Chasing Ghosts

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fordham96

Well-known member
So ESPN has done this series where they analyze some historically successful programs that have hit some hard times or some mediocre times. The ghost part refers back to a legendary coach that use to be there and then the subsequent hires that have not exactly worked out. They did one on UCLA (ghost of Wooden), UNLV (the ghost of Tarkanian), UMASS (ghost of Calipari) and most recently Indiana (ghost of Robert Montgomery Knight).

Guess who is up next week? St. John's. Obviously I assume they will reflect on all of the coaches that have followed Looie Carnesecca.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ng-ghosts-indiana-ever-really-move-bob-knight

Next week in Chasing Ghosts: St. John's
 
[quote="fordham96" post=349980]So ESPN has done this series where they analyze some historically successful programs that have hit some hard times or some mediocre times. The ghost part refers back to a legendary coach that use to be there and then the subsequent hires that have not exactly worked out. They did one on UCLA (ghost of Wooden), UNLV (the ghost of Tarkanian), UMASS (ghost of Calipari) and most recently Indiana (ghost of Robert Montgomery Knight).

Guess who is up next week? St. John's. Obviously I assume they will reflect on all of the coaches that have followed Looie Carnesecca.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ng-ghosts-indiana-ever-really-move-bob-knight

Next week in Chasing Ghosts: St. John's[/quote]

We will have an extensive list of coaching failures since Coach Carnesseca. I remember people who couldn’t, wait for Coach to retire because they didn’t think his “style” of play was good enough. I wonder where all those folks are today? For whatever the reason we have not been able to come close to his success yet. Should be interesting to see what they say.
 
Thanks, Fordham. Is this a television series or just a series of digital stories? I couldn't tell.
 
[quote="sjc88" post=349982]We will have an extensive list of coaching failures since Coach Carnesseca. I remember people who couldn’t, wait for Coach to retire because they didn’t think his “style” of play was good enough. I wonder where all those folks are today? For whatever the reason we have not been able to come close to his success yet. Should be interesting to see what they say.[/quote]
Some post on Redmen.com. The rest are at St John’s (Middle Village campus).

Will Dr. Venkman be interviewed?
 
[quote="sjc88" post=349982][quote="fordham96" post=349980]So ESPN has done this series where they analyze some historically successful programs that have hit some hard times or some mediocre times. The ghost part refers back to a legendary coach that use to be there and then the subsequent hires that have not exactly worked out. They did one on UCLA (ghost of Wooden), UNLV (the ghost of Tarkanian), UMASS (ghost of Calipari) and most recently Indiana (ghost of Robert Montgomery Knight).

Guess who is up next week? St. John's. Obviously I assume they will reflect on all of the coaches that have followed Looie Carnesecca.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ng-ghosts-indiana-ever-really-move-bob-knight

Next week in Chasing Ghosts: St. John's[/quote]

We will have an extensive list of coaching failures since Coach Carnesseca. I remember people who couldn’t, wait for Coach to retire because they didn’t think his “style” of play was good enough. I wonder where all those folks are today? For whatever the reason we have not been able to come close to his success yet. Should be interesting to see what they say.[/quote]
I was one, coach consistently could never get over the hump except for a few years when he got all the right pieces. With the many hall of fame caliber coaches we had, no one could ever imagined the depths of despair that would bring about a Norm Roberts hire.
 
Wow...great find, Fordham! Obviously you don't really want to be on this list, but at least we get some publicity at all. Gets the name out there more. Should be an interesting read for sure.
 
[quote="sjc88" post=349982][quote="fordham96" post=349980]So ESPN has done this series where they analyze some historically successful programs that have hit some hard times or some mediocre times. The ghost part refers back to a legendary coach that use to be there and then the subsequent hires that have not exactly worked out. They did one on UCLA (ghost of Wooden), UNLV (the ghost of Tarkanian), UMASS (ghost of Calipari) and most recently Indiana (ghost of Robert Montgomery Knight).

Guess who is up next week? St. John's. Obviously I assume they will reflect on all of the coaches that have followed Looie Carnesecca.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ng-ghosts-indiana-ever-really-move-bob-knight

Next week in Chasing Ghosts: St. John's[/quote]

We will have an extensive list of coaching failures since Coach Carnesseca. I remember people who couldn’t, wait for Coach to retire because they didn’t think his “style” of play was good enough. I wonder where all those folks are today? For whatever the reason we have not been able to come close to his success yet. Should be interesting to see what they say.[/quote]

Among his detractors to an extent, was the school President, Father Joe Cahill. Cahill used to watch every single home game standing on his feet behind the 164th street basket, near the doorway where R-W events are hosted. He sometimes complained to those around him that Looie never wins the big one. Back in those days, going out in the first or second round of the NCAA, often to an inferior opponent, seemed frequent and deflating. Now when you look at Looie's body of work compared to chat has followed, we can see it was extraordinary.
 
