Lou Carnesecca, Hall of Fame coach who led St. John’s for 24 seasons, dies at 99

NEW YORK – In the long and storied history of New York basketball, no one has worn it like Lou Carnesecca.

The excitable St. John’s coach, whose extravagant sweaters became an emblem of his team’s thrilling Final Four run in 1985, died at age 99 on Saturday, just weeks before his 100th birthday.

The university said it was informed by a family member that Carnesecca died in hospital, surrounded by his loved ones. St. John’s said the Hall of Fame coach “endeared himself to generations of New Yorkers through his wit and warmth.”

Carnesecca was a treasured figure in urban sport in his day, his affection for “Little Looie” never wavering in a bustling city with little patience for its players, coaches, managers and owners.

He coached St. John’s for 24 seasons over two stints – making a postseason tournament each year – and became the face of a university whose Queens campus arena would eventually bear his name. A statue of him was unveiled ahead of the 2021-22 season. When once asked during a question-and-answer session with the school to describe St. John’s, Carnesecca responded, “home.”

It was home that he coached St. John’s for 18 seasons with at least 20 wins and 18 NCAA tournament appearances. It was there that he finished with a 526-200 record and had 30 winning seasons in 1985 and 1986. And it was there that St. John’s became a founding member of the Big East Conference and a mainstay of its success.

He was named coach of the year three times in a league that began operations in 1979 and quickly established itself as one of the best in the country. Among his star players during those early Big East years were Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson and Walter Berry.

Carnesecca coached St. John’s to its fifth NIT title in 1989, even though the tournament by then had long been a poor cousin of the NCAAs. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992, the year he retired.

“I never scored a field goal,” he said at his induction, forgoing a sweater for a crisp suit. “The players did everything. Without players you can’t play. »

He was an old-school coach, rooted in fundamentals. And through it all, Carnesecca was a swirling, kinetic presence on the sidelines, arms flapping, legs kicking, shirttails flying, all of her 5-foot-6 frame curled up in exasperation over a missed shot or a distressing call. But his antics never crossed the line into chair-throwing fury.

Carnesecca was simply consumed by his players, a love of the game in his marrow, a life spent in schoolyards, dilapidated gymnasiums and grand arenas. He loved “the smell of sweat” and the “burning sensation of rubber” when sneakers met a varnished floor.

He remained the consummate gentleman in a sport populated by inflated egos, fierce recruiting wars and a relentless quest for the next contract. Mike Tranghese, a former Big East commissioner, once called him “our soul and our conscience” and “one of the giants of the game.”

Carnesecca guided St. John’s to Big East Tournament titles in 1983 and 1986. His teams reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 1979 and 1991 and spent more than 70 weeks in the top 10 of the NCAA Tournaments. the AP Top 25. A banner announcing his 526 victories at St. John’s hangs from the rafters of Madison Square Garden.

He has coached more than 40 NBA draft picks, including Mullin, Jackson and Malik Sealy among the 11 selected in the first round.

Despite all this, Carnesecca never became too famous. He always believed that a sudden loss should never get in the way of a glass of Chianti and fettuccini with Bolognese sauce. He held clinics all over the world, making friends and making toasts wherever he went. He was there with a kind word as well as a joke in his breathy, raspy voice. His family tree may stretch back to Tuscany, but he could hold his own with the best of Borscht Belt comics.

“I don’t know if there’s anyone else coaching like him,” longtime UConn coach Jim Calhoun once told the Hartford Courant. “As much as people hate the Big East, no one hates Looie. If you like basketball, you like Looie. If you like kids, you like Looie.

Luigi P. Carnesecca was born January 5, 1925, the son of Italian immigrants. He grew up in Manhattan’s East Harlem, living above the grocery and deli owned by his father. He took his legacy seriously, supporting New York Yankees such as Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio.

After a stint in the Coast Guard during World War II, he became coach of his high school – now Archbishop Molloy, a longtime basketball power. In 1958, he accepted an assistant position at St. John’s, his alma mater, where he had played baseball on a team that reached the 1949 College World Series, but not college basketball.

He worked eight seasons under Joe Lapchick, the Hall of Fame coach’s lifelong lessons in humility and hard work. Carnesecca would later pass on to Mullin some advice he had received from Lapchick: “A peacock today, a feather duster tomorrow. »

“I learned more from Coach Lapchick clearing his throat than from any clinic,” Carnesecca said.

