On what would have been Lou Carnesecca’s 100th birthday weekend, the Big East Conference coaches are coming together to honor the legacy of one of the founding fathers of the basketball-driven league this weekend.
Throughout the five conference games on the weekend slate, with St. John’s hosting a special celebration of the late Carnesecca’s life on Saturday when the Red Storm hosts Butler at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, many coaches from across the league will wear sweaters in honor of Looie’s special apparel that he donned throughout his legendary run at St. John’s throughout the 1970s and 80s.
When Carnesecca passed away at the age of 99 on Nov. 30, it instantly sparked Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman and Senior Associate Commissioner of Men’s Basketball Dan Leibovitz, a former assistant of John Chaney at Temple and head coach at Hartford, into action. The conference leaders wanted to find a way to honor one of its founding fathers, a 7-time Big East champion between regular season and tournaments who was, as FOX Sports analyst Bill Raftery said, “universally loved.”
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Leibovitz assembled the coaches on a message chain and the idea became reality: with many coaches agreeing to find an 80s sweater and all joining together to wear a commemorative pin sent out by the league to its schools. While there’s a rich appreciation for all Carnesecca accomplished — going 24 years at the helm of the Johnnies without a losing season, going 31-4 with Chris Mullin and Walter Berry in 1984-85 as one of three teams in the Big East that landed in the Final Four and receiving the league’s coach of the year honor three times, the charisma and outgoing nature of Carnesecca made him a larger-than-life type of figure in the conference and in college basketball that made a golden era in New York City come to life in the 80s.
St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino, along with Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang, honored Carnesecca on Dec. 7 by walking out of the tunnel in a replica of Looie’s famous sweater. After the Red Storm beat the Wildcats 88-71, the Basketball Hall of Famer laid the sweater at halfcourt in memory of Carnesecca.
Here’s the slate of Big East games where coaches will pay tribute to Carnesecca this weekend:
Friday
- Xavier at Georgetown – 8 p.m. ET, CBS Sports Network
- Creighton at No. 8 Marquette – 9 p.m. ET, FS1
Saturday
- DePaul at Villanova – Noon ET, FS1
- Butler at St. John’s – 2 p.m. ET, FS1
Sunday
- Providence at No. 11 UConn – 2 p.m. ET, NBC
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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