Delt receives Pete Newell Career Achievement Award

[NebraskaDelt]

Pete Carril (Lafayette College, 1952)

Carril to Receive Pete Newell Challenge Career Achievement Award


OAKLAND—Hall of Fame coach Pete Carril, the winningest coach in Ivy League history and one of the most respected coaches and teachers in the history of basketball, has been chosen to receive the 2005 Pete Newell Challenge Career Achievement Award, for significant contributions to the game of basketball.

Carril will receive his award from Pete Newell at the ninth-annual Pete Newell Challenge Presented by TicketsNow, which is set for Wednesday, Dec. 21, at The Arena in Oakland. In the first game of the college basketball doubleheader, starting at 5:30 p.m., East meets West as Princeton takes on Stanford. In the second game, at approximately 8 p.m., Big East newcomer DePaul plays Cal.

Carril, 75, retired from college coaching after 29 years as head coach at Princeton, following the 1995-96 season. His final victory may have been his most memorable—a 43-41 upset over defending national champion UCLA in the first round of the 1996 NCAA Tournament, in Indianapolis. The winning basket in the final seconds came on a patented Princeton back-door layup.

Since leaving Princeton, Carril has been an assistant coach for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings for the past eight years, serving under president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie, who he recruited and coached at Princeton.

During his 29 seasons at Princeton, Carril compiled a record of 514-261 (.663), including 13 conference titles, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and the 1975 National Invitation Tournament championship. Princeton is the only Ivy League school ever to win the NIT.

Carril had just one losing season as coach of the Tigers. His overall record as a college head coach, including one season at Lehigh, was 525-273 (.657).

Carril remains the only Division I head coach to ever reach the 500-victory plateau without benefit of athletic scholarships, which are not offered in the Ivy League.

The 5-foot-6 Carril played basketball at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., graduating in 1952, for Bill (Butch) van Breda Kolff, who he later succeeded as head coach at Princeton.

“It’s nice to be acknowledged by someone who has done so much for the game,” said Carril about receiving the Newell award. “I still enjoy the game, and I love coaching basketball. If my health holds up, I hope to keep doing it.

“To this day, it’s hard for me to walk by any gym and not go inside to find out what’s going on.”

Said Newell of Carril: “He’s an icon in basketball. His style may be a little different, but the type of basketball he teaches has stood the test of time—sound fundamentals, constant movement, cutting, screening and overall team play. It’s the way the game was meant to be played.”

Past winners of the Pete Newell Challenge Career Achievement Award are: Franklin Mieuli (2004), Al Attles (2003), Jud Heathcote (2002), Earvin (Magic) Johnson (2001), Oscar Robertson (2000), Hank Luisetti (1999) and Jerry West and Dean Smith (1998).