Pete Carril, the Hall of Fame coach who brought fame to the “Princeton Offense” during his 30-year tenure with the Tigers, died Monday morning at the age of 92.
“We ask that you, at this time, respect our privacy while we process our loss and take the necessary precautions. More information will be released over the next few days,” the Carril family said in a statement released by Princeton.
Carril used a deliberate offense that relied on backdoor cuts and precision passing to lead Princeton to 13 regular-season Ivy League titles at a time when the conference didn’t have a postseason tournament. Princeton also won the 1975 NIT, defeating Providence 80-69 at Madison Square Garden.
But it was the Tigers’ memorable March nights in their 11 NCAA tournament berths under Carril, during which the frenzied coach pranced up and down the sidelines while Princeton attempted to outwit superior opponents — during riots and near-riots on prime-time television — that left an indelible mark on college basketball.
“Anyone can practice basketball. I can tell you now. It’s not that hard to know about pick and roll, back pick, shuffle cut, I mean it’s not that hard,” Carril said after he retired. “But what’s difficult is seeing how you develop something, having an idea of how your team is going to play. And that falls under the heading of thinking.”
This logic was demonstrated in Providence, Rhode Island in 1989. Seeded at No. 16, Carril’s Tigers took the No. 1 Georgetown Hoyas at a distance in a thrilling 50-49 Hoyas win that captured the attention of the tournament.
In a press conference leading up to the game, the extremely realistic Carril, who was never shy about making his audience laugh, said. “I think we’re a billion to one to win the entire tournament. To beat Georgetown, we’re only 450 million to one.”
ESPN analyst Dick Vitale agreed with his good friend Carril. In a studio segment in Bristol, Connecticut, Vitale made a pre-game promise: “I’ll tell you what, I’m supposed to go home for the weekend. If Princeton can beat Georgetown, I’ll hitch a ride to Providence, which isn’t far from here. I’ll be her ball boy at her next game. And then I’ll change into a Princeton cheerleading uniform and lead the cheering.”
As far-fetched as it was, the Tigers actually led 29-21 at the half, using their patient offense to frustrate a high-profile Hoyas team headed by Alonzo Mourning and coach John Thompson. Despite discrepancies at nearly every position – not to mention a 32-13 advantage from Georgetown led by Mourning’s 13 – the Tigers fought to the end when an anxious Carril huffed and puffed off the bench.
“They kind of lulled us to sleep with the backdoor cuts and the shot clock shutting down,” Mourning said after the game. “As soon as we slipped defensively, they took advantage of it.”
Several more close calls followed in the tournament for the New Jersey school, better known for producing Rhodes Scholars and Pulitzer Prize-winning athletes. In 1990, as the No. 13 seeded against No. 4 Arkansas, the Razorbacks outlasted Carril’s Tigers 68-64.
Losses to Villanova and Syracuse by 10 points combined ensued over the next two seasons as the Tigers continued to dominate the Ivy League only to fail in the NCAA tournament. But Carril’s program finally broke through in 1996 with a March Madness game for the ages.
After winning the Ivy Title in a one-game tiebreak and defeating Penn 63-56 in overtime, Carril told his team he would retire after the NCAA tournament. In fact, after defeating the Quakers, he wrote on a chalkboard in the dressing room, “I’m retiring. I’m very happy.”
A week later, opposite defending champion UCLA, Princeton, again a No. 13 seed, upset the No. 4 Bruins 43-41 in Indianapolis.
“We just knocked down a giant,” Carril said in the postgame interview, letting out a big laugh.
Former UCLA coach Steve Lavin, who was an assistant on the staff in 1996, agreed. “It was,” he said, “one of the most memorable games in NCAA history.”
Indeed, the back and forth of a thrilling NCAA tournament game proved the perfect stage for an exhausted Carril on the bench, his white hair sticking out in every direction, as the Tigers clung to a classic first-round shocker that defined the essence of March madness
Carill, who also coached for a season at Lehigh, finished his collegiate career with a 525-273 record, including 514 wins at Princeton. In 1997, a year after defeating the Bruins, he was inducted into both the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
“Let me just say that nobody ever wants to start out as a Hall of Fame coach or a Hall of Fame physician or anything in the Hall of Fame,” Carill said in his Naismith induction speech in Springfield, Massachusetts. “Nobody ever starts out like that. There are many forces at work and you don’t know where you’re going to end up and you don’t know why it’s happening.
“Princeton has always been halfway decent at basketball. But we’re a national school now as far as basketball goes. And I don’t think anything will happen to change that.”
Carril transitioned to a career as an assistant coach in the NBA, serving three different stints with the Sacramento Kings before retiring in 2011.