The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1436409
TRACKING THE PACK JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 ■ 15 What did you get from Christmas? A Gift: You Can Give Without Loving — but, you can't love without giving. By Former NC State Swimming Coach Don Easterling No member of Kevin Keatts' staff has been working with the fifth-year NC State men's bas- ketball head coach longer than Pat Murphy. Murphy has been Keatts' strength coach since day one at UNC Wilmington and made the move to Raleigh when Keatts was hired in March 2016. How did you become a strength coach? "For the lack of a better way of saying it, it liter- ally fell into my lap. "I had a real good relationship with my strength coach — it was actually better than I thought it was — when I was playing baseball at Wilmington. "Everybody that plays any college sport at a high level, they all think they are going to go pro. I wasn't much different, so I had all my eggs in one basket. I had a few workouts after the draft but nothing materialized. I really had no idea what I was going to do at that point. "My coaching staff put me in touch with some alumni that were in sales on the medical side of things, stuff like that. Out of nowhere, my strength coach called me and said, 'Hey, why don't you be my assistant?' "At the time, it was a part-time job. I took it thinking it was just going to bridge the gap to something else when another door would open up. That was the fall of '04. Here we are and another door never opened, or if it did open, I shut it." How did you and Kevin Keatts connect? "Coach inherited me, really. I was an assistant for three years at Wilmington, and then my men- tor left and they hired me as the head [strength coach]. I was probably in my eighth or ninth year as the head when Coach got there. "There was a little bit of uncertainty whether he was going to retain me. Ask him that question, did he have a chance to run me off or did they tell him, 'He's our guy so you better learn to like him?' "I reached out to him very early on, before he got there, and introduced myself over the phone. We scheduled a sit-down when he first got to campus at Wilmington. I'd like to believe we hit it off and our ideas were definitely aligned. "That was it. Obviously, we had a really good stretch, and we were able to transform some bodies. I guess the rest is history, and now here I am as one of his longest-tenured guys. "Travis Hackert, Takayo Siddle, Thomas Carr and myself were all in that first group that were at Wilmington together and came to Raleigh, and ev- erybody kind of fell off, but here I am hanging on." Do you ever make it out to Doak Field to watch Pack baseball? "Every chance I get. I have known Coach [Elliott] Avent since high school. He didn't recruit me, but he recruited a few of my teammates. We were a baseball hotbed. "I live and breathe baseball. Every chance I get to be around the game, I'm there. I'm grateful and extremely fortunate for the position I do have, but I'd be lying if I said I don't miss being around the game. "I take my son and daughter out to games. I enjoy talking it up with Coach Avent. Probably my closest friend on the strength staff is Gabe But- ton, the baseball strength coach." Did you think they were going to win it all at the College World Series? "No doubt, they had all the juice going. I'm not just saying that because I am supposed to say that. I truly believe that. Baseball is a game of momentum, and they had it, all of it. "It broke my heart to see that happen to those kids." Who is your favorite baseball team? "I'm a diehard Yankees fan. I was born in Brook- lyn. A lot of my family is still up there." — Matt Carter SITTING DOWN WITH: Head Men's Basketball Strength & Conditioning Coach Pat Murphy Murphy is in his seventh year serving as Kevin Keatts' strength coach, a partnership that dates back to their time at UNC Wilmington (2014-17). PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS Scan This Code To Order At Amazon: For nearly four decades, Coach Don Easterling has written a special message for Christmas. His warmth and humor has touched the hearts of thousands across the nation who have read his words over the years. This updated collection includes 220 pages and can be found online at Amazon, Walmart.com and BarnesandNoble.com. (Softcover and ebook available).