The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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80 ■ THE WOLFPACKER ■ PACK PAST life. I want [my players] to understand that someday the cheering is going to stop. My job is to prepare them for that. When you get your first job at IBM, they don't say, 'Here comes No. 10, at left desk.'" • On his five years at Iona, the small Christian Brothers schools in New Ro- chelle, N.Y., where he guided the Gaels to 31 consecutive conference wins, two conference championships and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances while serving as men's basketball coach and ath- letics director: "The last time they had won anything up there was during the French and Indian War." • On the way home, he told Mari, with a much more reflective tone: "I thank God my path and the paths of the kids at Iona crossed. We enjoyed highs together, and we suffered through some lows together. Five years ago, we wouldn't have had two people at a Chamber of Commerce dinner. Wednesday night, we had a houseful. Iona went far beyond everyone's expectations. They'll still have a great team this year, but when you think about it, the coach — me — is bigger than the program. "Here, the program is bigger than the coach. I had to think of the future. The trend toward league play will hurt Iona. After this year, the NCAA has a rule that states that to qualify for an NCAA bid, a team must face every team in its confer- ence. Do you think Army will want to face Iona? Of course not. "Look at St. John's and Syracuse. Do you think those schools — the so-called big boys — want to play little Iona? No, they don't. So they go into the Big East. "What's going to happen to Iona after this year? Will they go independent? If they do, will they get a bid? Sure — if they win 22-23 games. The five-year program there is over, and now everybody know how good Iona is. "But at 34, I wanted to coach. As athlet- ics director at Iona, I was getting bogged down in swimming problems and football helmets. Here, I was told I would coach a long time and that made me feel good." • On his enjoyment of the game: "I work 365 days for 30 nights. They're special to me. To me, the greatest thing in the world is being introduced and running from the bench to mid-court before the game." • And on coaching in the shadow of Dean Smith at North Carolina, something that grated at Sloan, Duke's Bill Foster and others who never got to share the same spotlight as the Tar Heels Hall of Fame coach: "Shadow? I'm 34 years old, have respect for everybody, but I won't live in anyone's shadow. I look forward to meet- ing him on the court, but I'm not worried about it. And I'll tell you one more thing — I'm going to outlive him." It might have been the biggest laugh line of the day. And, in retrospect, the saddest. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. He can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. McLamb, Yeager & Johnson, P.A. Certified Public Accountants William R. McLamb. CPA NCSU 1974 Joyce L. Yeager, CPA Samuel J. Johnson, CPA NCSU 1995 Tax Planning and Preparation Estate Planning Accounting and Consulting for Small Businesses 3200 Fairhill Drive Raleigh, NC 27612 (919) 881-0057 www.mclambcpa.com MY & J Wolfpack Watches ON SALE NOW! plus FREE shipping A great holiday gift idea! Visit ouR onlinE stoRE theWolfpackeronline.com order online or call us: 1-800-421-7751 Prior to arriving at NC State, Valvano guided Iona to 31 consecutive conference wins, two confer- ence championships and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in his five seasons in charge. PHOTO BY GREG HATEM