John Fanta

College basketball broadcaster and reporter

Lou Carnesecca, a founding father of the Big East Conference and a man who Was St. John’s, not to mention one of the most colorful figures in college basketball history, died Saturday at the age of 99.

Carnesecca, known as “Looie” for his legendary run on the sidelines, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992 and embodies everything the Red Storm and New York City are about.

At the collegiate level, he coached exclusively in Queens and led St. John’s into its golden age. He also did something every New Yorker can appreciate: leading the Red Storm for 24 years without losing a season.

Along with Commissioner Dave Gavitt, he was a central figure in the founding of the Big East and the premier basketball conference’s early years. He led the Johnnies into the league and secured first place in their inaugural season.

In 1984-85, Carnesecca transformed St. John’s from a nationally relevant program to one worthy of college basketball’s biggest stage – the Final Four. The Johnnies, supported by Chris Mullin and Walter Berry, went 31-4, won the conference regular season title with a 15-1 record and reached the national semifinals.

The following season, Walter Berry and the Redmen, as they were then known, won 31 more games and captured the conference regular season and tournament titles. In total, Carnesecca recorded eighteen 20-win seasons, two consecutive 30-win seasons in 1985 and 1986, and averaged more than 20 wins per year throughout his career. Carnesecca was a two-time US Basketball Writers Association Coach of the Year and was named Big East Coach of the Year three times.

Carnesecca finished with 526 wins in 24 seasons at St. John’s, an average of 22 per year. He coached the ABA’s Nets from 1970 to 1973, taking the professional route and coaching the team out of Long Island. But the professional path didn’t appeal to Carnesecca, who amicably parted ways with the organization and then returned to Queens to take over after Frank Mulzoff was fired in 1973.

Carnesecca, the only child of Italian immigrants who owned a grocery store in Manhattan and was told he should become a doctor, instead chose to train as a coach and went to St. John’s University, where he was a member of the Johnnies’ Baseball College in 1949 World Series team. After originally accepting a high school basketball coaching job at St. Ann’s in New York, Carnesecca worked under Joe Lapchick as an assistant at St. John’s from 1958 to 1965 before being given the head coaching job upon Lapchick’s retirement.

Carnesecca retired from coaching in 1992, but maintained an office on the St. John’s campus and worked in the athletic department.

“Looie” embodied passion and was creative to boot. He was known for his colorful sweaters that painted a picture of his love for St. John’s, his love for the Great East, and his love for New York City.

And for that he was loved a thousand times over.

Carnesecca was one of them and a defining coaching figure in basketball history.

John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers sports in a variety of capacities, from broadcasting games on FS1 to serving as lead anchor on the BIG EAST Digital Network to commentating on the Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him at @John_Fanta.

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