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Princeton University Athletics
Pete Carril to Receive Lapchick Award
August 18, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Princeton's Hall of Fame former men's basketball coach Pete Carril was chosen as one of three recipients for the 2011 Joe Lapchick Character Award to be presented Nov. 17 at Madison Square Garden.
Though the details of Carril's career are quite familiar to Princeton fans, here is what the organization's release had to say about the legendary coach:
"Carril, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1998, was the coach whose teams ran the backdoor cut to such efficiency that the Ivy Leaguers were able to scare some of the nation's top programs in the NCAA tournament time and again. The Tigers finally pulled off the big upset by beating defending champion UCLA in the opening round in 1996.
"That was the last of Carril's 514 wins at Princeton, a 29-year run that included 13 Ivy League titles and 11 NCAA tournament appearances. He coached for one season at Lehigh."
Longtime coaches are a theme for the 2011 award, as Jim Phelan, who coached Mount St. Mary's for 49 seasons, and Debbie Ryan, the Mercer County native who headed Virginia's women's team for 34 years, will join Carril in receiving this year's award.
The Lapchick Award, which seeks to recognize coaches who display character traits in the manner of Lapchick, who coached St. John's and the New York Knicks, was first awarded in 2008. The honor has previously recognized nine other coaches from men's and women's college and high school basketball. John Thompson, the father of current Georgetown coach and Princeton alumnus John Thompson III '88, won the award in 2009.
For more information on the Lapchick Award, click here.