Lou Carnesecca is remarkably confident for 24 memorable seasons when the men’s basketball team at St. John’s University was interrupted by a three-year absence as head coach of ABA’s New York Nets (1970-73). I taught.
By the time Loei retired in 1992, he had accumulated 526-200 records at schools in New York City. Prior to that, he had a remarkable success in the coaching ranks of Big Apple’s high school, setting a record for 205-34 in 1950-58.
Oh, by the way, between his high school and college head coach gigs, Carnesecca was taken over by the Catholic school the same year after serving as an SJU assistant from 1958 to 1965.
A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coaching (1992 class) turned 96 on January 5, so it’s a great time to remember his extraordinary career.
Lou Carnesecca, prolific winner
Sifting his decades of data in the coaching business, Carnesecca was all about winning.
In fact, that’s all he actually did.
And while his final number at Nets was below .500 (114-138), he took the club to the 1972 ABA Final, where he finished the runner-up.
But a few years after his retirement, Carnesecca’s name is the concept of disappearing from the collective memory of avid hoop fans and casual observers of sports. Sure, people remember the legends of Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Knight, and a few other coaches whose careers ended or continued past the early 1990s, but the New York icon talks. May be excluded from.
That said, Carnesecca’s heritage is not that poor.
please think about it. He led Red Men to post-season play in each of the 24 seasons. There were 18 NCAA tournament appearances and 6 NIT trips. St. Johns reached the NCAA Final Four in 1985 and won the NIT Crown in 1989.
Motivation was an important tactic
Lou Carnesecca believed that he could maximize his talent throughout his coaching career. He challenged them to believe in themselves and their abilities.
“My way to motivate players is to tell them how good they are. To build them,” Carnesecca once said.
In a nutshell, Looie’s career
To briefly summarize everything that Lou Carnesecca achieved in her coaching career, except for the NCAA title, this intro is His Hall of Fame Bio A good place to get started:
“”Animated and energetic, Lou Carnesecca patrols the basketball bystander in a whirlwind of constant excitement and success. Following in the Hall of Fame Joe Lapchick’s footsteps, Carnesecca continued to attract national attention at St. John’s University, despite hiring primarily New York City players. He summarized 18 20-win seasons, posted 30-win campaigns in a row in 1985 and 1986, averaging over 20 wins a year in his career.“”
