The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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24 ■ THE WOLFPACKER "Mark [Gottfried] does a very good job of preparation when things are on the line. He really has a way about him with the team to get them to perform at a high level, and we saw that in the Villanova game and saw it at Louisville and saw it at Clemson. "Clemson had already beaten us rather badly at PNC. I was nervous going into that game. I've been there, and the environment is excellent. They are known as a football school, but anyone that has been to a bas- ketball game knows that it's packed and boisterous. "I'm encouraged. He's recruiting now, and we have two players for 2015 and are coming along in 2016." There was a lot of talk at the end of the year about the quality of men's college bas- ketball, ESPN's Jay Bilas being one of the more outspoken critics. With your back- ground in basketball, what do you think of the current state of men's basketball and proposed rule changes like the 30-second shot clock? "Our personal experiences are that it is in great shape. Our fans have been so loyal. Our fans turn out for our game, pure and simple. "I am not a proponent of the 30-sec- ond clock versus a 35, and that is from a basketball perspective. I think that you eliminate a lot of strategy when the clock is that short. I coached in women's basketball with a 30-second clock, and it's different. "I like for coaches to have maximum flexibility in their coaching and have full range of possibilities for strategic reasons. Let them decide, based on the personnel they have year to year, what the flow of the game should look like or how they would like to try to manage it." We have seen roster turnover in men's basketball year to year at NC State and seemingly everywhere. Duke lost a lot of their team, is that part of the culture now? "It feels different if you won the national championship — you are in a better place about it. Seven hundred players transferred a year ago. I don't know what the ultimate number will be this year. "This is the day and era of student-ath- lete welfare. No matter what the topic, the first question most people ask: is it good for the student-athletes. In this case in many people's minds that equals flexibility with transfers. "Obviously it is a challenge. I think that as long as there is a sit-out rule for un- derclassmen that's good. That means they made a choice and want to change schools, but they have to wait. The idea of graduates who want to transfer is more problematic. I think it just hurts that they want to move on. "It's kind of a visceral response, that they are graduates of your institution and want to go somewhere else to play. It's counterintuitive, but I don't believe we will see it changed where they will have to sit out, but I suspect someone is going to pro- pose that. "The proposed legislation in the new NCAA structure is required to be submit- ted before Sept. 1. Shortly thereafter there will be several items only for the Power Five conferences [Pac-12, SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12] that we will have an op- portunity to vote on. We'll see if someone suggests that as an option, but I don't an- ticipate that passing." Women's basketball had an awful lot of bad luck with injuries this season. Your thoughts on the program? "Head coach Wes Moore is the guy. We beat Duke when they were No. 10 in the country with about seven people. The last month we had just seven or eight scholar- ship players and did just an admirable job. "His recruiting is doing very well. He has a top 20 class in 2015 and again in 2016. The one in 2016 is going to go even better because we had a recent commitment that chose us over Stanford, and that I think is going to be significant. That class is go- ing to be the first that has the opportunity to play in the new Reynolds, which is going to be spectacular. "Coach Moore has the ability to win the NCAA, he has that kind of coaching abil- ity. It's just a matter of our being able to amass enough talent to go with his coach- ing to be able to do that. I think he is doing a tremendous job." Baseball rebounded from last year to almost reach the Super Regionals. "The ending was very painful, but it was joyous to get into the tournament. I was with the team when we were watching the selection show and saw the regional we were going to go to. I think we were happy in our regional and did an amazing job in game one in the ninth inning with two outs to be able to come back and win that game. "That was as tough an environment that I have ever been in for any baseball game, probably the most challenging in terms of the loudness of the fans. "We are young, and we have a lot of key players returning. Next year is going to be a really important year for us to continue making progress. I do believe we have the capability, based on talent, to get to the Su- pers next year, and I am pretty sure Coach [Elliott] Avent would agree with that." It was a good year for some of the non- revenue sports as well. "Swimming had a great year, an ex- traordinary year. Four years ago we hired Braden Holloway back. I say back because both Braden and his wife graduated from NC State, and both swam for us before he was an associate coach at Virginia Tech. "You always take a risk when you hire a head coach without a proven track record. This is one of the ones that I wanted to take a risk on. You didn't see us do that in wres- tling; you didn't see us do that in softball; and you didn't see us do that in women's basketball, for examples. I wanted to do this because it felt like there was some- thing special in Braden, and I'd say he has proven that many times over. "Four years ago, our men finished eighth in the ACC, and this year we finished No. 8 in the nation. Our women finished No. 17, and the men won the ACC Tournament for the first time since 1992. He's the poster child for how to get this done. "Our new women's tennis coach, in his first year of recruiting, has the No. 9 class in the nation. We have never, ever had a ranked recruiting class in women's tennis. "He dominated in Division II, and this was another non-traditional hire. We felt like he had the stuff if he had the resources available to him that he didn't have at Divi- sion II. We thought that he would be able to elevate the program in a very special way, and we're already seeing the signs of that." What was it like to see construction fi- nally started on the Reynolds project? "I think we have been careful to take Since being hired by Yow in 2011, men's bas- ketball head coach Mark Gottfried has pro- duced four NCAA Tournament berths and two Sweet 16 appearances. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN