The Wolfpack Club does a phenomenal job every year with the Coaches Caravan events. I love ‘em. The interaction with the coaches is fun, the food is usually good, and even the hob-knobbing with the big donors is interesting. Maybe I secretly want to be one of the big donors. I cracked the 5,000 rank barrier before the age of 30 so I have a good start. I’m not so sure that I would ever totally fit in with that crowd, though. Anyway let’s move on to the events of the night.
The elegant Carmel Country Club was the locale. Alex Browning, Wolfpack Club District 5 Chairman, welcomed everybody and then Phillip Wood, Wolfpack Club Associate Director, gave a few introductory words. Wood announced the attendance at 305 and said the Ram’s Club even in Charlotte was also tonight and they only had 210 people. Of course that got a lot of applause from the Wolfpack faithful.
The event then started with Craig Anderson, Assistant AD for Compliance, going over some brief guidelines for everybody. Basically his message was … DON’T give benefits to any prospective recruits or current student athletes.
Next up was AD Debbie Yow. Her first comment was to ask Craig, “so does that mean we can’t pay for recruit trips to Miami?” Debbie is not afraid to throw out some zingers. To use one of her own words … I love her chutzpah. She went on to talk about how lucky and blessed she feels to be back “home” here completing the Yow legacy at NC State. She didn’t use the word legacy, but that’s what it is (hall of fame coach, All-American player, and what could be the best AD in school history).
Debbie got a little emotional when talking about the passing of her sister Kay. She told a story how their other sister Susan and herself were deciding how to split up all of Kay’s things. Debbie got Kay’s onyx ring and Susan got all the NC State pins. After Debbie became the NC State AD Susan gave her every one of Kay’s NC State pins. You could just feel her love for NC State in her voice. We really couldn’t have a better AD right now. I love Debbie Yow!
Debbie went on to briefly talk about the coaching search. She did not like how the national media tried to influence the search by badmouthing State fans. She thinks they are afraid of us becoming a factor and her message to them was, “we are here to upset the apple cart.” She discussed how she first met Coach Gottfried as a freshman at Oral Roberts because he was dating one of her basketball players. She joked about having meetings with him to stop fighting with her player because when they did it affected her play on the court.
Debbie also threw in that we are going back to STATE on all our team’s jerseys like in the past. She said people will know it’s NC State. She ended with reiterating that it won’t be easy, but she will continue refusing to accept the status quo until we have a top 25 athletics department.
Tony Haynes was on hand to emcee the fire side chat style sessions with the coaches. After taking the mic Tony’s first comment was to dispute Phillip Wood’s assertion that the Ram’s Club meeting tonight had 210 people … he said that was their Spring Game attendance. *badum-CHING*
Coach Harper was the first coach up. She talked about knowing this season was going to be tough when she took the job and then it only got tougher after losing 6 players to injury. She talked about how the Duke loss was her toughest loss as a head coach and the UNC win was one of her most fulfilling wins. Coach Harper’s intensity was very evident and I think it’s just a matter of time before she has our women’s basketball team among the best in the ACC.
Coach Gottfried, on his first Wolfpack Club Caravan stop, was greeted very warmly by the Wolfpack faithful. His first order of business was to ask Debbie since he got the blame for his girlfriend’s bad games at Oral Roberts where was the thanks for all the games where she got 20-20 because that was his doing too.
Coach Gottfried then talked about his assistant coaches and how he’s really excited to be working with all of them. He thinks our roster has some good players, but we need to learn discipline and how to play harder. He went on to say we could be short some bodies next year (only 9 scholarship players) so they are looking to add one more player in this year’s class if they can get the right guy. They won’t reach for somebody, though, because it’s not always the guys you miss that hurt your program, but the guys you give a scholarship to that aren’t good enough.
Coach Gottfried was asked specifically about C.J. Leslie and he bluntly said that C.J. wasn’t good enough for the NBA right now and that he needed to come back and work every day on getting better and playing the game the right way. He’s still working hard on building relationships with the players and their families, but that everything is going well so far. He really hit home by saying that he understands what we want and he will be working as hard as he can to give us that. It could just be my red colored glasses, but the more I hear Coach Gottfried the more I love him. I think he’s the guy that will get us back to where we should be.
TOB was the event headliner. Tony Haynes introduced him with, “I know all of TOB’s children and since none of them are named Butch why is it that everywhere I go I hear Coach O’Brien referred to as Butch’s Daddy?” Naturally that led to the largest applause of the night.
As has been the case for months now, two of the hottest topics were how we are going to replace Nate Irving and Russell Wilson in both leadership and on the field performance. TOB said Coach Tenuta wants his best player at MLB and he is real happy with how Audie Cole looked in Spring Practice so he’s not that worried about the defense. TOB talked about how Mike Glennon has as much talent as any of the 4 NFL QBs (Matt Ryan, Matt Hasselbeck, Tim Hasselbeck, and Brian St. Pierre) he has coached in the past so he feels comfortable heading into next year. I got the feeling that TOB was just happy to have his starting QB in Spring Practice for the first time in years.
TOB likes the depth and experience on the roster. He feels like we are finally in a position to handle a rash of injuries if needed. The one position he did express concerns about was the WRs. As a unit they are faster than anything TOB has had here at State, but “that doesn’t do us any good if we can’t catch the ball.” He was also asked about the offensive line and he feels like they are ready to become one of the strengths of the team.
TOB said he had just turned in his goal for the 2011 season to Debbie and that it is to go 14-0. Debbie took the mic back and said she asked him for a realistic goal and his response was that his goal is to always go 14-0 and win a national championship because if that’s not your goal then it will never happen. I’m admittingly not a huge TOB fan, but that’s because of some behind the scenes stuff. On the field he’s a proven winner and I like where he has the program right now. I want more, though, namely an ACC championship and a BCS bowl.
TOB’s best comment of the night was how he learned the ABC (anybody but Carolina) way while an assistant coach at Virginia and that he’s never wavered from it since, especially now being at NC State. I think it’s even stronger now. That’s the one thing that I really love about him. He understands our hatred towards UNC and really embraces the rivalry. He’s never afraid to take shots at them. You gotta love that as long as he backs it up by beating their ass every year. What is it now? … 1,621 days and counting (see top of sidebar). I never get tired of just watching that number grow bigger and bigger every day.
The event was nice and everybody had a great time. Kudos to the Wolfpack Club for all the work they do! Not just with these Coaches Caravan events, but throughout the year. We really are blessed to have one of the best donor organizations in the country. Go Pack!
