![]() ![]() ![]() “I know later in life he didn’t like hearing those stories and regretted some elements of how he treated some players,” said Levy. Both felt fortunate to have played for the coach despite his difficult demands. Levy and Mike Brennan ’94 got together in a Jersey shore bar last week to reminisce. Upon his death, former players have been reacting to and reaching out to each other to share memories. No one, though, did it quite like Carril. Carril’s signature motion offense and its principles remain popular in high school and college basketball - and even at the NBA level. Every coach who has followed Carril at Princeton either coached with him or played for him, but his influence extends beyond Jadwin Gym. Henderson is part of a flourishing coaching tree that currently includes six Division I head coaches. ![]() “It was such a gift to have access to him all the time,” Henderson said. It made you think you had a chance.”Ĭarril went on to be an assistant coach for 10 seasons for the Sacramento Kings in the NBA, but he still had a presence at Princeton following his retirement, when he evolved from a coach with a hard-driving reputation into more of a kindly mentor. “You fight like hell and have a good plan, and just have to do it every single time. “We always felt that five guys playing together was going to beat teams more dominant on individual stuff,” said former player Howard Levy ’85, now the head coach at Mercer County Community College. He retired after a 43-41 win over defending NCAA champion UCLA on a signature play of what by then had become known as the “Princeton offense”: Gabe Lewullis ’99’s backdoor layup in the waning seconds of the first round of the 1996 NCAA tournament. Under Carril’s direction, Princeton became the Cinderella squad that no one wanted to play. “It’s not ‘hate to lose.’ You want guys who play to win.” “Play to win - he defined it,” said Air Force head coach Joe Scott ’87, who also coached at Princeton and Denver. At a time when college basketball competition was deepening nationwide, Carril found a way for his Princeton teams to compete with big-conference, scholarship schools. “And the level of excellence that was expected of you, and the level of giving and sacrifice that was expected of you as a player, that understanding, that carries over.”Ĭarril’s Princeton teams won 514 games, captured 13 Ivy League championships, won the 1975 NIT championship when that was a big deal, and made 11 NCAA tournament appearances. “The guys that played for Coach will never ever have a more demanding boss in their lives,” said John Thompson III ’88, who was head coach of Princeton and Georgetown. Carril’s style had his players prepared for most anything that competition and life could bring. Wintle in the early 1900s), and Carril would go on to create winning teams by teaching a brand of play that relied on teamwork, fundamental skills, patience, and precision. Carril’s high school coach had first shared the poem with him (it was written by Walter D. ![]() The poem was a favorite of Pete Carril, the Hall of Fame former coach of the Tigers for 29 years who died earlier that morning at age 92. If you think you are outclassed, you are If you’d like to win, but you think you can’t, The Princeton men’s basketball players stood in a circle around the Carril Court lettering on Jadwin Gym’s floor as head coach Mitch Henderson ’98 read a poem Aug. ‘You fight like hell and have a good plan, and just have to do it every single time,’ said Howard Levy ’85 ![]()
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