Coach Carnesecca

[quote="JackofVirginia" post=385350]The following letter was sent by Lou on 2/12/01:
Dear Jack & Helen,
Many thanks for your kind thoughts and sentiments. I appreciate them very much. It was a great night and as you know you better have great players.
It just seems like yesterday when I was at St.Ann's and you wereplaying at St.Agnes.The Marist monks gave us a good foundation.
I hopeyou are enjoyingyour living in Nevada. I know the bread and pastais not as good as here - it's in the water. Jack, again, many thanks for remembering.
Regards, and a big hug to Helen.
Lou[/quote]

Jack that's simply a beautiful letter. Thank you for sharing it. It says so much about coach, but also about you. Thank you.
 
[quote="Phil G" post=385316]Gracious as they come. 6 years ago at Dribble for a Cure, I introduced my daughter to Coach Carnesecca (she was nine ). He spent 10-15 minutes talking just to her.
We always look him for in the stands[/quote]

The crazy thing is Phil, that thousands of fans have similar stories. I have a couple too, and they are simply heart warming. Thanks for sharing.
 
Poignant reminisces, Beast. Thanks.
Joe Lapchick was a giant. Louie is. Humility and perspective go a long way to shape the man.
 
Coach Louie is a gracious and humble man who remembers his roots unlike many who have achieved his level of success. He is also a deeply religious man. When my wife was in law school in the late 1970's she said you could always find Coach on campus around noon--he was in the chapel for Mass as she always saw him there when she would go (to pray for guidance from above).
 
[quote="sjc88" post=385352]A couple of sayings I remember from Coach C.

The difference is “They had kids who are McDonalds All Americans we have kids who eat at McDonalds. (I’ve heard other coaches use it since but he said it a long time ago”.)

“Once a peacock now a feather duster.” (or something like that LOL)

As Coach Louie would say about others, I’ll say about him, he is a “Prince of a man”.[/quote]. Louie was great with a quip or a line you never forget ... Back in the 70’ S we played against Princeton , maybe in a NCAA tourney game . Which we lost as we all know , way too well . Louie is getting interviewed by a Reporter and says, “ You know Princeton has guys playing who might be President some Day . We have guys who are from President Street.”
 
One more story...I went to SJU as undergrad "65 to '69.
Most days, I would cross over to the Redman's Nook..a small little luncheonette, just a 1/2 block east of Utopia and Union.. Periodically, Lou would come in, sit at the counter, greet the owner, Joan, and then nod to each student.
Since SJU basketball was usually a major theme of chatter anyway, Lou would pick up on a conversation and actually ask us students questions about the opinions he heard. It actually seemed like instead of explaining why he played x instead of y player or defense, he would give us respect as though he might be the one learning from our insights.
Eventually, most of us at least realized what was happening and sheepishly would defer to him. It happened more than once and I will never forget how generous he was with his time and his knowledge.
 
You might have heard this from me in the past. One day while I was playing on the baseball team Louie came to me and told me I was going to coach the freshmen team at Ebbets Field against Hofstra.Jack Kaiser was ill so Louie would take the varsity.He failed to inform me that his freshmen team had a fight at Hofstra the week before.
BTW, our freshmen team was undefeated and fortunately we stayed that way due to guys like Larry Bearnarth, Tommy Hunt, Al Sherameta and Joe Russo.Great kids and even better memories.
 
The year that Jack of Virginia refers to was 58 - 59 and there was an extroidinary number of athletes on campus at SJU, especially on the baseball and basketball teams.
 
[quote="redmaninalbany" post=385410]One more story...I went to SJU as undergrad "65 to '69.
Most days, I would cross over to the Redman's Nook..a small little luncheonette, just a 1/2 block east of Utopia and Union.. Periodically, Lou would come in, sit at the counter, greet the owner, Joan, and then nod to each student.
Since SJU basketball was usually a major theme of chatter anyway, Lou would pick up on a conversation and actually ask us students questions about the opinions he heard. It actually seemed like instead of explaining why he played x instead of y player or defense, he would give us respect as though he might be the one learning from our insights.
Eventually, most of us at least realized what was happening and sheepishly would defer to him. It happened more than once and I will never forget how generous he was with his time and his knowledge.[/quote]

I sat about 7 rows behind the St. John's bench, which was diagonally across from its current location. These were booster club seats. The guys in the front two rows would often kibbitz Looie; "Looie press!! Coach, go zone!! Put in _________". Very often he'd turn around to them, dismiss them with a wave of his hand and say "You guys don't know what you are talking about, which would break all of us up."

A legend's persona takes on a life of its own. Looie is exactly that, a living legend.
 
Another thing I appreciated about the Carnesecca era was that students were able to watch team practices from the upper stands. I would doubt that it is a possibility today. As a former high school basketball coach, the lessons I learned from watching the coaching staff work with the team was invaluable.
 
[quote="MarkRedman" post=385469]Another thing I appreciated about the Carnesecca era was that students were able to watch team practices from the upper stands. I would doubt that it is a possibility today. As a former high school basketball coach, the lessons I learned from watching the coaching staff work with the team was invaluable.[/quote]
I spent more time watching practice than attending classes (started at 3pm) LOL Sometimes it was more fun than the games.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=385467][quote="redmaninalbany" post=385410]One more story...I went to SJU as undergrad "65 to '69.
Most days, I would cross over to the Redman's Nook..a small little luncheonette, just a 1/2 block east of Utopia and Union.. Periodically, Lou would come in, sit at the counter, greet the owner, Joan, and then nod to each student.
Since SJU basketball was usually a major theme of chatter anyway, Lou would pick up on a conversation and actually ask us students questions about the opinions he heard. It actually seemed like instead of explaining why he played x instead of y player or defense, he would give us respect as though he might be the one learning from our insights.
Eventually, most of us at least realized what was happening and sheepishly would defer to him. It happened more than once and I will never forget how generous he was with his time and his knowledge.[/quote]

I sat about 7 rows behind the St. John's bench, which was diagonally across from its current location. These were booster club seats. The guys in the front two rows would often kibbitz Looie; "Looie press!! Coach, go zone!! Put in _________". Very often he'd turn around to them, dismiss them with a wave of his hand and say "You guys don't know what you are talking about, which would break all of us up."

A legend's persona takes on a life of its own. Looie is exactly that, a living legend.[/quote]
Coaches go to line was 'Hey, you want to coach the team?".
 
My wife called St John's to ask where she could get a replica of "the sweater". The school put her through to Looie who not only answered the phone...but sent her a replica tee shirt. I still treasure it.
 
[quote="bamafan" post=385470][quote="MarkRedman" post=385469]Another thing I appreciated about the Carnesecca era was that students were able to watch team practices from the upper stands. I would doubt that it is a possibility today. As a former high school basketball coach, the lessons I learned from watching the coaching staff work with the team was invaluable.[/quote]
I spent more time watching practice than attending classes (started at 3pm) LOL Sometimes it was more fun than the games.[/quote]

Me, too. I spent a lot of time in that gym. It was also more fun than going to class
Actually, for me, it turned into a class as a future coach
Probably one of the most useful classes I took at St John's
 
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[quote="bamafan" post=385470][quote="MarkRedman" post=385469]Another thing I appreciated about the Carnesecca era was that students were able to watch team practices from the upper stands. I would doubt that it is a possibility today. As a former high school basketball coach, the lessons I learned from watching the coaching staff work with the team was invaluable.[/quote]
I spent more time watching practice than attending classes (started at 3pm) LOL Sometimes it was more fun than the games.[/quote]

You think you'd know more about basketball.

Just kidding but it made me laugh to type it.
 
[quote="Beast of the East" post=385467][quote="redmaninalbany" post=385410]One more story...I went to SJU as undergrad "65 to '69.
Most days, I would cross over to the Redman's Nook..a small little luncheonette, just a 1/2 block east of Utopia and Union.. Periodically, Lou would come in, sit at the counter, greet the owner, Joan, and then nod to each student.
Since SJU basketball was usually a major theme of chatter anyway, Lou would pick up on a conversation and actually ask us students questions about the opinions he heard. It actually seemed like instead of explaining why he played x instead of y player or defense, he would give us respect as though he might be the one learning from our insights.
Eventually, most of us at least realized what was happening and sheepishly would defer to him. It happened more than once and I will never forget how generous he was with his time and his knowledge.[/quote]

I sat about 7 rows behind the St. John's bench, which was diagonally across from its current location. These were booster club seats. The guys in the front two rows would often kibbitz Looie; "Looie press!! Coach, go zone!! Put in _________". Very often he'd turn around to them, dismiss them with a wave of his hand and say "You guys don't know what you are talking about, which would break all of us up."

A legend's persona takes on a life of its own. Looie is exactly that, a living legend.[/quote]

Reminds me of the pre season dinners at the Fox for the Chieftain Club. Looie and the coaches would sit up front and after the meal he would give a short talk about the team,players and the upcoming season and then open the floor for questions. Inevitably, every year some guys would ask him if he was going to play some zone, press or uptempo the game. Most of us knew the answer but he'd always say that it might be something he'd consider. He was a great speaker and always had a few good one-liners dropped into his talk.

I also used to sit mid court at AH four rows up, so I had a close-up view of Looie's antics as he would prowl the sidelines. It was amazing some of the moves he would pull off as ran up and down. I remember one exchange he had with Boo during the Loyola Marymount game. LM was probably the highest scoring team in the country and loved to get up and down the floor. Boo and Porter we're made or that kind of game, and at one point Looie couldn't take it anymore and rasped to Boo to slow it down. Boo looked right at coach and told him that he was slowing it down. Lou just spun around and muttered something to Mahoney who just shrugged his shoulders in response. It was hysterical. We beat them 88-85, which was about 15 points more than Lou would've liked, but about 20 below their average.
 
My wife, sister in law and I were going to see "Molly Brown" on Broadway. Before the show we went to Mama Leone's Restaurant. Unfortunately the line was so long we weren't going to make the play. So I decided to see the head guy at the door and told him Louie told me you would take care of my party. Reason being I knew Louie and all the Big East coaches met there for their monthly meeting. Lo and behold he brings us right in. Never told Lou I used his name.
 
[quote="Section9" post=385502][quote="Beast of the East" post=385467][quote="redmaninalbany" post=385410]One more story...I went to SJU as undergrad "65 to '69.
Most days, I would cross over to the Redman's Nook..a small little luncheonette, just a 1/2 block east of Utopia and Union.. Periodically, Lou would come in, sit at the counter, greet the owner, Joan, and then nod to each student.
Since SJU basketball was usually a major theme of chatter anyway, Lou would pick up on a conversation and actually ask us students questions about the opinions he heard. It actually seemed like instead of explaining why he played x instead of y player or defense, he would give us respect as though he might be the one learning from our insights.
Eventually, most of us at least realized what was happening and sheepishly would defer to him. It happened more than once and I will never forget how generous he was with his time and his knowledge.[/quote]

I sat about 7 rows behind the St. John's bench, which was diagonally across from its current location. These were booster club seats. The guys in the front two rows would often kibbitz Looie; "Looie press!! Coach, go zone!! Put in _________". Very often he'd turn around to them, dismiss them with a wave of his hand and say "You guys don't know what you are talking about, which would break all of us up."

A legend's persona takes on a life of its own. Looie is exactly that, a living legend.[/quote]

Reminds me of the pre season dinners at the Fox for the Chieftain Club. Looie and the coaches would sit up front and after the meal he would give a short talk about the team,players and the upcoming season and then open the floor for questions. Inevitably, every year some guys would ask him if he was going to play some zone, press or uptempo the game. Most of us knew the answer but he'd always say that it might be something he'd consider. He was a great speaker and always had a few good one-liners dropped into his talk.

I also used to sit mid court at AH four rows up, so I had a close-up view of Looie's antics as he would prowl the sidelines. It was amazing some of the moves he would pull off as ran up and down. I remember one exchange he had with Boo during the Loyola Marymount game. LM was probably the highest scoring team in the country and loved to get up and down the floor. Boo and Porter we're made or that kind of game, and at one point Looie couldn't take it anymore and rasped to Boo to slow it down. Boo looked right at coach and told him that he was slowing it down. Lou just spun around and muttered something to Mahoney who just shrugged his shoulders in response. It was hysterical. We beat them 88-85, which was about 15 points more than Lou would've liked, but about 20 below their average.[/quote]

Great story! Those must have been Paul Westheads teams, no?
 
[quote="MarkRedman" post=385477][quote="bamafan" post=385470][quote="MarkRedman" post=385469]Another thing I appreciated about the Carnesecca era was that students were able to watch team practices from the upper stands. I would doubt that it is a possibility today. As a former high school basketball coach, the lessons I learned from watching the coaching staff work with the team was invaluable.[/quote]
I spent more time watching practice than attending classes (started at 3pm) LOL Sometimes it was more fun than the games.[/quote]

Me, too. I spent a lot of time in that gym. It was also more fun than going to class
Actually, for me, it turned into a class as a future coach
Probably one of the most useful classes I took at St John's[/quote]

A certain killer of a player used to tell people that Looie would have Mahoney run practices, but would never touch the ball himself to demonstrate anything because he knew he wasn't much of a player.

Same guy would say that Looie would make a fair team good, and a great team good also.
 
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