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Celebrity Participants
P.J. Carlesimo was named Seton Hall University’s “Coach of the Century” (in a landslide over Bill Raftery) for the remarkable job he did leading the Pirates basketball program from 1982-1994. P.J. took a once struggling program to the 1989 NCAA Championship game, in which the Pirates were victimized by a controversial call in the final seconds and wound up losing in overtime to Michigan. He was a two-time Big East Conference Coach of the Year, following both the 1988 season, when he led the Hall to its first ever NCAA tournament appearance, and the 1989 campaign when the Pirates advanced to the national title game. During P.J.’s tenure, Seton Hall advanced to six NCAA tournaments. He served as an assistant coach on the 1992 US Olympic “Dream Team”, which won the gold medal.
Carlesimo moved to the NBA in 1994 to become Head Coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. He led the team to a winning record and the playoffs in his first season as an NBA Head Coach, becoming the first ex-college coach to do so in more than 25 years. P.J. led the Blazers to the playoffs in each of his three years in Portland. He was Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors for two-plus seasons, then moved to San Antonio, where he spent five years as an assistant coach to Gregg Popovich. The Spurs won 3 NBA titles during his time on their bench. After a stint as Head Coach of the Seattle/Oklahoma City franchise, P.J. moved into broadcasting as an analyst for “The NBA on TNT” and for Westwood One’s radio coverage of the 2010 NCAA tournament. In May, Carlesimo joined the staff of the Toronto Raptors as assistant coach under Jay Triano.