The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/337646
JULY 2014 ■ 25 TRACKING THE PACK "If I had stayed in coaching, I would have probably moved all over the country, too. I just never wanted to be anywhere but right here." That's not to say he's a homebody. Purcell travels all over the state, the region and the country visiting donors, maintaining the or- ganization and pitching opportunities to help NC State athletics. He always tries, how- ever, to be back home in the evenings. That was especially important when his children, John and Paige, were competing in youth, middle school and high school activities. He's also even developed his own fund- raising coaching tree. Three of his former assistants are now athletics directors at Di- vision I schools: Jimmy Bass (UNC-Wilm- ington), Joe Hull (College of Charleston) and Karlton Creech (Maine). Former as- sociate director Chris Wyrick was recently named the vice chancellor for university advancement at Arkansas, while Stephen Ponder is a senior executive associate ath- letics director at Mississippi. For the last decade and a half, funds raised by the Wolfpack Club have helped pay for substantial improvements to NC State's athletics facilities, in addition to providing athletics scholarships for more than 600 student-athletes a year. The Wolfpack Club paid for a portion of PNC Arena when it was built in the 1990s and assumed all the debt for the construction of improvements to Carter- Finley Stadium, including Vaughn Towers, the Murphy Center and the North End Zone project to close in that end of the stadium. The stadium is now considered one of the best places to attend a game in the South, thanks to the first-class amenities that were added. The Wolfpack Club is now raising funds for two more important projects, the $14 million indoor football practice facility ad- jacent to Carter-Finley and the athletics de- partment's $20 million commitment to the renovation of historic Reynolds Coliseum, a joint project with the university that will begin next spring with an expected cost of $35 million. Purcell has tucked his lifetime achieve- ment award away, among the many other honors he has received during his career. He's ready to continue with the work and with the people that have got him this far. And when the time comes to retire, he knows how he hopes he will be remembered. "That I deeply cared about each and every donor," Purcell said. "And that I loved this university and the people of this university." — Tim Peeler Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. He can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. T.J. Warren Selected In First Round Of NBA Draft The Phoenix Suns selected NC State star small forward T.J. Warren with the No. 14 overall pick in the first round of the NBA Draft June 26. The 6-8, 215-pound small forward was the ACC Player of the Year after averaging 24.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore during the 2013-14 season. Warren, who was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press, led the ACC in both scoring and field goal percentage (.525). He led the league in the latter category in back-to-back years. Warren, who is from Durham, N.C., was happy about the selection. "I know their style of play," Warren told NBA.com. "They like to get up and down, get transition buckets. They're going to push the tempo up a little bit. I feel like my style of play really fits that." Warren became NC State's first first-round pick since J.J. Hickson in 2008, and the Wolfpack's 16th overall. NCSU head coach Mark Gottfried attended the NBA Draft in support of Warren. The Suns went 48-34 last year under first-year head coach Jeff Hornacek and just narrowly missed the playoffs. A young nucleus returns led by star point guard Goran Dragic, and Warren will have a chance to play right away at small forward. Raleigh native P.J. Tucker started all 81 games last year and averaged 9.4 points and 6.5 rebounds, but he is a restricted free agent. Tucker attended Enloe High, which is the same high school Warren's father, Tony Warren Sr., attended. The Suns brought Warren in for a workout June 5, and then again the week leading up to the draft. "He's got that unique skill of scoring," Hornacek told the team's website. "Watching tape, he's kind of methodical looking, but because of that he knows the great positions. When he makes a move and he sees the opening, then he explodes. He had a couple finishes today where he got hacked pretty good and still was able to be strong enough to finish it off." Warren was the first of three first-round picks for the Suns, who also drafted Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis at No. 18 and shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic of Serbia at No. 27. Warren, the ACC Player of the Year last season, became the Wolfpack's 16th first-round pick in the NBA Draft. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN 14-16,18,20,22,24-25.TTP.indd 25 6/27/14 2:40 PM