Plea for a Carril Classic
By: Bob Nuse
There are some things you just know won’t happen.
This week there has been a steady stream of emails coming into the office with matchups for college basketball tournaments.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. The 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. The Blue Ribbon Challenge.
These events bring together teams from all over the country, playing at regional sites with some eventually leading to a championship game. Others are just round-robin events, some played at different venues.
All of these events bring about the time for another plea for the Pete Carril Classic. The legendary former Princeton University men’s basketball coach deserves the honor of having an event named after him.
There are currently six Division I schools with head coaches who either played for or coached with Carril while he was at Princeton. Former assistant Bill Carmody, who took over for Carril at PU then left for Northwestern and has been with the Wildcats for seven seasons. John Thompson took over for Carmody and coached the Tigers for four years before heading to Georgetown. Former Tiger Joe Scott was the head coach at Air Force after leaving to come back to PU, where he spent three years as the head coach before leaving for Denver. Former player Sydney Johnson is now at Princeton, taking over for Scott after a stint as an assistant at Georgetown. Former player Chris Mooney is the head coach at Richmond, while former player Craig Robinson is the coach at Brown.
All six have a tie to Carril. Chances are good that all six got into coaching at least in part because of the influence of Carril. But would all six get together for a one-day basketball showcase honoring him?
Doubtful.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t dream.
Imagine a Saturday in late November or early December at Jadwin Gym with a basketball tripleheader honoring Carril. Three games over eight hours where basketball purists can watch the game the way it should be played. Coaches by individuals who learned from the best.
The day would start with a 2 p.m. tip-off at Jadwin featuring Mooney’s Richmond team against Robinson’s Brown team. Two former PU players who learned the coaching trade from former Carril assistants. Mooney was an assistant under Scott at Air Force, then was head coach of the Falcons for a year before heading to Richmond in the Atlantic 10. Robinson coached under Carmody at Northwestern before taking over at Brown last year.
At 4:30 p.m., Game Two of the tripleheader tips off when Carmody’s Northwestern team takes on Scott’s Denver team. The two coaches were assistants under Carril and Scott was Carmody’s No. 1 assistant while he was at PU. Carmody has been an Ivy League and a Big Ten Coach of the Year. Scott was a national Coach of the Year candidate at Air Force.
Then at 7 p.m., the feature matchup of the day. A rematch of the game that put PU on the national map. Princeton against Georgetown. The Hoyas have once again become a national power under Thompson, the former PU head coach whose father first led Georgetown to national prominence. Princeton is now coached by Johnson, an assistant at Georgetown under Thompson and a three-time captain while he was a player at PU.
Three games. A full day of college basketball the way it was meant to be played.
Do you think the fans would turn out? Of course.
Would television rush to show these games? Of course.
Would the six coaches ever agree to get together and do it? No way.
It’s doubtful any of them would ever want to coach against the other, although PU and Brown are in the same league and play twice every year.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t at least dream for a day what it would be like.

