Louis Carnesecca - Greatest Johnny ever (and a pretty good coach, too.)

Beasts of the East

Beasts of the East

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No doubt one of the finest men, bar none, to ever grace our halls as a student, coach, and administrator. St. John's was the canvas for his life, and he painted a masterpiece over 3/4 of a century.

Coin toss for greatest coach as well:

Joe Lapchick

334-130 overall .720

Lou C.

524-200 overall (.724)

127-69 Big East (.648)

Brian Mahoney

56-58 overall (.493)

29-43 conf (.403)

Fran Fraschilla

35-24 overall (.593)

21-15 conf (.583)

Mike Jarvis

110-61 overall (.643)

50-32 conf (.610)

Norm Roberts

81-101 overall (.429)

32-70 conference (.314)

Steve Lavin

92-72 overall (.561)

46-44 conf (.511)

Chris Mullin

59-73 overall (.447)

20-52 conf (.278)

Mike Anderson

68-56 overall (.548)

30-46 conf (.395)
 
Lou gets the slight nod over Lapchick mostly because he did it in the Big East/TV era where success elevated the program to heights never before seen.

But then again you could argue that the best coaches SJU ever produced are not on this list: Frank McGuire and Al McGuire.
 
MainMan said:
Lou gets the slight nod over Lapchick mostly because he did it in the Big East/TV era where success elevated the program to heights never before seen.

But then again you could argue that the best coaches SJU ever produced are not on this list: Frank McGuire and Al McGuire.
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I am aware and will add. I focused on 1955 on. Looie has said Buck Freeman was the greatest coach he saw.
 
I’d vote for Lapchick over Looie because of his NIT titles in the early forties. At this time the NIT was the equal of the NCAA. Joe won two more NITs ,1959 and 1965 when the NIT was no longer on the level of the NCAA.
SJU was lucky to have two great men as coaches. We can read today how many basketball people loved Looie and the feeling was the same about Joe. These two men might be the most admired coaches in the history of college basketball in any order.
 
GardenCity62 said:
I’d vote for Lapchick over Looie because of his NIT titles in the early forties. At this time the NIT was the equal of the NCAA. Joe won two more NITs ,1959 and 1965 when the NIT was no longer on the level of the NCAA.
SJU was lucky to have two great men as coaches. We can read today how many basketball people loved Looie and the feeling was the same about Joe. These two men might be the most admired coaches in the history of college basketball in any order.
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That is quite true about both, Louie and Joe Lapchick and the esteem they were held in by peers , reporters ,players , other Coaches , etc

They were 2 different personalities . Lapchick was put on a well deserved Pedestal and just a all around Great person and likeable guy . He was quiet compared to Louis but , that’s not a knock on Lou.
Plus Lapchick was a strategist and master of Coaching the best out of every player on his team .
Bobby Knight , worshipped Lapchick for his Coaching Skills .. Putting aside Bobby’s own demons .
Lou was a People Guy and coached that way . He also earned the respect and love of almost all his players ,, over his entire career . Was he a great Strategist or in game Coach ?
He was good enough but , not at the Knight or Coach K , Level .

A big University mistake was forcing Retirement on Lapchick and probably ending any chance we had to get Jabbar . Kareem has great respect and trust in Joe and he has been quoted as saying “ he would likely have come to St John’s if Coach Lapchick was the Coach .”

Louie got Mullin , Berry , Mark Jackson , Wennington , Glass,, Reggie Carter , etc to come here . I’m probably short on some others . Mel Davis , George Johnson , etc .

All up, we have been blessed , mostly in the past , with HOF Coaches .. Louie and Joe are both in that category .
 
Beasts of the East said:
No doubt one of the finest men, bar none, to ever grace our halls as a student, coach, and administrator. St. John's was the canvas for his life, and he painted a masterpiece over 3/4 of a century.

Coin toss for greatest coach as well:

Joe Lapchick

334-130 overall .720

Lou C.

524-200 overall (.724)

127-69 Big East (.648)

Brian Mahoney

56-58 overall (.493)

29-43 conf (.403)

Fran Fraschilla

35-24 overall (.593)

21-15 conf (.583)

Mike Jarvis

110-61 overall (.643)

50-32 conf (.610)

Norm Roberts

81-101 overall (.429)

32-70 conference (.314)

Steve Lavin

92-72 overall (.561)

46-44 conf (.511)

Chris Mullin

59-73 overall (.447)

20-52 conf (.278)

Mike Anderson

68-56 overall (.548)

30-46 conf (.395)
Click to expand...
Buck Freeman played for St. John's then coached the Wonder Five to National prominence, 177-31, .850, best % of the lot.

Frank McGuire short stint 102-36 .739 pretty good too.
 
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There will be plenty of greeters waiting for Louie in heaven, and I think Steve Honzo will be among them.
 
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