RIP Coach Carnesecca

Joe Lapchick to Lou Carnesecca yesterday: "You know Looie, this guy Pitino is pretty damned good."

Looie: "He might even be better than either of us!"

Joe: "Well, turning our program around is pretty amazing, even if we did help to get prayers answered from up here."

Looie: "He keeps this up, maybe he gets a statue, too!"

Joe: "Before that, maybe they move mine indoors. In any case, we're both really happy today."

Looie: "You know, he's Italian! Gus Alfieri's really proud of that."

Joe: "Don’t start, Looie."
 
bamafan said:
Pretty sure Spera was a 6'5 G while Chuck was a 6'11 C
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I've known Chuck since he was in the 7th grade. He was a great kid growing up. We are still in contact to this day.
Chuck was over 7' tall and went to Coach Massimino's camp every summer from middle school through high school
He has two brothers both of whom played D-1 ball as well
Steve was 7' and played for Butch Van Bredda Koff at Lafayette
When Steve was a HS freshman, I was his basketball and football coach
He played tight end. We ran a play we called "Green Giant", where he took 3 steps, button hooked, turned and stretched out on the ground
It was a first down every time we completed the pass
Tommy was 6'10" tall and played at Rutgers
 
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MarkRedman said:
I've known Chuck since he was in the 7th grade. He was a great kid growing up. We are still in contact to this day.
Chuck was over 7' tall and went to Coach Massimino's camp every summer from middle school through high school
He has two brothers both of whom played D-1 ball as well
Steve was 7' and played for Butch Van Bredda Koff at Lafayette
When Steve was a HS freshman, I was his basketball and football coach
He played tight end. We ran a play we called "Green Giant", where he took 3 steps, button hooked, turned and stretched out on the ground
It was a first down every time we completed the pass
Tommy was 6'10" tall and played at Rutgers
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Interesting stuff, Everson seems like a really nice guy on Big East Rewind, Sonny Spera too.

I have a warm spot as their podcast is excellent and they seem genuinely good for St. John's and they loved our little Looie.

Chuck's dad must have been tall too, maybe the Original Green Giant.

Mentioning Massimino, Vacarro's recent Sunday column mailbag mentions it is a travesty Rollie is only in the CBB HoF, not Naismith HoF, and says if Looie is in, Rollie should be too. Rollie's baggage keeping him out??
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
Interesting stuff, Everson seems like a really nice guy on Big East Rewind, Sonny Spera too.

I have a warm spot as their podcast is excellent and they seem genuinely good for St. John's and they loved our little Looie.

Chuck's dad must have been tall too, maybe the Original Green Giant.

Mentioning Massimino, Vacarro's recent Sunday column mailbag mentions it is a travesty Rollie is only in the CBB HoF, not Naismith HoF, and says if Looie is in, Rollie should be too. Rollie's baggage keeping him out??
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Louie is in, not only for his multiple National Coach of the Year awards and exploits at SJU, but because he assisted the growth of basketball throughout the world. He mentored both Antonio Diaz Miguel of Spain and Coach Sandro Gamba of Italy. Both of them are in the Naismith HOF. Louie took both our own SJU teams overseas to Europe 3x, Big East All Star Teams 2x including a US State Department Tour of Angola, Africa during a period of their civil war with S Africa as an attempt to get a cease fire peace deal. Coach Carnesecca also spent many summers in both Madrid and Rome/Florence with Nike Basketball Coaching clinics.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
Interesting stuff, Everson seems like a really nice guy on Big East Rewind, Sonny Spera too.

I have a warm spot as their podcast is excellent and they seem genuinely good for St. John's and they loved our little Looie.

Chuck's dad must have been tall too, maybe the Original Green Giant.

Mentioning Massimino, Vacarro's recent Sunday column mailbag mentions it is a travesty Rollie is only in the CBB HoF, not Naismith HoF, and says if Looie is in, Rollie should be too. Rollie's baggage keeping him out??
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No Rollie's shirttail is keeping him out. ;)
 
Alumni Hall said:
Louie is in, not only for his multiple National Coach of the Year awards and exploits at SJU, but because he assisted the growth of basketball throughout the world. He mentored both Antonio Diaz Miguel of Spain and Coach Sandro Gamba of Italy. Both of them are in the Naismith HOF. Louie took both our own SJU teams overseas to Europe 3x, Big East All Star Teams 2x including a US State Department Tour of Angola, Africa during a period of their civil war with S Africa as an attempt to get a cease fire peace deal. Coach Carnesecca also spent many summers in both Madrid and Rome/Florence with Nike Basketball Coaching clinics.
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No question Looie was an International brand ambassadr extraordinaire for the game of basketball. a true renaissance man. Beyond compare.

Rollie amassed a lot more wins, but also made a lot more enemies and had a bit of baggage besides the shirttails. Funny guy and similar to Luigi with the Italian food stuff. Family atmosphere, and great story tellers.
 
