RIP Coach Carnesecca

I was at the Harvard game last night constantly looking over to where Lou would sit wondering if he would attend this game! Little did I realize that he was probably fighting for his life! I attended St Johns from 1968 to 1972 and I will always consider him as my coach! Rest in peace my friend!
 
Such a huge loss. You could not ask for a better ambassador for a program. I remember when I first became a fan and was in awe of his constant presence in the stands at games. As I got older, and heard more stories about him (including here), I was truly inspired by how he carried himself with a humble and caring spirit.
 
Looie off the court was a giant as well. When I was a junior at St John’s and he had returned from the Nets I would hang out in Alumni Hall and often run into him. I was really into hoops and wanted to coach as well so I would always ask him questions. Sensing that I loved basketball, he once said to me..” would you mind coming in my office to help me out with something? I can’t get these guys to guard the post” Of course I jumped at the chance and as I sat and watch film with him and a few of his assistants he would ask my opinion about things on the game tape. Looking back, I’m sure there was nothing I could offer but it was his way of making me feel good about myself and valued. I never forgot that.
 
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Beasts of the East said:
Jan 5th. My daughter's birthday. Once, at the 25 anniversary celebration of the Final 4, at MSG, I introduced her to coach by telling coach the two shared a birthday. He then spent the next ten minutes treating her as if she was the celebrity, asking her many questions about her life completely interested in who she is. Great moment. My daughter recollected just now that coach signed a mini basketball for her that night.

Every year on his birthday, someone would wish Coach the Italian birthday greeting Cent' Anni - one hundred years, a wish for a long and happy life.

So close Looie, so close RIP.
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Dana O'Neil's obituary is a must-read.

He looked like everybody’s favorite uncle, a pocket-sized man in a world full of giants, shuffling about in his ugly sweaters. Lovable “Looie,” the king of one-liners and the maestro of the run-on sentence, charmed them all, and as it turns out, snookered them all.

“Looie? Please, he’d start the game with a, ‘Bless you, my son,’ and then add a bunch of words I won’t repeat,’’ former Maryland coach Gary Williams said. “He had a mouth on him. He just made sure everyone knew he went to Mass in the morning.”

 
paultzman said:
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Coach, at the behest of Mike Cragg, was instrumental in influencing Mark to return to campus to be inducted in the SJU Athletic HOF, healing a very old wound and constructing a bridge to rebuild the relationship. Mark, boldly and emotionally, in his acceptance speech, said the reason he was there that night, the reason he became the player he was and the man that he is, was the 97 year old man in attendance at the back of the room. A man who Mark admired and loved, a devout man of faith, who stood for everything the university represents.

No one else on earth but coach C could have achieved that.
 
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