The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/743343
BY MATT CARTER N C State head coach Mark Gott- fried has not given any thought about when the Wolfpack pro- gram, entering its sixth season under his direction, felt like it belonged to him. He always stuck to the posted job de- scription for every college coach at every school. "I'm the coach," Gottfried said. "It's my job to get the team ready every year regard- less of how your roster shakes out." Yet after five years in Raleigh, it is un- deniable that Gottfried's fingerprints are all over a program that is in much better shape than what he inherited in the sum- mer of 2011. NC State has been to four NCAA Tour- naments in five years, including a pair of Sweet 16 appearances. In the previous 21 years prior to Gottfried's arrival, NC State had a total of six NCAA Tournaments and one Sweet 16. David Glenn was the editor of the ACC Sports Journal for 20 years (1994-2013) and still hosts a statewide syndicated ra- dio show, The David Glenn Show. He was named the North Carolina Sportscaster of the Year in 2014. Up close, Glenn has noticed NC State's proud program reenter the national scene under Gottfried. "NC State was a program where you were surprised if the Wolfpack was even in the conversation for an NCAA Tournament bid," Glenn stated. "Under Mark Gottfried, NC State has become a program where, on an annual basis, you're surprised if the Wolfpack misses the NCAA Tournament. "That's a gigantic step in the right direc- tion." Recruiting At An ACC Level When Gottfried arrived at NC State, his entire college basketball experience was foreign to the ACC. He played and coached at Alabama in the SEC. He was also an assistant at UCLA when it was part of the Pac-10 (now the Pac-12). He coached at a prominent mid-major in Murray State, too. Thus he had only an outsider's percep- tion of the ACC's firepower, but he also knew that you did not need to be in the league to respect it. "Even growing up, for me, this always seemed to be where the best players were," Gottfried said. "When you watch TV, it was the Ralph Sampsons, the David Thomp- MAK ING HIS MARK NC State Basketball Has Improved Under Mark Gottfried BASKETBALL PREVIEW 2016-17 46 ■ THE WOLFPACKER In five years at NC State, Gottfried has won 108 games. Only Everett Case won more in his first five seasons with the Wolfpack. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN