The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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MAY/JUNE 2026 ■ 29 basketball program, qualifying for five ACC championship games (winning three titles) and capturing the school's first team NCAA title. In the early 1970s, he assembled a powerhouse squad by recruiting in-state superstars Tom Burleson and David Thompson, mixing in three players from his Indiana roots (Monte Towe, Tim Stod- dard and Raleigh native and Vincennes junior college transfer Phil Spence) and adding a splash of New York savvy with Mo Rivers. From 1972-74, Sloan's team won 57 of 58 games, never lost to an ACC opponent and unseated seven-time defending champion UCLA with Bill Walton and head coach John Wooden to win the 1974 national ti- tle. The 1973-74 team was recently named by The Sporting News as one of the top five teams in college basketball history. Sloan coached at the Citadel, Presbyte- rian, Florida (twice) and NC State. He won conference coach of the year honors at every stop. He's in the NC State Athletic, Indiana Basketball and North Carolina Sports halls of fame but, inexplicably, has been shunned by the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, where Case, Jim Valvano and women's basketball coach Kay Yow have been enshrined. Les Robinson (1990-96) No one was more connected to — nor sacrificed more of his pro- fessional reputation for —NC State than Robinson, a native of West Virginia who came to Raleigh to play for Case during what turned into the program's darkest days. A guard of admittedly limited talent, Robinson had his coach- ing career set in motion when Case stepped down for health reasons in December 1964. He served as an assistant under Case's suc- cessor, Press Maravich. But when Maravich left for LSU, Robinson was forced to take a high school coaching job. He returned to college coaching as an assistant at Western Carolina and The Citadel and was eventu- ally named head coach of the military school, the same position Sloan once held. After 11 successful years, he be- came head coach at East Tennes- see State and took the Buccaneers to the NCAA Tournament. When Valvano's career was derailed be- cause of multiple unproven allegations of fraud and point-shaving, the school turned to Robinson to restore trust be- tween athletics and academics. He ac- cepted the challenge, at the cost of his own professional success. After a 20-11 first year and trip to the NCAA Tournament, the NCAA recruiting restrictions imposed on Valvano caught up with Robinson. He had five consecutive losing seasons and opted to resign follow- ing the 1995-96 campaign. Like he always did, Robinson found a new path, becoming athletics director at NC State and again at The Citadel before retiring in 2017. Sidney Lowe (2006-11) A native of Washington, D.C., and graduate of famed DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., Lowe was a beloved figure in the history of Wolfpack athletics, the on-court mastermind of the most improbable championship run in NCAA history. In the title game against Houston, Lowe hit two key jumpers in the second half and played flawlessly against the more athletic Cougars. Lowe spent the next phase of his ca- reer in the pros, playing for five NBA and four Continental Basketball Association franchises and coaching in the league as an assistant and as a head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Vancouver/ Memphis Grizzlies. After Herb Sendek left in 2006, Lowe was selected following a protracted search to take the position once held by Case, Sloan and Valvano. In his first season, Lowe led the Wolf- pack to 20 wins and surprise appearances in the ACC championship game and in the National Invitation Tournament. How- ever, after five consecutive losing seasons in ACC play, only two more wins in the league tournament and no appearances in the NCAA tourney, Lowe's celebrated return to his alma mater came to a close. Justin Gainey (2026-) As a high school player, Gainey won back-to-back state titles at Greensboro Day School and was Robinson's last re- cruit in the class of 1997. He made his mark during his fresh- man season for Sendek, stepping into the starting lineup for 13 games, filling in at point guard for injured teammates and running a five-guard lineup that jelled well enough late in the year to make a run toward the ACC championship. In one of the most remarkable records ever set in tournament history, Gainey played every minute of the Wolfpack's four games in the tournament. Ultimately, State lost to North Carolina in the final game, but Gainey established himself as a reliable and steady player for the next three seasons and served as captain his senior year. He eventually entered coaching after an athletics administrative internship while pursuing his master's degree. Gainey joined Sendek's staff as an assistant di- rector of operations and eventually an as- sistant coach. He spent more than 25 years prepar- ing for his first head coaching job, work- ing at Elon, Appalachian State, Arizona, Marquette (twice), Santa Clara and Ten- nessee. He developed on-court coaching skills, along with a talent for off-court relationship-building and recruiting, in preparation for taking over the program at his alma mater. ■ Sidney Lowe was one of the stars of NC State's fabled 1983 national championship team. He later spent five seasons as the Wolfpack's head coach, during which he compiled an 86-78 record. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.