Should Louie NOT be in the hall of fame?

Wow, this article by Charley Rosen (who is, in his own way, obsessed with being provocative like many others) really takes Lou Carnesecca to task - it's a serious fightstarter.  For my part, I think Lou is certainly iconic enough and a regular enough winner to merit Hall of Fame induction (also, I don't really take HOF's all that seriously, except for the serious outliers - especially for coaches).  What Rosen writes about Lou in his article, Who should (and shouldn't be) in the Hall of Fame:


While there can be no imaginable objections to the qualifications of the latest round on Hall of Fame inductees, there are several individuals who have already been enshrined who are not worthy of the honor.

These include:

# Lou Carneseca: An unimaginative control freak at St. John's University who stifled the talents of numerous players, Carneseca is in the Hall of Fame for all the wrong reasons. He was a great schmoozer who palled around with the media. He ostensibly ran a clean program — a false notion since many of his players had no-show jobs, and many more were given legal stipends to pay their off-campus housing when their apartments were provided gratis by SJU alums.

Carneseca showed his true colors when he coached the New York Nets in the ABA (1970-73), where he was generally confused and had to be bailed out in key strategic situations by his veteran players. Overall, Carneseca's record with the Nets was 114-134.

Indeed, his only semi-righteous qualification is that he led St. John's into the Final Four. Otherwise, Carneseca was a smiley-faced, gregarious mediocrity.

Back in the day, Coach made a young, unskilled and lonely balla seem like he the only person in the world even if he always dribblin the ball off his leg at Coach's camp.

When the balla was a teen and knew he wudn't BE material despite throwin it down at the Tol, it was Coach who took his time to counsel the balla about his future.

When the balla was a young man and fresh outta the service wit no job, it wuz Coach who say he'd be a ref.

So this writer talk bout a hall fame and who deserve and who dont.

I know of another hall of fame. And Coach gonna go there first class when the time come.

Wow, this article by Charley Rosen (who is, in his own way, obsessed with being provocative like many others) really takes Lou Carnesecca to task - it's a serious fightstarter.  For my part, I think Lou is certainly iconic enough and a regular enough winner to merit Hall of Fame induction (also, I don't really take HOF's all that seriously, except for the serious outliers - especially for coaches).  What Rosen writes about Lou in his article, Who should (and shouldn't be) in the Hall of Fame:


While there can be no imaginable objections to the qualifications of the latest round on Hall of Fame inductees, there are several individuals who have already been enshrined who are not worthy of the honor.

These include:

# Lou Carneseca: An unimaginative control freak at St. John's University who stifled the talents of numerous players, Carneseca is in the Hall of Fame for all the wrong reasons. He was a great schmoozer who palled around with the media. He ostensibly ran a clean program — a false notion since many of his players had no-show jobs, and many more were given legal stipends to pay their off-campus housing when their apartments were provided gratis by SJU alums.

Carneseca showed his true colors when he coached the New York Nets in the ABA (1970-73), where he was generally confused and had to be bailed out in key strategic situations by his veteran players. Overall, Carneseca's record with the Nets was 114-134.

Indeed, his only semi-righteous qualification is that he led St. John's into the Final Four. Otherwise, Carneseca was a smiley-faced, gregarious mediocrity.

Rosen has always hated Louie. Back in 85 - 85 mind you - he wrote an article called "All is not Heavenly at Saint John's" for Sport magazine, the gist of which was that he didn't like Louie, because. The most damning thing in the article was that Ron Stewart was a little disgruntled. Louie was a mediocrity compared to his great contemporaries, but he deserves to be in the HOF, because.

OTOH Rosen's book on Jack Molinas, the Wizard of Odds, is a great read.

these halls of fame are country clubs. 

st john's athletics are a country club.

why shouldn't the face of our country club be in theirs?

Back in the day, Coach made a young, unskilled and lonely balla seem like he the only person in the world even if he always dribblin the ball off his leg at Coach's camp.

When the balla was a teen and knew he wudn't BE material despite throwin it down at the Tol, it was Coach who took his time to counsel the balla about his future.

When the balla was a young man and fresh outta the service wit no job, it wuz Coach who say he'd be a ref.

So this writer talk bout a hall fame and who deserve and who dont.

I know of another hall of fame. And Coach gonna go there first class when the time come.

Well said Choz...