Carril pioneered the so-called “Princeton offense,” an unselfish, pass-heavy style which — despite Ivy League policy of not awarding athletic scholarships — leveled the playing field against teams that were often bigger and more athletic.
Between 1967 and 1996, Carril led Princeton to 514 wins, 13 Ivy League championships, 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament and the 1975 NIT Championship.
Carril’s biggest triumph for Princeton came in 1996, when he led his 13th-seeded Tigers to a win over heavily favored UCLA. After the epic win, a beaming Carril told CBS, “We just knocked off a giant!”
Carril left Princeton after that Cinderella season and spent more than 10 years as an assistant coach in the NBA, primarily with the Sacramento Kings.
Carril was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998.