The issue with Coach was his style of play. He preferred to slow the game down and run half court sets. Fans thought that NYC kids wanted to play more of an uptempo style of play and that's the reason why lots of kids would not consider going to St John's.

I loved it when Looie used to say that his recruiting budget was a pocket full of subway tokens. In those days, when the NYC market was prolific with big time high school talent, we could remain competitive bringing in 2 or 3 top prospects per year. Obviously, with the landscape of NY high school basketball changing, that is sadly no longer the case.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=349983]Thanks, Fordham. Is this a television series or just a series of digital stories? I couldn't tell.[/quote]

Just the online story.
 
Lou was a great Coach and deserves all his accolades . He wasn’t perfect and during his reign he got some of the better NYC kids to stay and play for us . I always thought his Teams underachieved in the NCAA’s and in some cases , despite having better talent , he lost Games he should not have . Georgia , Temple , Penn, Auburn and even , G’town . In the 85 finals vs the Hoyas , he had no answer for getting Mullin loose from Wingate and the Box and 1 . It seemed he forgot about Berry inside , who could have easily gotten Ewing in foul trouble . And , playing Mike Moses over Mark Jackson wasn’t very smart . Safe to say , Louie’s X’s and O’s were not up to in game strategy changes . Still, his record speaks for itself and he was among the long line of our HOF Coaches , Buck Freeman, Frank McGuire , Joe Lapchick and himself . Certainly was our Glory Days , not attainable since .?
 
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I used to love to see Coach cross his arms in an "X" formation to signal for "The Bush", a 1-3-1 half court trap. I also miss the days when you could sit in CA and watch the team practice. I learned an awful lot observing practices through the years that I utilized when I coached years later.
 
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Name the event that would have turned Redmen.com upside down the most during the Louie years:

1. We fail to meet Hakeem Olajuwon at JFK.
2. Our entire backcourt (Boo Harvey and Michael Porter) fails out of school.
3. We pass on Gary Payton.
 
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[quote="MainMan" post=350013]Name the event that would have turned Redmen.com upside down the most during the Louie years:

1. We fail to meet Hakeem Olajuwon at JFK.
2. Our entire backcourt (Boo Harvey and Michael Porter) fails out of school.
3. We pass on Gary Payton.[/quote]
I would choose passing on the Glove, Gary Payton who made the HOF. Would have said Hakeem but he probably wouldn't have signed with us anyway as he said he hated the cold weather.
 
[quote="bamafan" post=350015][quote="MainMan" post=350013]Name the event that would have turned Redmen.com upside down the most during the Louie years:

1. We fail to meet Hakeem Olajuwon at JFK.
2. Our entire backcourt (Boo Harvey and Michael Porter) fails out of school.
3. We pass on Gary Payton.[/quote]
I would choose passing on the Glove, Gary Payton who made the HOF. Would have said Hakeem but he probably wouldn't have signed with us anyway as he said he hated the cold weather.[/quote]

Would the Glove have become the Glove if he came here, though? Lou probably would have benched him for first couple seasons. Plus I think our snub did play some part in fueling him to succeed as wildly as he did.
 
[quote="NCJohnnie" post=349983]Thanks, Fordham. Is this a television series or just a series of digital stories? I couldn't tell.[/quote] its a horror movie
 
[quote="mjmaherjr" post=350018][quote="NCJohnnie" post=349983]Thanks, Fordham. Is this a television series or just a series of digital stories? I couldn't tell.[/quote] its a horror movie[/quote]
Nightmare on Utopia Parkway
 
We passed on Jerry (point guard for Lapchick’s last NIT champion team)Houston’s kid too, who went to West Point and still holds the all time NCAA record for ppg ( Louie didn’t think he could play at the college level)
 
[quote="Spocky Ramone" post=350024][quote="mjmaherjr" post=350018][quote="NCJohnnie" post=349983]Thanks, Fordham. Is this a television series or just a series of digital stories? I couldn't tell.[/quote] its a horror movie[/quote]
Nightmare on Utopia Parkway[/quote]


Maybe, were in the early days of the 'opening credits' to a great 'comeback' revival feature film?
Ya just never know.
 
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