The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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86 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY TIM PEELER H ere's how well things are going for Vinny Del Negro right now: He's a legend living in Paradise. For the record, after two successful stints as an NBA head coach, the former first-team All-ACC guard and 1987 winner of the Ev- erett Case Award as the ACC Tournament's Most Valuable Player has moved back to the home he shares with his wife in Paradise Valley, Ariz. At this year's ACC Tournament, 28 years after he led NC State to its last conference championship, he'll represent the Wolfpack as its ACC Legend, joining one player or coach from each conference school at the popular Friday luncheon in the grand ball- room of the Greensboro Sheraton Four Sea- sons. He'll also be the featured speaker at the annual Wolfpack Club Breakfast of Champi- ons at 9 a.m. at the Sheraton. "It's something I'm really looking forward to, representing NC State for the weekend and returning to the ACC Tournament at- mosphere," Del Negro said. "Though being named a legend might just be another sign that I'm getting old." Del Negro, 48, is back behind the micro- phone as a television analyst for TNT in At- lanta, the primary carrier for NBA basketball. He also does a regular radio show about the league on Sirius XM and travels the country as a motivational speaker, sharing what he learned in college under the late Jim Valvano and from his 12-year NBA playing career. It's been almost two years since Del Ne- gro was let go by the Los Angeles Clippers, after a regular season in which the team set a franchise record for wins and made its second consecutive playoff berth under Del Negro. In Del Negro's three seasons, the hard-luck Clippers went from perennial laughingstock to one of the best teams in the NBA. In his first season, he coached NBA Rookie of the Year Blake Griffin, though the Clippers fin- ished with a losing season. The next two years, after the arrival of all- star guard Chris Paul, the Clippers not only made the playoffs but in 2013 set a franchise record with 56 victories, the only 50-win season in the team's history. But after a first- round NBA playoff exit and rumors that Paul was unhappy under Del Negro, the coach's contract was not renewed, while Paul negoti- ated a contract extension. Overall, Del Negro posted a 128-102 re- cord with the Clippers and an 86-90 record in two seasons with the Chicago Bulls. He left Los Angeles with the highest winning percentage of any coach in franchise history and is the only coach to lead the Clippers to consecutive winning seasons. While Del Negro went from player to tele- vision analyst to front office to head coach during his career arc, he considers himself a coach at heart. "I want to go back into coaching," Del Ne- gro said. "What I enjoy most is teaching the game and seeing players develop. "We were successful in both Chicago and with the Clippers, and I think there is still a lot of support if the right situation comes along." Del Negro's current duties allow him to travel back to Raleigh, where he went from "Skinny Vinny," a bench player who didn't make a lot of on-court contributions in his first two and a half years, to one of the best guards in the ACC. His is exactly the kind of story that rarely happens today in the im- patient world of college basketball, with the play-now, go-early mindset of the game's best players. He's always bided his time and waited for the right opportunity, whether it was wait- ing until midseason in 1987 to emerge as a go-to player or whether it was spending sev- eral seasons playing overseas in Italy before returning to the NBA's San Antonio Spurs for the best years of his playing career from 1992-98. Del Negro came back to Reynolds Coli- seum in October to participate in Throw- back with the Pack, an exhibition game with former players from across the decades. Still lean and lithe, he made jumpers from the corners and wings, just like the old days, and scored a Red-team high 10 points. He was in Raleigh for State's game against North Carolina. And he'll be back again for the ACC Tournament. It's hard for Del Negro to believe that the Wolfpack hasn't won another ACC title since he and his teammates downed top- ranked North Carolina in the '87 title game in Landover, Md. The Tar Heels hadn't lost to an ACC team all season. Del Negro's performance in the tour- nament was a dream come true for an NC State player. He had 15 points and 12 rebounds in the opening-round win over Duke, 12 points and five rebounds in a double-overtime victory over Wake Forest in the semifinals, and hit all 10 of his free throws in the final five minutes against the Tar Heels, including a game-winning pair in the final seconds. Shortly after cutting down the nets and rolling around on the court in glee with his teammates, Del Negro was named the tournament's MVP, joining Ronnie Shavlik (1955), Vic Molodet (1956), Lou Pucillo (1959), Larry Worsley (1965), Vann Willi- ford (1970) and Tommy Burleson (1973 and '74) on the list of NC State players who won the tournament's biggest individual award. Del Negro is eager to see the Pack back in championship contention, as it was four times since the '87 squad won NC State's 10th ACC title. The Pack lost in the title games in 1997, 2002, 2003 and 2007. "Obviously, the league has changed a lot since those days, and college basketball has changed," Del Negro said. "Every year and every team is different, but it's still really remarkable that we haven't won another tournament since 1987. "There have been a lot of very, very good teams in the ACC, and it's tough to win a championship." When the day comes — and Del Negro believes it won't be long — he'll be rolling around on the court again, even if it's only in his memories. ■ ■ PACK PERSPECTIVE Looking Back With ACC, And Wolfpack, Legend Vinny Del Negro Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker. You may contact him at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. Del Negro, who led NC State to its last confer- ence tournament title in 1987, is being hon- ored as the Wolfpack's ACC Legend at this year's event. PHOTO COURTESY CHICAGO BULLS The Wolfpacker is a publication of: Coman Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 2331, Durham, N.C. 27702. Offices are located at 324 Blackwell St., Ste. 1020, Durham, N.C. 27701. (919) 688-0218. The Wolfpacker (ISSN 0273-8945) is published bimonthly. 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