Carril X's and O's Spread by Heads of His Class by Erik Brady, USA TODAY They Are the Crown Princes of Princeton
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Powered by SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Carril X's and O's spread by heads of his class By Erik Brady, USA TODAY They are the crown princes of Princeton. Yet they travel a hard road. Four of Pete Carril's former assistants at Princeton have gone on to become Division I head coaches. By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY Bill Carmody, John Thompson III, Joe Scott and Chris Mooney learned their backdoor cuts while playing or coaching for Pete Carril, the Zen master of what is now commonly called the Princeton offense, a term casual basketball fans think they know the meaning of, without really knowing it at all. Carmody, Thompson, Scott and Mooney are head coaches of Division I men's basketball teams, spreading the word of King Carril to campuses across the land. Carril is a King both as an assistant coach with Sacramento and as the creator of a basketball belief system that revolves around passing, cutting and reading defenses. These days lots of teams run some version of it, but these four college coaches run variations of what can fairly be thought of as the genuine article, because they have lived it for most of their basketball lives. Their ties run deeper still, into shared coaching experiences and career moves that often opened doors for one another, putting them where they are today. Carmody, 53, leads Northwestern. Thompson, 38, runs the family store at Georgetown. Scott, 39, pilots the mother ship at Princeton. And Mooney, 32, flies with Air Force. Their jobs are difficult. Northwestern is a traditional doormat of the Big Ten. Georgetown fell on hard times in the Big East after John Thompson Jr. retired; now the son is asked to bring back the glory days. Air Force, like other service academies, has stringent entry standards. And expectations at Princeton, the house that Pete built, are always sky-high. No wonder these four form a mutual support system. They talk often by telephone. They watch tapes of each other's games. And they trade ideas on how best to tweak the system that is their common heritage. The one thing they won't do is play each other — unless, of course, it happens beyond their control some day in the NCAA tournament. "And that would be OK," Thompson says, "because it would mean two of us were having very good years." Carril coached 29 seasons at Princeton. His valedictory came in his next-to-last game, when Carril's undersized Tigers upset defending champion UCLA in the first round of the 1996 NCAA tournament. The winning last-second basket came on Princeton's signature play — a pretty backdoor layup, as if this were a morality play with X's and O's. Carmody, Scott and Thompson were all assistants on that team. "The idea of three guys from one staff becoming head coaches, that's highly unlikely," says Penn coach Fran Dunphy, who has coached against each during his 15-plus seasons at the Ivy League rival. "They were well-schooled by Pete, but they all bring their own personalities to it." After a second-round loss in that 1996 NCAA tournament, Carril retired from Princeton but quickly joined the NBA, where the old master works for Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie, one of his former players. Carmody succeeded Carril; Scott and Thompson stayed on as his assistants. Then in 2000 Scott was hired at Air Force (where he took on Mooney as an assistant) and Carmody at Northwestern. Thompson succeeded Carmody. The final dominoes fell into place last spring: Thompson left Princeton for Georgetown, Scott left Air Force for Princeton and Mooney moved up to head coach at Air Force. "They're all doing good jobs," Carril says. "Billy is doing well at Northwestern, considering. John is bringing them back at Georgetown. Joey is trying to keep up to where it's been at Princeton. And Moon is doing a good job at Air Force. I'm proud of all of them. They've got nice jobs. Not easy jobs. I'll be the first to tell you that." 