Legendary St. John’s coach Carnesecca passes away at 99

Nov 30, 2024, 09:58 PM ET Hall of Popularity college basketball coach Lou Carnesecca, who won more than 500 games and led St. John’s to three Big East titles and a 1985 Final Four appearance, died Saturday at the age of 99.

The university said it was informed by a relative that Carnesecca died in a hospital surrounded by his household, just weeks shy of his 100th birthday. It stated Carnesecca “endeared himself to generations of New Yorkers with his wit and heat.”

Carnesecca was a cherished figure in New York sports in his day, affection for “Looie” never fluctuating in a city with little persistence for its players, coaches, executives and owners.He coached

St. John’s for 24 seasons over 2 stretches– making a postseason competition each year– and ended up being the face of a university whose campus arena in Queens would ultimately bring his name. A statue of him was unveiled before the 2021-22 season. When asked when in a question-and-answer sit-down with the school to describe St. John’s, Carnesecca said: “home.”

It was home where he coached St. John’s to 18 20-win seasons and 18 NCAA tournament appearances. It was home where he finished with a 526-300 record and had 30-win seasons in 1985 and 1986. And it was home where St. John’s became part of the structure of the Huge East.He was the coach of the year three times in a league that started in 1979 and rapidly asserted itself as one of the country’s best. Amongst his players during those early Big East years were Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson and Walter Berry.Jackson called

him a “Game Changer” as part of a social media post Saturday night.My Coach!Praying for your Family! What a Life! What a Game Changer!
Thank you for Whatever! I Love You! I’m 4ever Grateful!
#WellDone #StJohn’s #MadeMeBetter pic.twitter.com/8fwWPdlBHG!.?.!— Mark Jackson(@MarkJackson13)December 1, 2024 Carnesecca coached St. John’s to the NIT title in 1989, although by then the competition had long been a bad cousin to the NCAAs. He got in the Basketball Hall of Popularity in 1992, the year he retired.”I never scored a basket,”he said at his induction, giving up a sweater for a crisp fit. “The players did everything. Without players, you can’t have a game.”He was an old-school coach, grounded in fundamentals. And through it all, Carnesecca was a swirling, kinetic existence 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 call. But his shenanigans never ever crossed the line into chair-throwing fury.Carnesecca was just taken in by his players, a love for a game in his marrow, a lifetime invested in schoolyards, run-down fitness centers and big-time arenas. He liked the”odor of the sweat “and the”feel of rubber burning”when sneakers satisfied a varnished floor.He remained the skilled gentleman in a sport occupied by outsized egos, strong recruiting wars and an unrelenting pursuit of the next agreement. Mike Tranghese, a previous Big East commissioner, once called him”our soul and our conscience”and “among the giants of the game. “Carnesecca never took himself too notoriously. He constantly believed a rough loss ought to never get in the way of a glass of Chianti and fettuccini with a Bolognese sauce. He held clinics all over the world,

making friends and providing toasts anywhere he went. He existed with a kind word in addition to a quip in his breathy, scratchy voice. His ancestral tree may have returned to Tuscany, however he could hold his own with the best of Borscht Belt comics. “I don’t know if there’s anyone else in training like him,” longtime UConn coach Jim Calhoun once informed the Hartford Courant. “Even if individuals hate the Big East, nobody hates Looie. If you like basketball, you like Looie. If you like kids, you like Looie.

“ St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca after his group beat Boston College at Madison Square Garden in 1983 to win the Big East championship. AP Photo/G. Paul Burnett Luigi

P. Carnesecca was born on Jan. 5, 1925, the son of Italian immigrants. He grew up in Manhattan, in East Harlem, living above the supermarket and deli owned by his dad. He took his heritage seriously, rooting for such New York Yankees as Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio.After a stretch in the Coast Guard during World War II, he ended up being the coach at his high school– now the basketball power Archbishop Molloy. In 1958, he took an assistant’s job at St. John’s, his alma mater

, where he had played baseball but not university basketball.He worked for eight seasons under another Hall of Famer in Joe Lapchick, the lessons about humility and effort from the famous coach lasting a lifetime. Carnesecca would later pass along to Mullin some recommendations he obtained from Lapchick:”A peacock today

, a feather duster tomorrow.”” I found out more when Coach Lapchick cleared his throat than I could have at any clinic,”Carnesecca said.He was successful Lapchick in 1965, the 20-win seasons piling up rapidly. However 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 end up 28-5, Carnesecca reflected on the pressure of college training and his time in the ABA.”I lost 50 games training professionally; that was pressure, “he stated. “I didn’t feel like getting out of bed. My mom could coach this group.”Carnesecca is survived by his partner of 73

years, Mary. Memorial services will be revealed at a later date, according to the school.Information from The Associated Press was utilized in this report.