Louis Orr, former Seton Hall basketball coach, dies at 64

In 2006, after losing by 42 points at home to top-ranked Connecticut, the Seton Hall basketball team bounced back three days later and knocked off 11th-ranked West Virginia. Afterward the Pirates’ soft-spoken head coach began his press conference by citing a quote that he’d turned to for strength.

“I get knocked down,” Louis Orr said, “but I get up again.”

No, despite prevailing opinion at the time, Orr was not drawing on a line from the rock band Chumabwumba’s hit song “Tubthumping.” It was a verse from the Bible, 2 Corinthians 4. Although the source was different, the point was the same: Orr, a man of deep faith, viewed life – and basketball – as a test of resilience.

He died of pancreatic cancer Thursday at age 64, the Syracuse Post-Standard reported. Although he coached the Pirates for just five seasons, they were memorable ones. His 2002-03 squad won eight straight Big East games before getting snubbed by the NCAA Tournament’s selection committee. In 2003-04 the Hall made the Dance, then rallied from 14 points down to beat an Arizona squad that featured four future NBA Draft picks. The aforementioned 2005-06 edition, picked to finish 15th in the Big East’s preseason poll, recovered from two losses of 40-plus points to make the NCAAs – at the time, the only high-major ever to do so.

Orr was fired after that season. Seton Hall was undergoing turmoil in the athletic department at that time, he didn’t see eye-to-eye with the new administration and there were concerns about the program’s trajectory. He left with an 80-69 record in South Orange, and his gentle ways did help the program heal after Tommy Amaker’s tumultuous departure for Michigan in 2001 left an open wound in the locker room. After Orr was ushered out, the Pirates wouldn’t make it back to the Dance for another 10 years. He remains one of just three coaches in Hall history to guide the team to multiple NCAA bids.

In a statement, Seton Hall Athletics mourned the loss of "a true gentleman and a terrific coach."

Two of Orr's players from those years have climbed the college coaching ranks. Former guard Donald Copeland is the head coach at Wagner and former center Grant Billmeier is an assistant at Maryland. Both were assistants at the Hall last season.

"This is a sad moment," Copeland said. "I have always been very appreciative of Coach Orr for his belief in me. My time at Seton Hall was special and has stayed with me today. He is a huge reason for that. I have been able to maintain a good relationship with him after college. He’s always expressed how proud he was of me. I have always expressed how thankful I was of him, more than he knew. He showed me the compassionate side of coaching. He has and always will have a great influence in me as a person, player and now a coach. I am forever grateful to him. He should be celebrated for the great person he was and lives he’s influenced."

In the ultimate show of class, Orr attended Billmeier's Senior Day in 2007, a year after his firing, as a show of support.

"Coach Orr was an incredible man," Billmeier said. "He was extremely selfless and had a terrific basketball mind, but more importantly, he was a great mentor to me and all of my teammates that played for him. Holding us accountable on and off the court was bigger than any win or loss in his eyes."

His impressive basketball life included a standout career as a player at Syracuse, where his No. 55 is retired, and eight seasons as an NBA forward, including six with the Knicks. As a college head coach, he led Siena and Bowling Green to regular-season conference titles and was named Big East Coach of the Year in 2003. His overall coaching record ended up at 201-201.

"Louis had such a major impact on me not just professionally, but personally as well," said Marist head coach John Dunne, an assistant under Orr at Seton Hall who went on to coach Saint Peter's to an NCAA Tournament bid. "Outside of family, there are very few people who have had as much of a positive influence on my life for the better, and Lou was one of them. He was special and will be deeply missed."

In 2017 Orr reunited with old Knicks friend Patrick Ewing as a member of Ewing’s staff at Georgetown and helped the Hoyas win the 2021 Big East Tournament title. Whenever they faced Seton Hall, Orr gave a warm pregame welcome to everyone he knew who will still associated with the program, and invariably they'd say the same thing about him: What a nice guy.

Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Louis Orr: Former Seton Hall basketball coach, dies at 64