The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1481002
TRACKING THE PACK NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 ■ 19 Joel Justus was hired in June, com- pleting a staff overhaul for men's bas- ketball head coach Kevin Keatts. Justus spent seven seasons on the staff at Kentucky, starting as director of analytics for the 2014-15 season, before moving up to a full-time assistant posi- tion for the last five years of his stint there. This past season, he was an as- sistant at Arizona State for former Duke star Bobby Hurley. The Winston-Salem, N.C., native has an extensive ACC background and also knows the state well. He played colle- giately at UNC Wilmington and started his coaching career at Elon. On growing up the son of former Wake Forest basketball sports in- formation director John Justus and now having an opportunity to be a coach in the ACC: "It really is surreal, and I think that I've been extremely lucky in my life, both as a kid to be a ball boy and the memories. I mean, we could sit here for days and talk about the memories that I had as a young kid, and the bless- ings that my dad's job afforded me as a young kid. "… It's been cool. To drive to work every day and walk through the office and see the different coaches and all the different players that have been in this historic program — it's surreal in a lot of ways. And I don't take that for granted. "I think that I did that for seven years at the University of Kentucky and I re- member, there was always a first time in that first year at Kentucky. I know that I'll have that same feeling this year, that there will be the first time where you say, 'Oh, wow, this is, you know, this is pretty cool.'" On his approach to recruiting: "Well, I think that it's a process, and I learned that from the guys that I worked for, worked with. … When you start in the evaluation process, you've got to know what is the young person's why? What's the family's why? "And then, can we create a situation where it works, because it has to work for every young person and their family, to then move on to the recruiting pro- cess. Once you know that's a good fit, now we're into the recruiting process. "It's about making sure that every- body knows that it's their show, and [understands] the dedication that my- self and our staff as well as our head coach will put forth in order to make sure that we achieve those goals, and we chase those dreams together." On his interest in coaching: "It's just always been in our family. My father's father was a high school coach, a successful high school coach who is in the Ohio High School Hall of Fame. My uncle was a college head coach at the Division III level. " T h e n j u s t b e i n g a ro u n d g rea t coaches as a kid. It was an incredible blessing just to watch people lead young people, and then having great coaches, high school coaches and a phenomenal high school coach that spent a lot of time with me. "I saw the benefits of that, felt the benefits of that. My college coaches were phenomenal. "I knew that when basketball came to an end — and I knew that it was going to come to an end when my college career was over — that I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself, and coaching was going to be that." — Matt Carter Before joining Kevin Keatts' coaching staff at NC State in June, Joel Justus spent a season at Arizona State and seven seasons at Kentucky. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS SITTING DOWN WITH: NC State Men's Basketball Assistant Coach Joel Justus