Lou Carnesecca, Hall of Famer who led St. John’s, dies at 99

Hall of Fame college basketball coach Lou Carnesecca, who won more than 500 games and led St. John’s to three Big East titles and a Final Four appearance in 1985, died Saturday at age 99.

The university said it was informed by a family member that Carnesecca died in a hospital surrounded by his family just weeks before his 100th birthday. It was said that Carnesecca “endeared himself to generations of New Yorkers with his wit and warmth.”

Carnesecca was a treasured figure in New York sports in his day, and his affection for “Looie” never waned in a city that had little patience for its players, coaches, executives and owners.

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

It was his home where he coached St. John’s for 18 20-win seasons and 18 NCAA Tournament appearances. It was his hometown, where he finished with a record of 526-300 and notched 30 wins in 1985 and 1986. And it was his home where St. John’s became part of the founding of the Big East.

He was a three-time coach of the year in a league founded in 1979 and quickly established himself as one of the best in the country. His players in those early years in the Big East included Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson and Walter Berry.

Jackson called him a “game changer” in a social media post Saturday night.

My trainer!
Pray for your family! What a life! What a game changer! Thank you for everything!
I love you! I am 4ever grateful!#Well done #StJohn‘S #MadeMeBetter pic.twitter.com/8fwWPdlBHG

— Mark Jackson (@MarkJackson13) December 1, 2024

Carnesecca coached St. John’s to the NIT title in 1989, even though by that point the tournament 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 shot a basket,” he said during his introduction, forgoing a sweater for a smart suit. “The players did everything. Without players there is no game.”

He was an old-school coach who specialized in the fundamentals. And through it all, Carnesecca was a whirling, moving presence on the sideline, arms flailing, legs flailing, shirtsleeves flying, curled up in despair over a missed shot or an agonizing decision. But his antics never crossed the line into chair-throwing rage.

Carnesecca was simply consumed by his players, the love of a game was deep within him, a life spent in schoolyards, run-down gymnasiums and large arenas. He loved the “smell of sweat” and the “feeling of burning rubber” when sneakers hit a painted floor.

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

Carnesecca never made himself too famous. He always believed that a difficult loss should never stand in the way of a glass of Chianti and fettuccini with Bolognese sauce. He held seminars around the world, making friends and raising toasts wherever he went. He was there with a kind word and a witty joke in his breathy, gravelly voice. His family tree goes back to Tuscany, but he could keep up with the best Borscht Belt comics.

“I don’t know if there’s anyone else who coaches like him,” longtime UConn coach Jim Calhoun once told the Hartford Courant. “Even if 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 on January 5, 1925 to Italian immigrants. He grew up in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood, living above his father’s grocery store and deli. He took his legacy seriously and cheered on New York Yankees like Tony Lazzeri and Joe DiMaggio.

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

He worked under another Hall of Famer in Joe Lapchick for eight seasons, with the legendary coach’s lessons of humility and hard work lasting a lifetime. Carnesecca later passed on to Mullin some advice he had received from Lapchick: “Today a peacock, tomorrow a feather duster.”

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

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

Years later, during a 1982-83 season in which his St. John’s team finished 28-5, Carnesecca reflected on the pressures of college coaching and his time in the ABA.

“I lost 50 games as a professional coach – that was pressure,” he said. “I didn’t feel like getting up. My mom could coach this team.”

Carnesecca is survived by his wife of 73 years, Mary. According to the school, memorial services will be announced at a later date.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.