring.
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 way in which of a glass of Chianti and fettuccini with a Bolognese sauce. He held clinics all around the world, making pals, 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 might maintain his personal with the very best of Borscht Belt comics.
“I don’t know if there’s anyone else in teaching like him,” longtime UConn coach Jim Calhoun as soon as informed the Hartford Courant. “Even if individuals hate the Big East no one hates Looie. If you want basketball, you want Looie. If you want youngsters, 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, dwelling 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 underneath Joe Lapchick, the teachings about humility and onerous work from the legendary coach lasting a lifetime. Carnesecca would later cross alongside to Mullin some recommendation he acquired from Lapchick: “A peacock at the moment, a feather duster tomorrow.”
“I realized extra when coach Lapchick cleared his throat than I might have at any clinic,” Carnesecca mentioned.
He succeeded Lapchick in 1965, the 20-win seasons piling up rapidly. But after 5 years, Carnesecca was not proof against the siren tune 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 through which his St. John’s staff would end 28-5, Carnesecca mirrored on the stress of faculty teaching and his time within the ABA.
“I misplaced 50 video games teaching professionally – that was stress,” he mentioned. “I didn’t really feel like getting away from bed. My mom might coach this staff.”
His keep within the professionals didn’t final lengthy. Carnesecca knew that was not his pure habitat. He mentioned he might give the identical halftime speech solely so many instances. He returned to St. John’s in 1973.
Winning seasons adopted in fast succession though his metropolis was now not the recruiting magnet of generations previous. Top highschool gamers migrated to campuses with gleaming arenas and didn’t want the industrial pull of New York to burnish their model.
When requested why he didn’t increase his base in his seek for gamers and enterprise past his metropolis’s 5 boroughs, Carnesecca knew he had loads of expertise in his neighborhood. He took a subway token – now a relic from bygone generations – out of his pocket.
“That’s my recruiting funds,” he mentioned.
By the 1984-85 season, Carnesecca and St. John’s captivated New York, a throwback to a time when faculties like City College and NYU mattered not solely in New York however throughout school basketball. The Redmen – their nickname years later modified to the Red Storm – performed powerful, pulsating video games at a packed Madison Square Garden in opposition to Syracuse groups coached by Jim Boeheim, Villanova groups coached by Rollie Massimino and Georgetown groups coached by John Thompson and led by Patrick Ewing.
It was then the saga of The Sweater took maintain. Over the years, Carnesecca would recount his baffling entry into the world of trend repeatedly like an embellished household story.
Essentially, St. John’s was preparing for a street journey to Pittsburgh in January and Carnesecca was underneath the climate. The constructing could be drafty, and his spouse thought it could be good if he wore a sweater. He discovered one which had been given to him by an Italian basketball coach. It was a brown pullover with broad turquoise stripes. It by no means made it into the pages of GQ.
“It is ugly, isn’t it?” Carnesecca mentioned.
No matter. Mullin hit a profitable shot on the buzzer, and the coach had his fortunate appeal. He caught with the sweater. Along the way in which, St. John’s ended Georgetown’s 29-game profitable streak and soared to a No. 1 rating.
But there have been additionally two lopsided losses to Georgetown through the 16-2 run with the sweater. He put it away, his luck exhausted with the pullover. He then went with a tan, snowflake quantity for the NCAA Tournament. St. John’s defeated Southern, Arkansas and Kentucky earlier than a victory over North Carolina State within the West Regional closing despatched Carnesecca to the Final Four.
“When I’m going to my grave,” he mentioned, “this I’ll keep in mind.”
St. John’s headed to Lexington, Kentucky, together with two Big East compatriots – Georgetown and Villanova – and Memphis. St. John’s caught with Georgetown within the semifinals, down 32-28 on the half. But the Hoyas pulled away to win 77-59, holding Mullin to eight factors.
“I feel we tried all the pieces,” Carnesecca mentioned of Georgetown, which might go on to lose to Villanova in a single the game’s nice finals.
After he retired, Carnesecca was succeeded by a parade of coaches at St. John’s, Mullin amongst them. Even into his 90s, some three a long time out of teaching, Carnesecca would make his strategy to the Garden when the Red Storm had been there. His gait could have been tentative however his thoughts and wit nimble, the gang roaring when the jumbo display screen panned in on him. The coach was at dwelling.
“It’s going to be very tough to place the ball down, however the time has come,” he mentioned at his retirement when he was 67. “There are two causes, actually. I nonetheless have half of my marbles and I nonetheless have a beautiful style in my mouth about basketball.”
The faculty mentioned Carnesecca leaves behind his spouse of 73 years, Mary, as properly daughter Enes and son-in-law Gerard, in addition to a granddaughter, a niece and nephew along with prolonged household.
