The St. John’s basketball community lost its legend on Saturday evening as Lou Carnesecca passed away at the age of 99.
The New York native began his tenure at St. John’s as an assistant coach in 1958 before becoming the program’s head coach in 1965 for the first time.
Carnesecca would return to Queens in 1973 and lead St. John’s to its only Final Four in program history in 1985. He won five Big East regular season titles and two conference tournament championships during his coaching career.
All he knew was how to win and how New Yorkers cared and loved for their teams. His personality showed every time he stepped on the floor with his iconic sweaters.
“Look up the word ‘Carnesecca’ in the dictionary and you’ll see descriptors like tough, fiery, resilient and the phrase ‘never back down,'" Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said about Lou Carnesecca during St. John’s ‘Sunday Supper with Looie’ in late September.
Carnesecca was a three-time Big East Coach of the Year and the National Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1985. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
“We’re standing tall because of legends, who understood what takes to be a mentor, a teacher, a tactical genius on the sidelines, a master motivator, a father figure, an example for others, a champion and a friend. Coach, our leaders and legends proudly include you."
With a 526-200 record as the coach of St. John’s, which included a 17-20 record in the NCAA Tournament and 10-6 in the NIT, ‘Looie’ remains by far the winningest coach in program history.
He reached the postseason in every year he was the head coach of the Johnnies and never finished a season with a losing record. The on-campus home for St. John’s, Alumni Hall, was dedicated and renamed to Carnesecca Arena in 2004.
“I’ve coached against Dean Smith, Rollie , John Thompson, so many incredible coaches, and was close to John Wooden, but Looie had a quality that was different than all the coaches.” St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said at the September event.
“Looie had the quality of humility and the love of his players like no other coach. You knew why when you got to know him why the players loved him so much…I will never be able to be Lou Carnesecca at St. John’s, but I will be able to represent him in the right light.”
Lou Carnesecca would have turned 100 years old on January 5 and the men’s basketball program was planning on celebrating his birthday during its January 4 matchup against Butler in Queens.
The Red Storm defeated Harvard, 77-64, prior to the news of Carnesecca’s death on Saturday night. Its next game will be played inside Carnesecca Arena on Saturday, December 7 against Kansas State (11:30 a.m. ET, FOX).