Lou Carnesecca, a founding father of the Big East Conference and a man who was St. John’s, not to mention one of the most colorful personalities in college basketball history, passed away on Saturday at the age of 99.
Carnesecca, known by “Looie” through his legendary run on the sidelines, was a 1992 inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and is everything that the Red Storm and New York City are about.
At the college level, he only ever coached in Queens, leading St. John’s to its Golden Age. He also did something that any New Yorker appreciates: going 24 years at the helm of the Red Storm without a losing season.
He was a central figure, along with commissioner Dave Gavitt, in the formation of the Big East and the early years of the premier basketball conference, leading the Johnnies into the league and tying for first place in its inaugural season.
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In 1984-85, Carnesecca took St. John’s from being a nationally relevant program to one that was worthy of college basketball’s biggest stage — the Final Four. The Johnnies, powered by Chris Mullin and Walter Berry, went 31-4, won the conference regular season title with a 15-1 record, and made it to the national semifinals.
The following season, Walter Berry and the Redmen, as they were known then, won 31 more games, taking home the conference regular season and tournament titles. In total, Carnesecca posted eighteen 20-win seasons, posted back-to-back 30-win campaigns in 1985 and 1986, and averaged more than 20 wins a year for his career. A two-time U.S. Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year, Carnesecca was named the Big East Coach of the Year three times.
Carnesecca ended with 526 victories over 24 seasons at St. John’s, good for an average of 22 per year. He coached the ABA’s Nets from 1970-73, taking the professional route and coaching the team out of Long Island. But the pro path was not Carnesecca’s love, as he mutually parted ways with the organization, then returned to Queens to take over after Frank Mulzoff was let go in 1973.
Carnesecca, the only child of Italian immigrants who owned a grocery store in Manhattan and told him he should be a doctor, elected instead to go into coaching and went to St. John’s University, where he was a member of the 1949 Johnnies’ baseball College World Series team. After originally taking a high school basketball coaching job at St. Ann’s in New York, Carnesecca worked under Joe Lapchick as an assistant from 1958-65 at St. John’s before getting the head coaching spot when Lapchick retired.
Carnesecca retired from coaching in 1992 but retained an office on the campus of St. John’s, serving in a role in the athletic department.
“Looie” was passion personified, and creative at that, known for his colorful sweaters that painted the picture of the love he had for St. John’s, the love he had for the Big East, the love he had for New York City.
And he was loved a thousand times back in return.
Carnesecca was one of one, and a defining coaching figure in basketball history.
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.
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