Hall of Fame ex-Princeton Tigers coach Pete Carril dies at 92

Pete Carril, the Hall of Fame coach who brought notoriety to the «Princeton Offense» during his 30-year tenure with the Tigers, died Monday morning at the age of 92.

«We kindly ask that you please respect our privacy at this time as we process our loss and handle necessary arrangements. More information will be forthcoming in the following days,» the Carril family said in a statement released by Princeton.

Utilizing a deliberate, clock-draining offense that relied on backdoor cuts and precision passing, Carril led Princeton to 13 regular-season titles in the Ivy League at a time when the conference did not have a postseason tournament. Princeton also won the NIT in 1975, defeating Providence, 80-69, in Madison Square Garden.

But it was the Tigers' memorable March nights in their 11 NCAA tournament berths under Carril that featured the frenzied coach prancing up and down the sideline as Princeton tried to outsmart superior opponents — during upsets and near-upsets on primetime television — that left an indelible mark on college basketball history.

«Anybody can coach basketball. I can tell you that right now. It's not that hard to know about a pick-and-roll, a back-pick, the shuffle-cut, I mean, it's not that hard,» Carril said after he retired. «But what is hard is to see how to develop something, to have an idea how your team is going to play. And that comes under the header of thinking.»

That logic was on display in 1989, in Providence, Rhode Island. As a No. 16 seed, Carril's Tigers took the No. 1 Georgetown Hoyas the distance in a thrilling 50-49 Hoyas' victory that captured the tournament's attention.

In a news conference leading up to the game, the ever-so-realistic Carril, who was never shy to create a laugh for