The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/811149
34 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY MATT CARTER NC State announced the hiring of Kevin Keatts as its new men's basketball head coach on March 17. Keatts coached at UNC Wilmington the previous three seasons, and before that he spent three years as an assistant at Louisville. ■ Kevin Keatts By The Numbers .939 Winning percentage at Hargrave Military Academy in Cha- tham, Va., in two different stints as the head coach — first from 1999-2001 and then from 2003-11. Keatts notched a 262-17 record and won a pair of national titles at the prep powerhouse. .720 Winning percentage at UNC Wilmington in three seasons. The Seahawks posted a 72-28 overall record and a 41-13 mark (.759) in the Colonial Athletic Association, winning the conference regular season all three years and capturing the league tournament crown the last two campaigns. .344 Winning percentage at UNCW in the four seasons prior to Keatts' arrival under former head coach Buzz Peterson. The Seahawks went just 20-50 (.286) in the CAA during that span, never finishing better than seventh in the standings. In Peterson's final season, UNCW went 9-23 overall and 3-13 in the CAA. A year later under Keatts, the Seahawks were 18-14 and 12-6, respectively. .821 Winning percentage for Louisville when Keatts was an as- sistant there for three seasons (2011-14). The Cards went 96-21 during that span, won a national title in 2013 and reached the Final Four in 2012. 3 Keatts' ranking in an ESPN.com survey of the best recruiters in the country, conducted in 2013. 44 Years old, making him the third youngest coach in the ACC, a few months older than Virginia Tech's Buzz Williams. Georgia Tech's Josh Pastner (39) is the youngest. NBA Pipeline Keatts coached at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., from 1999-2001 and then 2003-11. In those 12 seasons, he coached 13 players that went on to play in the NBA, including former NCSU point guard Lorenzo Brown. Joe Alexander (played at West Virginia) Tony Bobbitt (Cincinnati) Lorenzo Brown (NC State) Jordan Crawford (Indiana/Xavier) Sharrod Ford (Clemson) P.J. Hairston (North Carolina) Josh Howard (Wake Forest) Vernon Macklin (Georgetown/Florida) Mike Scott (Virginia) Marreese Speights (Florida) James Thomas (Texas) David West (Xavier) Sam Young (Pittsburgh) Wolfpack Coaches In ACC Era Keatts became the ninth men's basketball coach at NC State in the ACC era. Here are his predecessors: Coach Years Record Everett Case 1947-65 377-134 Press Maravich 1965-66 38-13 Norm Sloan 1967-80 266-127 Jim Valvano 1981-90 209-114 Les Robinson 1991-96 78-98 Herb Sendek 1997-06 191-132 Sidney Lowe 2007-11 86-78 Mark Gottfried 2012-17 123-86 Building A National Champion In Keatts' three seasons as an assistant at Louisville, he was on the bench when the Cardinals went to the Final Four in 2012 and then won the national championship in 2013. Keatts left his mark on that team by signing two vital contributors: • Small forward Luke Hancock was a redshirt junior that Keatts convinced to transfer from George Mason to Louisville. The 2012-13 season was his first with the Cards, and he averaged 7.7 points per game. Hancock, though, really left his mark in the Final Four. He scored 20 points in the win over Wichita State in the national semifinals. Two nights later, his 14 straight points in the first half helped cut a 12-point Michigan lead to one at halftime, and Hancock finished the game 5 of 5 on threes and with 22 total points. He became the first reserve player to win the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player. • Forward Montrezl Harrell was a freshman reserve, but he was a valuable contributor who averaged 5.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game and scored 20 points in the Big East Tournament title game to help Louisville beat Syracuse. After averaging 15.7 points and 9.2 boards a game two years later, Harrell left following his junior season to turn pro. MEET KEVIN KEATTS PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN