Pete Carril, Hall of Fame Coach, to Have Princeton Court Named After Him

The court at Jadwin Gymnasium on the Princeton University campus will be named in honor of Hall of Fame coach Pete Carril this Feb. 21st, prior to the men’s game against Dartmouth.  This is great news and well deserved by an excellent coach.

Many people credit Coach Carril with creating the “Princeton Offense.”  However, I am fairly sure he never set out to create an offense.  He merely set out to figure out the best way to score with the players he had.

One thing that I always saw true about the “Princeton Offense” while playing at Princeton is that the offense was tweaked every single year depending on what our strengths were.  The offense is designed around common basketball theory, such as a lot of motion of both players and the ball, and the strengths of the players on the team versus the other teams.

I like to credit Coach Carril for taking that thought process and developing it into a system over many years.  It is much bigger than just sitting down with a clipboard and drawing up a new offense.

I recently received an email from the Athletic Department looking for stories for a memory book they would like to present to Coach Carril prior to the game.  I have had only one personal encounter with Coach Carril, but it is a memory that sticks with me, so I thought I would share it.

Here is my letter to the Athletic Department.

"The first and only time I ever met or spoke with Coach Carril was when I arrived on campus my freshman fall of 1998.  I walked down to the gym with my mother and stepfather [George], and we ran into Coach.  My stepfather knew Coach Carril from before and spoke with him briefly before introducing me.  It took Coach Carril two seconds to size up my entire existence as a basketball player.

"He turned and looked at the 6’8”, scrawny freshman and said something to the sort of, 'Well, you’re thin, but you have small feet.  I hope you’re quick.  Are you quick?'

"I mumbled something about trying to be quick, and we said our goodbyes.  It was the only time I ever spoke with Coach, and I will never forget it.  Brutal, yet kind, honesty with 100 percent focus on my potential as a Princeton Basketball player."

Conor Neu ‘02