Luigi P. Carnesecca (born January 5, 1925) is an American retired

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach at St. John's University. Carnesecca also coached at the professional level, leading the

New York Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

for three seasons. Carnesecca was elected to the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...

in 1992. He coached the St. John's basketball program to 526 wins and 200 losses over 24 seasons (1965–70, 1973–92). The colorful "Looie" (as he was popularly known by fans and by the media) reached the post-season in every season he coached the team, including a Final Four appearance in 1985. He was selected as the National Coach of the Year in 1983 and 1985 by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Carnesecca is widely known for his sense of humor and his signature sweaters. In November 2004, St. John's University officially dedicated and renamed the historic Alumni Hall to

Carnesecca Arena Carnesecca Arena (formerly Alumni Hall) is a 6,107-seat multi-purpose arena in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. It was built in 1961 and renamed in honor of Hall of Fame Coach Lou Carnesecca on November 23, 2004. It is the excl ...

Early life and education

Carnesecca attended high school at St. Ann's Academy in Manhattan (now academic and athletic powerhouse

Archbishop Molloy High School Archbishop Molloy High School (also called Molloy, Archbishop Molloy, or AMHS) is a co-educational, college preparatory, Catholic school for grades 9-12, located on on 83-53 Manton Street, Briarwood, Queens, New York. It is part of the Roman C ...

). Upon graduation, he served for three years in the

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, where he served on a troop transport in the

Pacific theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

.Porter, David L. (edito
"Carnesecca, Luigi 'Lou' 'Louie'"
''Basketball: A Biographical Dictionary'',

Greenwood Press Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...

, Westport, Connecticut, 2005, page 70.

Basketball career

Upon discharge from the Coast Guard, he then enrolled at St. John's and graduated in 1950. He also coached his high school alma mater, St. Ann's, where he was succeeded by

Jack Curran John Joseph Curran (September 6, 1930 – March 14, 2013) was an American baseball and basketball coach. Curran was the head coach at Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York. Curran won more basketball and baseball games than any ...

. After beginning his coaching career at St. John's in 1965, Carnesecca jumped to the pro level. He was head coach and general manager of the

for three seasons from 1970 to 1973. The ballclub qualified for the postseason in each of the three campaigns with Carnesecca at the helm. The 1971–72 Nets finished third in the regular season but reached the ABA Finals where they were defeated by the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

in six games. Despite the loss of

Rick Barry Richard Francis Dennis Barry III (born March 28, 1944) is an American retired professional basketball player who starred at the NCAA, American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) levels. Barry ranks among the ...

and a 30–53 record, the Nets edged out the

Memphis Tams Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

for fourth place and the final playoff berth in the Eastern Division in 1972–73.Goldaper, Sam. "Carnesecca Rounds Out Cycle, Returns to Redmen," ''The New York Times'', Wednesday, March 28, 1973.
Retrieved November 30, 2020 Carnesecca announced his return to St. John's on March 27, 1973. He replaced

Frank Mulzoff Frank Mulzoff (August 5, 1928 – November 30, 2017) was an American college basketball player and head coach, both for the St. John's Redmen men's basketball team. College playing career As a 6'3" forward, Mulzoff played basketball collegiatel ...

, his successor from three years earlier who had resigned after a 19–7 campaign. He had two years out of a total of five remaining on his Nets contract in which he was to have received about $200,000 spread over seven years. His $22,000 salary at St. John's meant that he took a financial loss in the transition. He explained, "I've had my whack at pro ball and I'm very happy with it. But when the opportunity arose to return to St. John's, I wanted to go back." Carnesecca was also a longtime announcer for the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

's coverage of the yearly NBA drafts of the 1980s.

Head coaching record

High school

College

ABA

, - , align="left" , NYN , align="left" ,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, 84, , 40, , 44, , .476, , align="center" , 3rd in Eastern, , 6, , 2, , 4, , .333 , align="center" , Lost in ABA Division semifinals , - , align="left" , NYN , align="left" ,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

, 84, , 44, , 40, , .524, , align="center" , 3rd in Eastern, , 19, , 10, , 9, , .526 , align="center" , Lost in ABA Finals , - , align="left" , NYN , align="left" , 1973 , 84, , 30, , 54, , .357, , align="center" , 4th in Eastern, , 5, , 1, , 4, , .200 , align="center" , Lost in ABA Division semifinals , -class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , , , 252, , 114, , 138, , .452, , , , 30, , 13, , 17, , .433

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carnesecca, Lou 1925 births Living people American sportspeople of Italian descent Basketball coaches from New York (state) High school basketball coaches in New York (state) Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees National Basketball Association broadcasters National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame inductees New York Nets head coaches Sportspeople from New York City St. Ann's Academy (Manhattan) alumni St. John's Red Storm baseball coaches St. John's Red Storm baseball players St. John's Red Storm men's basketball coaches United States Coast Guard enlisted United States Coast Guard personnel of World War II