'No competition among us' The four coaches call each other often. They are friends, colleagues, peers. "They're not just my friends," Thompson says. "They're guys whose opinions I trust. I want them all to have success. They want the same for me." "We share a common history and a belief in the same things," Scott says. "There is no competition among us," Mooney says. "We call each other for encouragement, to share ideas and to help each other out." Carril sometimes calls, too, typically after wins. Others have loosened that rule. "We used to have a thing where we never called after a loss," Carmody says, laughing, "but we had to change it or no one would ever talk to me." Actually, Scott is having the toughest season. Princeton (10-9) blew an 18-point lead in the last 7½ minutes Tuesday and lost an overtime heartbreaker to rival Penn to fall to 1-4 in the Ivy League, its worst start since 1978-79. That probably eliminates the last-place Tigers from the NCAA tournament already. The Ivy League has no postseason tournament, and no Ivy team has won the championship with as many as four losses in 18 years. "This is a traumatic loss," Scott told reporters after the collapse. "Right now it's hard to see a glimmer of light." Wednesday morning he could begin to see a glimmer. "All you can do at a time like this is work your way out of it," Scott said. "That's what we're going to do. That's where we're at." Scott says he got a call from Carril a week ago. "He told me to hang in there." Carmody's Wildcats improved to 11-11 (4-6 Big Ten) with Wednesday night's 55-53 win at Minnesota. Carmody's best records at Northwestern are 16-13 overall three seasons ago, 8-8 in the Big Ten last season. That might not sound impressive, but Northwestern was 0-16 in the Big Ten the season before Carmody arrived. Carmody was voted Big Ten coach of the year last season, the first Northwestern coach to win it in the award's history. "We're making some strides," he says. "There's lots of room for improvement." Thompson is 15-6 (7-3 Big East) at Georgetown, which has reached the NCAA tournament once since the 1996-97 season. Georgetown went to 20 NCAA tournaments under Thompson's father, who won a national championship and almost 600 games in 27 seasons. Thompson is in the unique position of having a branch on two family coaching trees: Carril's and his father's. "I was shaped as a person by Pops and as a player by Coach," he says. "I am part of the Princeton tradition and the Georgetown tradition. It's who I am." Last season Thompson's Princeton team and Scott's Air Force team made the NCAA tournament. It was Princeton's 23rd NCAA tournament — and Air Force's third, but first since 1962. Scott led the Falcons to the best record in their history (22-7) and was Mountain West coach of the year. Princeton Pupils Bill Carmody Born: Dec. 4, 1951. Alma mater: Union College, 1975. Record at Princeton (1996-2000): 92-25, 50-6 Ivy League. Record at Northwestern (2000-present): 64-75, 22-49 Big Ten. Family: Wife, Barbara; two sons. Notable: Voted by peers as one of five coaches they'd like to see give a clinic. On his mentor, Pete Carril: "He's a real basketball guy. The Princeton offense is basketball the way he thinks it should be played." Joe Scott Born: July 28, 1965. Alma mater: Princeton, 1987. Record at Air Force (2000-04): 51-63, 21-35 Mountain West. Record at Princeton (2004-05): 10-9, 1-4 Ivy League. Family: Wife, Leah; two sons. Notable: Graduate of Notre Dame Law School in 1990. On Tuesday game at Penn, in which Tigers lost 18-point second-half lead: "We have a veteran team. I never thought I'd have to worry about (losing leads) the last five minutes. We played 33 minutes that were great. Now we have to rebound from this and build on the good things. We're going to do that." Chris Mooney Born: Aug. 7, 1972. Alma mater: Princeton, 1994. Record at Air Force (2004-05): 15-8, 6-2 Mountain West. Family: Wife, Lia. Notable: At 32, fourth-youngest coach in Division I; Division III head coach at 25, high school coach at 22. On how the Princeton offense produces more than points: "It creates a strong feeling among teammates. There is so much trust." Now Scott is happy to be back home. "Princeton is a special place," he says, "with a special basketball tradition." Mooney swears by that tradition. "Playing basketball at Princeton was the most important thing in my life," he says. "I learned so many things, and style of play was the least important." Air Force is 15-8 (6-2 Mountain West) under Mooney. It is harder to recruit at a service academy than at many other schools, but Mooney sees that as a plus. "It requires a kid to be special," Mooney says. "I'm all for it. When the job is harder, the reward is greater." Family tree has wide branches Princeton athletics director Gary Walters hired Carmody to replace Carril, Thompson to replace Carmody and Scott to replace Thompson.