St. John’s basketball lost a legend on Saturday with the death of former coach Lou Carnesecca. He was 99 years old.
Carnesecca coached St. John’s for 24 seasons. His career in Queens began with his first stint from 1965 to 1970, during which his teams earned three NCAA tournament bids as an independent. He then left for the ABA’s New York Nets, for whom he was head coach and general manager from 1970-73. The Nets made the postseason in each of his three seasons.
Following the 1972-73 season, Carnesecca returned to St. John’s. The Redmen (now the Red Storm) played for three more years as an independent before competing in the New York-New Jersey 7 conference for the next three seasons. His teams made four more NCAA tournaments during that span.
In 1979, St. John’s joined the Big East conference and became part of an acclaimed era which included John Thompson at Georgetown, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Villanova’s Rollie Massimino, P.J. Carlesimo at Seton Hall, Boston College’s Gary Williams and Jim Calhoun at UConn.
During his 13 seasons coaching in the Big East, St. John’s won five regular season conference titles and two conference tournament championships. Carnesecca also earned Big East Coach of the Year honors three times.
With Carnesecca on the sideline in his signature sweaters, St. John’s made it to the NCAA tournament 11 times and advanced to the Final Four in 1985. (Villanova and Georgetown were also in the Final Four that year.) That 1984-85 squad had six players who eventually played in the NBA, including Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, Bill Wennington and Mark Jackson.
Carnesecca retired from coaching after the 1991-92 season, but he maintained an office on campus for more than 30 years as an assistant to the university president. He was also a regular presence at St. John’s home games. Alumni Hall was eventually named Carnesecca Arena. A statue also pays tribute to him there.
In his 24 seasons (none with a losing record), Carnesecca compiled a record of 526-200. After his retirement, Carnesecca was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. A banner with his name and win total hangs in Madison Square Garden, where St. John’s played many of its home games.