The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1530878
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025 ■ 39 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? join Moore's staff at NC State was too good to pass up. Williams eventually made the decision to return to her home state and embark on the next chapter of her career. "I really credit Coach Moore a lot for me wanting to get into coaching in the first place," Williams said. In only her second season with the program, NC State qualified for its first Final Four in 26 years. She said it was just a matter of time before Moore reached that elusive national semifinal, and the assistant enjoyed playing a role in the run. Williams also had a hand in James' emergence as a national star last year, even though she said the guard does not necessarily need advice on how to score. They both live in the gym, and that mindset drew them together. This year's Wolfpack backcourt is a fun, driven and confident group, and Williams has enjoyed the chance to coach them. "Any time you're a competitive spirit like I am and you get to work with really talented players, it's a whole lot of fun," she said. Williams has learned plenty from Moore during her years with the pro- gram. She praised the Pack's 12th-year head coach for his determination to en- sure that the team is always prepared. From her fellow assistant coaches Nikki West and Brittany Morris, Williams took in important lessons in building bonds with her athletes off the court. During her time back in Raleigh, she has grown not only as a teacher of the game but also as a recruiter. The fact that she returned to the area where she spent most of her life makes the pitch to potential Wolfpack players very simple. Williams can talk about her own over- whelmingly positive experience with the Pack. "Being back at NC State definitely helps with that," she said. "It's really easy for me to sell this, because I've lived it, I loved it, and I did it — not only here, but here for Coach Moore." ■ Three high-achieving contributors to NC State athletics were elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame just before Christmas, adding their names into the archive of top sports figures in the history of the state. Gold-medal winning men's swimmer Cullen Jones, successful track and field and cross country coach Rollie Geiger and pioneering women's ath- letics administrator and coach Nora Lynn Finch were announced as part of the hall's 2025 class that will be enshrined on May 2. They will join recent NC State inductees Bobby Purcell (2021), Torry Holt (2022), Trudi Lacey (2023) and Que Tucker (2024) among the 411 current members of the hall. Jones, an Olympic champion and the first African American swimmer to hold a world record, is a former NCAA champion in the 50-yard freestyle. He has two All-America awards, five individual ACC titles and a bachelor's degree in English. A freestyle sprinter, Jones turned professional after his senior season and eventually settled in Charlotte. He became the most accomplished Black swimmer in the history of the sport, winning gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as a member of the American 4x100-meter freestyle relay team and capturing both individual and relay silver at the London Games four years later. Geiger has won more championships and titles than any coach associated with NC State athletics, with nearly two dozen team, individual and relay na- tional crowns, and 40 ACC team titles in the six varsity sports he has coached (indoor and outdoor men's and women's track and field, and men's and women's cross country). He's been named ACC Coach of the Year 34 times. In nearly 50 years of service, Geiger has built highly competitive programs with a family atmosphere. He will join his wife, Betty Springs, in the NC Sports Hall of Fame, just as he joined her in the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame last spring. Finch was a former four-sport letterwinner at Western Carolina from Henderson, N.C., who had coached against Kay Yow at both Wake Forest and Peace College in the 1970s. Athletics direc- tor Willis Casey hadn't wanted NC State to hire her, but Yow did it any- way. Before long, Finch was a trusted part of the athletics department and someone who pushed women's sports into the national spotlight. She became the women's basketball team's top assistant and for one season served as Yow's co-head coach. In 1984, Casey recommended that Finch become the first chair of the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee, and she has been a major part of the development of the women's game. After 31 years at NC State as coach and women's sports administrator, she went to work as the senior associ- ate commissioner for women's basketball. She retired from that position in 2019. Located in downtown Raleigh, the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame is currently closed for renovation. — Tim Peeler Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. He has been a member of the NCSHOF Board of Directors since 2021. Wolfpack Trio To Enter North Carolina Sports Hall Of Fame Nora Lynn Finch Rollie Geiger Cullen Jones " Any time you're a competitive spirit like I am and you get to work with really talented players, it's a whole lot of fun." Williams