The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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Mike Summey Returns Home After 20 years of climbing the col- lege basketball coaching ladder, new NC State men's basketball assistant coach Mike Summey returned to his alma mater in Raleigh May 19. Summey, an assistant coach for Bowling Green the past six seasons, graduated from NC State in 1997 after serving as a student manager his senior year under former Pack head coach Herb Sendek. "This is a dream job for me," Sum- mey said. "This is where I've always wanted to be from being a 6-year-old in Hickory, N.C., and growing up watch- ing the Wolfpack. It was really easy for a 6-year-old to be enthralled by Coach [Jim] Valvano and those teams. "Up until right now, every day that I've worked has been to get back here." Following his graduation in '97, Summey spent two more seasons with Sendek's program at NC State as a graduate manager after deciding he wanted to make a career in coaching. He earned his first full-time coaching opportunity in 2000 with St. Francis Uni- versity in Pennsylvania. He then made stops at Queens College in Charlotte, The Citadel, Bethany College in West Virginia and Miami (Fla.) under Jim Larranaga, prior to his six years at Bowling Green. "Coach Kevin Keatts of NC State made a home run hire in snagging Summey out of Bowling Green," tweeted Richie Schueler, a college basketball analyst at ESPN. "I've known Mike for about 15 years and have watched him continue to excel in the profession." NC State Athletics Announces Four-Phased Plan Of Return Following the mid-March pause of collegiate sports due to the coronavirus pan- demic, NC State director of athletics Boo Corrigan announced a four-tiered plan of return that began in early June. The first phase, which allowed football and basketball athletes that lived locally to return for voluntary workouts after being tested for COVID-19, was effective immediately upon the plan's announcement June 2. The second phase started June 20 and welcomed back the remaining football players once medically cleared. Men's and women's basketball players were per- mitted back shortly after. Phase three is set to begin later in the summer and will return student-athletes from the remaining fall sports, including men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country and volleyball. The fourth and final stage will allow athletes from the remaining programs to return in conjunction with the start of the fall semester. In May, Chancellor Randy Woodson announced that the university would begin its fall semester nine days early on Aug. 10 in order to mitigate the effects of the pandemic by completing the semester before Thanksgiving. Summey, a 1997 NC State graduate and former student manager under head coach Herb Sendek, joined the Wolfpack bas- ketball program as an assistant coach May 19. PHOTO COURTESY BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY 10 ■ THE WOLFPACKER ■ RED AND WHITE NOTEBOOK Patrick Bailey, Baseball The San Francisco Giants took the Greensboro, N.C., native with the 13th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft. Bailey helped make Wolfpack baseball history, joining infielder Will Wilson in 2019 for the first-ever back-to-back first- round selections from NC State. Bailey then made more history by becoming the first Wolfpacker to win the Johnny Bench Award, given to annually to the top catcher (this year's award was given to 10 since the season was shortened). Aislinn Konig, Basketball The former Wolfpack standout is headed overseas to continue her professional career af- ter signing a contract with BCF Elfic Fribourg in Switzerland. Konig was the 2020 ACC Tournament MVP af- ter averaging 16.7 points per game in the event to help NC State win its first league title since 1991. She leaves as part of a group of seniors that won more games (105) over a four-year span than any four-year class in program annals. The native of Surrey, British Co- lumbia, was named second-team All-ACC this past year and is one of five players in school history to have more than 200 career threes. Sada Nahimana, Tennis Women's tennis head coach Simon Earnshaw called Nahimana "a statement addition for our program." In July 2019, Nahimana reached No. 12 in the International Tennis Federation's World Junior Rankings. The native of Burundi explained, "I chose NC State because of the team spirit and how far the program has come. I was inspired by what they have achieved as a team." Nahimana has won the African Junior Champion- ship in five of the last six years. Nick Swiney, Baseball After trading for infielder Will Wilson during the offsea- son and then drafting catcher Patrick Bailey in the first round, the Giants completed the Wolfpack baseball hat trick by selecting Swiney with the top pick in the supplemental second round (No. 67 overall). Swiney was named an All- American by Collegiate Baseball after allowing just four earned runs, 13 hits and six walks and striking out 42 in 28 innings during the abbreviated season. The junior left-handed pitcher is from Cornelius, N.C. PACK PERFORMERS TRACKING THE PACK