Alumni Hall said:
Louie is in, not only for his multiple National Coach of the Year awards and exploits at SJU, but because he assisted the growth of basketball throughout the world. He mentored both Antonio Diaz Miguel of Spain and Coach Sandro Gamba of Italy. Both of them are in the Naismith HOF. Louie took both our own SJU teams overseas to Europe 3x, Big East All Star Teams 2x including a US State Department Tour of Angola, Africa during a period of their civil war with S Africa as an attempt to get a cease fire peace deal. Coach Carnesecca also spent many summers in both Madrid and Rome/Florence with Nike Basketball Coaching clinics.
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And for coaching the GREAT Rick Barry at the leaky roofed dump in West Hempstead that couldn't pass inspection minus payola in the greatest pro basketball league ever the ABA.
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
Interesting stuff, Everson seems like a really nice guy on Big East Rewind, Sonny Spera too.

I have a warm spot as their podcast is excellent and they seem genuinely good for St. John's and they loved our little Looie.

Chuck's dad must have been tall too, maybe the Original Green Giant.

Mentioning Massimino, Vacarro's recent Sunday column mailbag mentions it is a travesty Rollie is only in the CBB HoF, not Naismith HoF, and says if Looie is in, Rollie should be too. Rollie's baggage keeping him out??
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Chuck's dad was about 6'9". He had white hair and a white beard. Kids referred to him as Santa Claus behind his back
His mom was about 6'2" and was a teacher's aide in the Brentwood School District

I worked for Coach Mass for several years at his basketball camp. He was cut from the same cloth as Looie - a friendly, engaging guy who would give you the shirt off his back. I learned a lot about coaching basketball from him over beers in the late evening. He was an outstanding coach and a better person. Unfortunately, a few years after Nova won the NCAA's in 1985, he decide to chase the money and took over the reins after Tark retired at UNLV. The old adage that it's never wise to replace a retiring legend held true and Rollie's career was never the same. In 2006, after he retired and moved to Florida, he was asked to start an NAIA program from scratch at Northwood University. Among his accolades there were seven Sun Conference regular season titles, nine national tournament appearances including two Final Fours and two national coach of the year awards. Rollie, IMHO, very much deserves to be enshrined in the Naismith HOF. Great coach, great guy!!!!
 
MarkRedman said:
Chuck's dad was about 6'9". He had white hair and a white beard. Kids referred to him as Santa Claus behind his back
His mom was about 6'2" and was a teacher's aide in the Brentwood School District

I worked for Coach Mass for several years at his basketball camp. He was cut from the same cloth as Looie - a friendly, engaging guy who would give you the shirt off his back. I learned a lot about coaching basketball from him over beers in the late evening. He was an outstanding coach and a better person. Unfortunately, a few years after Nova won the NCAA's in 1985, he decide to chase the money and took over the reins after Tark retired at UNLV. The old adage that it's never wise to replace a retiring legend held true and Rollie's career was never the same. In 2006, after he retired and moved to Florida, he was asked to start an NAIA program from scratch at Northwood University. Among his accolades there were seven Sun Conference regular season titles, nine national tournament appearances including two Final Fours and two national coach of the year awards. Rollie, IMHO, very much deserves to be enshrined in the Naismith HOF. Great coach, great guy!!!!
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Exactly what the NY Post Mike Vacarro said, but I didn't think he needed to add if Looie is in then Rollie should definitely be in. Different guys, different circumstances. Looie assistant to a legendary coach and person Lapchick. Looie all his wins at one school in a relatively short span. No scandals. Ambassador for the sport internationally. The best character guy around.

Didn't one of the McClains say Rollie knew he was doing drugs at Nova, high in games sometimes? I think Rollie got into trouble at Cleveland State too.

On the whole over 800 career victories, Rollie belongs. He has a National Championship too.
 
Rollie Massimino belongs in any / every HOF that exists .

He was a great Coach obviously and like Louie , a lovable character

Rollie started the chain of Coaches coming out of Nova , after their 85 National Championship ,

Jay Wright , Steve Lappas come to mind but , I may be missing one or 2 .

He got Ed Pinckney out of the Bronx to Nova . Always thought , Pinckney with Mullin would have been awesome .

The picture of Rollie on the sidelines with the shirt untucked and him jumping up and down is a treasurable memory of the BE in the Legendary days .
 
BrookJersey Redmen said:
No question Looie was an International brand ambassadr extraordinaire for the game of basketball. a true renaissance man. Beyond compare.

Rollie amassed a lot more wins, but also made a lot more enemies and had a bit of baggage besides the shirttails. Funny guy and similar to Luigi with the Italian food stuff. Family atmosphere, and great story tellers.
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Rollie left UNLV on very bad terms. He won't get any HOF votes here.
 
Las Vegan said:
Rollie left UNLV on very bad terms. He won't get any HOF votes here.
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LV , you probably know more of Massimino and his tenure at UNLV than many of the rest of us .
But , there are plenty of Coaches who weren’t Altar Boys during their Careers either but , have been admitted to the HOF .

And , even today , Coaches leave Programa all the time

I doubt Kevin Willard is going to be immortalized at Maryland for leaving there to go to Villanova . He threw out a lot of stuff about how cheap the School was and how it was negating the BB program .

UNLV has almost been as irrelevant as we were in the last few decades , ever since Tark left .

As I said , you being close to the scene out there , know more of whatever bad blood happened with Rollie than we do .

Most of us think , He was as lovable a character as our Louie and a hell of a Coach . Well
nearly as lovable . Hard to top Lou on that level

Thanks for giving a different perspective .
 
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