Pete Carril

Personal information
Born	(1930-07-10)July 10, 1930 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 15, 2022(2022-08-15) (aged 92) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Career information
College	Lafayette (1948–1952)
Coaching career	1954–2011
Career history
As coach:
1954–1958	Easton HS (JV)
1958–1966	Reading HS
1966–1967	Lehigh
1967–1996	Princeton
1996–2006	Sacramento Kings (assistant)
2008–2012	Sacramento Kings (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
13× Ivy League champion (1968, 1969, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1989–1992, 1996) NIT champion (1975)
Basketball Hall of Fame
Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

Peter Joseph Carril (/kəˈrɪl/; July 10, 1930 – August 15, 2022) was an American basketball coach. He is best known as head coach of Princeton University for 30 years and for his use of the "Princeton offense". He also coached at Lehigh University and as an assistant with the Sacramento Kings in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Carril was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on July 10, 1930.^[1][2] His father, an immigrant from Spain, was employed as a steelworker at Bethlehem Steel for four decades and brought up his son as a single father.^[2][1]

Carril attended Liberty High School in his hometown,^[3] where he was an all-state selection for Pennsylvania.^[1]

He then studied at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, playing college basketball for the Lafayette Leopards under Butch van Breda Kolff.^[1][2] Carril was honored as a Little All-American during his senior year in 1952.^[2] While at Lafayette, he became a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.^[4]

After graduating from college, he served briefly in the U.S. Army.^[2] He later obtained a M.A. degree in educational administration from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1959.^[1][2]

In 1954, Carril was hired as the junior varsity basketball coach and ninth grade Pennsylvania history teacher at Easton Area High School in Easton, Pennsylvania. Four years later, in 1958, Carril was named the varsity coach at Reading Senior High School in Reading, Pennsylvania, where Gary Walters, the former Princeton Tigers athletic director and earlier Princeton basketball point guard played basketball under him at Liberty High School.^[5][6]

In the 1966–1967 season, Carril was head coach at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

He then moved to Princeton University. In 29 years, he compiled a 514–261 (.663 winning percentage) record.^[7] He is also the only men's coach to win 500 games without the benefit of athletic scholarships for his players.^[8] He won or shared 13 Ivy League championships and received 11 NCAA tournament berths and 2 NIT bids. The Tigers won the NIT championship in 1975.^[7]

Carril's Tigers had the nation's best scoring defense in 14 out of 21 years from 1975 to 1996, including eight in a row from 1988 to 1996.^[9] Games against Princeton were typically low-scoring affairs; for example, the 1990–91 and 1991–92 Tigers are the only teams to hold opponents below 50 points per game since the shot clock became mandatory for the 1985–86 season.^[10] Partly due to these factors, while his Tigers only won three NCAA Tournament games, they were known as a very dangerous first-round opponent;^[11][12] seven of their first round losses were by fewer than ten points.^[13]

In 1989, Princeton took first-ranked Georgetown down to the wire, leading by eight points at halftime before losing 50–49.^[2] Had the Tigers won, they would have been the first #16 seed to defeat a #1 seed since the NCAA began seeding the tournament field in 1979.^[14] Seven years later, Carril's final collegiate victory was an upset of defending national champions UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 1996 by a score of 43–41, in what is considered one of the greatest upsets of all time.^[15][16]

Carill's career collegiate coaching record, including one season at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was 525–273.^[7] He was enshrined in both the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997, following his retirement from Princeton.^[17]

Carril was an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association for 10 years until his retirement in 2006.^[2][18] After Rick Adelman became Sacramento's head coach before the 1998–99 season, Carril helped Adelman install the Princeton offensive game plan and oversaw the Kings' development into one of the NBA's most potent offensive teams. During his tenure, the Kings were noted for their quick-passing offense, as well as their ability to stymie double teaming attempts from their opponents.^[19] In 2007, he volunteered as a coach with the Washington Wizards.^[20] He subsequently rejoined the Kings as an assistant for the 2009 season.^[1]

Carril was married to Dolores Halteman. They had two children: Peter and Lisa.^[2][21] They eventually divorced.^[2]

Carril suffered a heart attack in 2000, which spurred him to quit smoking Macanudo cigars.^[2]

He died on August 15, 2022, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.^[22] He was 92, and suffered a stroke prior to his death.^[2][17]

• Carril, Pete; White, Dan (1997). The Smart Take from the Strong: The Basketball Philosophy of Pete Carril. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-83510-5.

• White, Dan (1978). Play to Win: A Profile of Princeton Basketball Coach Pete Carril. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-683904-0.

• Pete Carril at the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame
• Pete Carril – Basketball-Reference.com NBA coach profile
• Pete Carril – Sports-Reference.com college basketball player profile
• Pete Carril – Sports-Reference.com college basketball coach profile