…but there’s no question that we’re in a better place now
Opinions about our former basketball head coach fall all over the spectrum. People still trash him online. Generally, in three categories:
A. High Road – “I don’t hate the guy – or – I like the guy, he did have one heck of a post season run, BUT …”
B. Middle Road – “I knew he was a bad hire from the start; he was/wasn’t …”
C. Low Road – (aka ‘the game threads’) The FCC will not permit me to repeat much of what was said in those threads, but I do look forward to participating in the game threads again after mostly averting my eyes last season.
Where did all that KKIAW confidence come from?
Kevin Keatts WAS a winner.
High School: At Amherst County High in Lynchburg, he played point guard and quarterback. Their football team only lost one game in his entire career.
Hargrave: In his 10 seasons as head coach at Hargrove, he only lost 17 games.
Louisville: He was strongly endorsed by his boss at Louisville, Rick Pitino, who hired him in 2011. Louisville won the national championship in his second season there, and a player he recruited, Luke Hancock, was the MVP. Pitino promoted him to Associate Head Coach in January 2014 and talked about Keatts as a possible successor at Louisville.
UNC-W: He was hired as head coach at UNC-W in March of 2014. He was the CAA Coach of the Year in his first two seasons and finished the season 1st or tied for 1st in each of his three seasons. He took them to the NCAA tournament in his second and third seasons. In his first NCAA tournament game as head coach UNC-W faced Duke. Although losing by 8, they scored 85 points on Duke’s defense, and in the postgame presser Mike Krzyzewski talked about how impressed he was.
NC State
When it was time to replace Gottfried, as we all know, there were other names in play, including Frank Williams Wade. At the end of the day, Keatts was a ‘this guy looks like he might be a good one, let’s get him early in his career and hope for a Valvano-Esque success story’ hire. And he definitely won that first press conference.
First Season (2017-18)
That first season looked pretty good. He had the best staff he ever had. He had one of his best rosters, they were a mix of solid holdovers (Johnson, Yurtseven, Abu, L Freeman) and decent transfers (A. Freeman, Dorn, Beverly). Al Freeman exploded that season, going from averaging 9.4 / 2.4 / 1.2 at Baylor to 16.1 / 4.2 / 2.6 at State. Keatts’ first game against UNC was an OT win in Chapel Hill. He tied for 3rd in the regular season and then flopped in the first rounds of both the ACCT & NCAAT. I thought he should have been ACC COY.
2018 – 2023
The next five seasons were overshadowed by the NCAA investigation and in December 2021, the actual penalty. The weak recruiting and ‘none and dones’ were a constant theme; he was never able to recruit high school at a competitive level. He had a little more success with transfers. He struggled to replace assistants Hamilton and Siddle. And he was a very timid scheduler resulting in having to earn his NCAAT bids on the back of ACC wins, which is a tough road for anybody. And we’ll never forget February 2, 2019; VT 47 / NCS 24.
- 2019-20 – COVID messed up a season with real potential, we were a pretty good offensive team with Daniels / Johnson / Funderburk averaging 12.x ppg, Bryce averaging 13.3, and Hellems averaging 9.5. It ended with a 6th place ACC finish. The consensus was we would have been an NCAAT team, but it was cancelled.
- 2021-22 – Catastrophe! Lost 21 games, the most ever by a Wolfpack coach. 4 ACC wins.
- 2022-23 – Terquavion Smith says he returned to help Keatts keep his job. He did it, and with a lot of help from DJ Burns, Casey Morsell, and Jarkel Joiner, the team finished 6th, tied for Keatts’ second-best ACC finish. That included home wins against the blues.
2023-24
This was probably Keatts’ final season, until it wasn’t. 17-14 / 9-11 and finished the regular season with a 4-game losing streak. And then the magic happened. ACC Champs / Final Four.
2024-25
Catastrophe! Keatts finished just one ACC win away from duplicating the 2021-22 season’s 20 (+) loss season and 4 ACC wins. And then, the magic happened again – we won the coaching sweepstakes. Thank you Boo Corrigan!!!
Kevin Keatts is a good coach
I know those are fighting words to some, but I think it is true. I think he often faced more talented teams and/or better coaches, and he won some of them. The ACC has a lot of GOOD coaches. Unfortunately, GOOD isn’t enough and it shows in the ACC’s overall lack of success lately. To successfully compete at the national level you must be EXCELLENT in all phases of coaching. Keatts will probably do well in the right situation, probably another mid-major. But let’s give him credit for the good things he did, even if much of it is wrapped up in that one season.
- Five 20+ win seasons
- First Wolfpack coach since 1918-19 to beat Duke, UNC, and Wake in his first meeting (thanks, Wikipedia)
- He beat UNC for the ACC Championship in one of my favorite games ever.
- He piloted the program through another NCAA scandal and penalties.
- Back-to-back postseason wins over Duke during the run
- He won 9 in a row during the run, despite being underdogs in 6 of the last 7
- 26 wins in a season, the most since Valvano
- Final Four
- And probably the most important of all – 2024 put NC State basketball on the ‘front page’ for the first time in many, many seasons. I wonder how seriously people would have taken NC State during the coaching search had it not happened?
Let’s stop the hating
Coach Keatts grew up an NC State fan in Lynchburg, Virginia. He had experienced big time college basketball at Louisville and participated in a championship; his dream was not to return to his alma mater, (D3) Ferrum, his dream job was NC State. And he got it. Being a fan, no one wanted to succeed more than he did. No one loved winning or hated losing more than he did.
And when it didn’t work out, no one could possibly be more disappointed. He failed. He has to live with his name being associated with some NC State basketball “worsts”, probably for a very long time. No need for anyone to pile on.
So, when I think of the Kevin Keatts era, I’m taking the high road. It’s over! It’s been a long, crooked path, but we’ve finally ended up where we’ve tried to get to for 35 years. Our coach can compete with anybody. Will Wade’s Wolfpack Will Win! (WWWWW) (trying too hard?) The future looks bright; I’m putting on my shades.
119 days until the season tips off.