He succeeded Lapchick in 1965, with 20-win seasons piling up quickly. But after five years, Carnesecca was not immune to the siren song of the pros. He coached the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association for three years, Rick Barry among his players.

Years later, during a 1982-83 season in which his St. John’s team would finish 28-5, Carnesecca reflected on the pressure from college coaches and his time in the ABA.

“I lost 50 games as a professional coach, it was pressure,” he said. “I didn’t want to get out of bed. My mom could coach this team.

His stay in the pros didn’t last long. Carnesecca knew this was not her natural habitat. He said he can only give the same halftime speech so many times. He returned to St. John’s in 1973.

Winning seasons come quickly, even if his city is no longer the recruiting magnet of past generations. The best high school players migrated south and west to campuses with sparkling arenas and didn’t need the commercial appeal of New York to burnish their brands.

When asked why he didn’t broaden his base in his search for players and venture beyond his city’s five boroughs, Carnesecca knew there was plenty of talent in his neighborhood . He took a subway token from his pocket – now a relic of past generations.

“That’s my recruiting budget,” he said.

During the 1984-85 season, Carnesecca and St. John’s captivated New York, a throwback to a time when schools like City College and NYU mattered not only in the Big Apple but in all of college basketball. The Redmen – whose nickname was changed years later to the Red Storm – played tough, thrilling games in a packed Madison Square Garden against Syracuse teams coached by Jim Boeheim, Villanova teams coached by Rollie Massimino and Georgetown teams coached by John Thompson and managed by Patrick Ewing. .

This is when The Sweater saga takes over. Over the years, Carnesecca repeatedly recounted her disconcerting entry into the fashion world like an embellished family tale.

Essentially, St. John’s was preparing for a road trip to Pittsburgh in January and Carnesecca was out of shape. It would be drafty in the building and his wife thought it would be nice if he wore a sweater. He found one given to him by an Italian basketball coach. It was a brown sweater with large turquoise stripes. It was never published in the pages of GQ.

“It’s ugly, isn’t it?” » said Carnesecca.

Never mind. Mullin hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer and the coach got his lucky charm. He stayed with the sweater. Along the way, St. John’s ended Georgetown’s 29-game winning streak and moved into first place.

But there were also two lopsided losses to Georgetown during the 16-2 jumper streak — one when a smiling Thompson upstaged his popular rival by carrying a double onto the court in a bustling Madison Square Garden in this which became known as “The Sweater Game”. “, which attracted a massive television audience in February 1985.

Her luck running out, Carnesecca finally put the sweater away. He then opted for a tan snowflake number for the NCAA tournament. St. John’s beat Southern, Arkansas and Kentucky before a victory over North Carolina State in the West Regional final sent Carnesecca to the Final Four.

“When I go to my grave,” he said, “I will remember it. »

St. John’s traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, with two Big East compatriots – Georgetown and Villanova – and Memphis. St. John’s found itself playing against Georgetown in the semifinals, trailing 32-28 at halftime. But the Hoyas pulled away to win 77-59, limiting Mullin to eight points.

“I think we tried everything,” Carnesecca said of Georgetown, which was then upset by Villanova in one of the sport’s big championship games.

After his retirement, Carnesecca was replaced by a parade of coaches at St. John’s, including Mullin. Even at age 90, after about three decades of coaching, Carnesecca was headed to The Garden when the Red Storm was there. His step may have been hesitant, but his mind and spirit were agile, the crowd roaring as the giant screen turned towards him. The coach was at home.

“It’s going to be very difficult to put the ball down, but the time has come,” he said at age 67 when he retired. “There are actually two reasons. I still have half of my marbles and I still have a wonderful taste of basketball in my mouth.

The school said Carnesecca leaves behind his wife of 73 years, Mary, as well as his daughter Enes and son-in-law Gerard, a granddaughter, and a niece and nephew in addition to extended family.

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A previous version of this story corrected Carnesecca’s record in St. John’s.

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Fred Lief, a retired Associated Press sports writer, was the primary writer of this obituary. Former AP Sports Writer Paul Montella contributed to this report.

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