Basketball St. John lost a legend on Saturday with the death of former coach Lou Carnesecca. He was 99 years old.
Carnesecca trained St. John’s 24 seasons. His career at 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, where he was head coach and general manager from 1970-73. The Nets made the postseason in each of his three seasons.
After the 1972-73 season, Carnesecca returned to St. John’s. The Redmen (now the Red Storm) played three more years as an independent before participating in the New York-New Jersey Conference 7 for the next three seasons. His teams made four more NCAA Tournament appearances during that span.
In 1979, St. John’s joined the Big East Conference and became part of a distinguished era that included John Thompson at Georgetown, Jim Boeheim at Syracuse, Rollie Massimino at Villanova, PJ Carlesimo at Seton Hall, Gary Williams at Boston College and Jim Calhoun at UConn.
During 13 seasons of coaching in the Big East, St. John’s five regular season conference titles and two conference tournament championships. Carnesecca also won Big East Coach of the Year honors three times.
With Carnesecca on the sidelines in his signature sweaters, St. John’s made the NCAA Tournament 11 times and advanced to the Final Four in 1985. (Villanova and Georgetown were also in the Final Four that year.) six players who ended up playing in the NBA, including Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, Bill Wennington and Mark Jackson.
Carnesecca retired from coaching after the 1991-92 season, but for more than 30 years he maintained an office on campus as assistant to the university president. He was also regularly present at home matches of St. Alumni Hall was eventually named Carnesecca Arena. A statue also pays tribute to him there.
In his 24 seasons (none with a loss), Carnesecca compiled a 526-200 record. 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 their home games.