Hall of Fame coach and basketball innovator and former Sacramento Kings coach Pete Carril has died at age 92, his family announced Monday.
“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 University on Monday.
Carril is known for his 30-year tenure as head coach at Princeton, where he mastered an offense that heavily influenced basketball. “The Princeton offense” was predicated on spacing, back door cutting and overall team movement. This style of offense is now commonplace in the NBA.
Eventually, Carril made his way to Sacramento where he was a mainstay as an assistant coach from 1996 to 2006, helping install his offense that helped make those Kings teams with Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac and other players so dynamic and fun to watch.
A lot of his former players in Sacramento have praised Carril for the impact he had on their careers and on those treams.
Kings’ general manager from 1995 through 2013, Geoff Petrie, played for Carril at Princeton, which explains Carril’s eventually joining the Kings staff after he was done with coaching in college.
Pete Carril could coach the hell out of a back door cut. Would make watching teams score 40-50 points fun.
Almost pulled off the first 16-1 upset in 1989. Beat UCLA in the tournament in 1996 by a crisp score of 43-41. Bruins were defending champions.pic.twitter.com/wg44i4aHsS
— Mid-Major Madness (@mid_madness) August 15, 2022
After enjoying retirement for a few years, Carril eventually rejoined the organization as an assistant during the 2009 season.
Carril was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame back in 1997.
Rest In Peace, Coach Carril.
