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Princeton University Athletics
Photo by: Beverly Schaefer
Former Princeton Coach Carmody Announces Retirement
June 19, 2019 | Men's Basketball
Bill Carmody, who spent 18 years as a coach at Princeton and won 342 games in 21 seasons as a Division I head coach, announced his retirement from coaching on Tuesday following four years in his most recent role as head coach at Holy Cross.
The Crusaders put together a look back at Carmody's career in announcing his retirement.
"Bill is as great a person as he is a coach," Mitch Henderson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton men's basketball, said. "He taught so many of us how to think about the game, how to see things, and so much of who I am today comes from him. He would never say it, but he has influenced so many of us in such a positive way. He always does the right thing. I am thankful that I was able to learn from him both as a player and as a coach."
Carmody came to Princeton in 1982 and was an assistant coach under Pete Carril for 14 seasons, winning six Ivy League titles during that time, including four in a row from 1989-92, and winning four NCAA Tournament games, including upsetting fifth-seeded Oklahoma State in 1983 and fourth-seeded and defending champ UCLA in 1996.
A New Jersey native and alumnus of Union College in New York, Carmody came to Princeton after a year as head coach at Fulton-Montgomery Community College in New York, four years as an assistant coach at his alma mater Union, and one year as an assistant coach at Providence College under then-future Princeton Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67.
The win over UCLA in 1996 turned out to be Carmody's last win as a Princeton assistant. He took over for retiring head coach Pete Carril, who in 1997 was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and remained as Princeton's head coach for four years, winning two Ivy League titles and making two NCAA Tournaments, including a first-round win in 1998, and making two NITs, winning two games in the 1999 tournament.
Carmody's 1997-98 season was among Princeton's best, as Princeton finished 27-2, was ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation by the AP, earned a fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament, and saw both losses on the season come by single digits, by eight to No. 2 North Carolina in December 1997 in Chapel Hill and by seven in the NCAA second round to fourth-seeded Michigan State, which went on to make the 1999 Final Four and win the title in 2000.
Above: Bill Carmody, center, meets the media during the 1998 NCAA Tournament.
Carmody left Princeton in 2000 to become the head coach at Northwestern, where he remained for 13 seasons and led the Wildcats to four NIT appearances including a 2011 quarterfinal run. He was named head coach at Holy Cross in 2015 and, in his first season, won the Patriot League Tournament and an NCAA Tournament first-round game.
Carmody's Princeton connection included mentoring every coach who went on to follow him in that role through the present. John Thompson III '88 and Joe Scott '87 were assistant coaches under Carmody, while Sydney Johnson '97 played under Carmody both as an assistant coach and head coach, as did Henderson '98, who went on to work with Carmody for 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Northwestern before becoming Princeton's head coach in 2011.
The Crusaders put together a look back at Carmody's career in announcing his retirement.
"Bill is as great a person as he is a coach," Mitch Henderson, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton men's basketball, said. "He taught so many of us how to think about the game, how to see things, and so much of who I am today comes from him. He would never say it, but he has influenced so many of us in such a positive way. He always does the right thing. I am thankful that I was able to learn from him both as a player and as a coach."
Carmody came to Princeton in 1982 and was an assistant coach under Pete Carril for 14 seasons, winning six Ivy League titles during that time, including four in a row from 1989-92, and winning four NCAA Tournament games, including upsetting fifth-seeded Oklahoma State in 1983 and fourth-seeded and defending champ UCLA in 1996.
A New Jersey native and alumnus of Union College in New York, Carmody came to Princeton after a year as head coach at Fulton-Montgomery Community College in New York, four years as an assistant coach at his alma mater Union, and one year as an assistant coach at Providence College under then-future Princeton Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67.
The win over UCLA in 1996 turned out to be Carmody's last win as a Princeton assistant. He took over for retiring head coach Pete Carril, who in 1997 was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and remained as Princeton's head coach for four years, winning two Ivy League titles and making two NCAA Tournaments, including a first-round win in 1998, and making two NITs, winning two games in the 1999 tournament.
Carmody's 1997-98 season was among Princeton's best, as Princeton finished 27-2, was ranked as high as No. 8 in the nation by the AP, earned a fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament, and saw both losses on the season come by single digits, by eight to No. 2 North Carolina in December 1997 in Chapel Hill and by seven in the NCAA second round to fourth-seeded Michigan State, which went on to make the 1999 Final Four and win the title in 2000.
Above: Bill Carmody, center, meets the media during the 1998 NCAA Tournament.
Carmody left Princeton in 2000 to become the head coach at Northwestern, where he remained for 13 seasons and led the Wildcats to four NIT appearances including a 2011 quarterfinal run. He was named head coach at Holy Cross in 2015 and, in his first season, won the Patriot League Tournament and an NCAA Tournament first-round game.
Carmody's Princeton connection included mentoring every coach who went on to follow him in that role through the present. John Thompson III '88 and Joe Scott '87 were assistant coaches under Carmody, while Sydney Johnson '97 played under Carmody both as an assistant coach and head coach, as did Henderson '98, who went on to work with Carmody for 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Northwestern before becoming Princeton's head coach in 2011.
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