Carril remembered on Princeton’s campus
PRINCETON » From the instant Princeton announced the passing of legendary basketball coach Pete Carril, one thing became abundantly clear.
The Hall of Fame coach’s legacy on the game will live forever.
“It is difficult for me to put into words the impact that Coach Carril has had on my life and on the lives of the hundreds of others who were fortunate enough to have crossed paths with him,” Princeton’s current coach Mitch Henderson said in a series of tweets on Tuesday. “While his impact on the game of basketball is immeasurable and his long lasting Princeton offense will live forever beyond him, it is how he touched so many people on a personal level that will be his greatest legacy.”
Henderson played for Carril in his first two years as a player at Princeton. It was Henderson whose iconic leap and celebratory fist pump was captured by photographers and blast around the country on the front pages of newspapers after the Tigers stunned UCLA, 43-41, in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament in what ended up being the last of Carril’s 514 wins at Princeton.
“Coach taught me that keys in life were to be unselfish, to value the team over the individual, to understand that there is no substitute for hard work and to never limit yourself in what you think you can accomplish,” Henderson said. “I speak for everyone who has ever been associated with Princeton basketball when I say that we love Coach, we learned lessons from him that we use every day and we will never forget him.”
Henderson’s teams play with the same principals Carril taught. His off-ball motion, screens and backdoor cuts became so synonymous with Princeton that it was dubbed the Princeton Offense. Those concepts are now part of every level of basketball — from youth teams all the way up to
the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
Henderson is one of six Division I head coaches who played for Carril. The others are Henderson’s best friend Brian Earl (Cornell), Mike Brennan (American), Brian Kennedy (NJIT), Chris Mooney (Richmond) and Joe Scott (Air Force).
A 1997 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Carril coached Princeton for 29 years where he guided the program to 514 wins, 13 Ivy League championships and 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Henderson shared an appropriate image later on Tuesday: the massive video board at Jadwin Gymnasium, where the court is adorned with Carril’s signature, and on it a picture of Coach.
“Great shot of Jadwin today,” Henderson wrote.