NC State officially announced Justin Gainey as the new head coach of NC State basketball, and here are some questions he answered from the media in his introductory press conference.
Can you talk a little bit about or reflect on how much you've grown as a person, as a coach, and the difficulty of how much college basketball and athletics has grown over those last 30 years?
Justin Gainey: Yeah, I remember that conversation vividly and every time I talk to Coach Groce, he always reminds me of it. But no, I always thought I'd play forever, and the thought of coaching was so far removed from me that I couldn't see myself doing it. But at the time, I was young.
I didn't really understand what coaching was. You think it's just walking out with the clipboard, drawing X's and O's, and carrying a whistle around. So much more than that.
And once I started to understand what coaching really was, I was drawn to it. I wanted to do it, and I wanted to mentor. I wanted to share my experiences with guys like me that have come from places like me that had shared experiences and that needed some direction, needed some guidance on how to handle different situations.
And so that's what coaching is. That's what it comes down to. The mentoring part, and then also the trying to get the most out of yourself, trying to pull the most out of yourself, and not be hamstringed by any type of limitations that other people put on you or that you put on yourself.
And so as I reflect back to that bus ride, it's clear I didn't understand what coaching was then. But as I started to interact more with student-athletes, as I started to coach a middle school basketball team at Cary Academy, way back when it was like SAS Academy or whatever. I'm coaching little eighth graders and riding around on a little short bus.
And I think I'm coaching them up. I got my board, and we coaching them up. We went undefeated that year, too.
But what you remember from those, not necessarily the games, I can't even remember who we played, but it's the bus rides back. It's the questions they ask about playing in state and all of that stuff. And that's what coaching is about. That's what it's about.
This is for Justin and Boo. How much did the talks last year and the interviews last year kind of help to expedite this process a little bit better?
Boo Corrigan: Everything's new, right, as you're going into this. We had our eyes on Coach Gainey for a period of time, even before last year. His ability to connect in talking with whether it's Sean Miller or Mojo or Coach Barnes.
They all said he was ready for this. I think maybe there was a comfort level between the two of us. I think where we really connected was at KB's retirement.
Those of you that know KB, we were at the retirement together and had a chance to connect and talk for about 15 minutes at that point. But we offered the job to one person and that one person took the job. And we're thrilled that he's here.
Justin, a lot of the ones that I've talked to already today are excited that one of their own is the head coach. What kind of support have you heard from some of the leagues just in taking this role?
Justin Gainey: No, the support has been through the roof. As I knew it would, because we're family. All of us in this room, we're family.
And we're all connected by a common bond. And regardless of what happens, family is family. We're always going to come together.
So I had no doubt that the support would be there. I'm just excited to serve. I'm excited to serve everybody and put a product on the floor that everybody in here can be proud of.
That everybody, when you're watching NC State play, you say that's going to be the hardest, toughest playing team in the country. That's the view. That's how I want to be viewed.
Coach, what have you learned in these past 19 years as an assistant that you think has prepared you the most?
Justin Gainey: One thing is it's hard to get down to it. But as I talked about earlier, it's just it's all about relationships. Everything is about relationships.
People may try to you know, camouflage it by, money, NIL, playing time, whatever you may say. But it comes down to having a relationship with the young men, with their circle, with their coaches, with their parents. It's all about relationships.
If you have a good relationship, if you can develop a relationship, then you can work through any problem. You can work through any issues you may have. And so I've learned that the most, that in coaching, it's about relationships and it's about just giving, right?
Serving these young men. And because when they know that you care about them, they'll run through a wall for you. They really will.
If they know it's all transactional, if they think it's all just about basketball and you could care less about their personal life, then times get hard and they're gonna quit. They're gonna say, coach, whatever. They don't care about them.
And I never want to be that guy. I want to be able to pick up the phone and they're inviting me to their weddings or I'm watching their kids. I'm recruiting their kids, right? I want to have that relationship like I have with my former coaches, like I got with Coach.
The reality is, I feel like there are some members of the fan base that are hurt from previous coaches. What are some other practical ways that you want to rebuild the trust with the university and its supporters?
Boo Corrigan: We're here today to celebrate a new leader of this program who has everything that we need. It has the right moral compass for this fan base who understands what NC State is all about, who truly is going to take pride in the name on the jersey.
You mentioned it in your state opening statement that, you kind of bided your time. There was nothing you were going to do to shortcut getting to an opportunity like this. When did you know that you were ready, to take on such a challenge that is competing in the triangle, but also coming back to your alma mater?
Justin Gainey: You know what, last year. Yeah, no, it's, you always, as I've developed and, grown within the profession, you always think you're ready, right? You really do.
And with every year, you gain different experiences. You learn from different people. I've been in a unique situation where, I mean, I've been under some really high-level coaches, and we've done a lot of high-level things, and every stop I've been in, whether it's, number one recruiting class in the country.
Whether it's a part of the staff where we had the number one offense in the country, part of the staff where we had the number one defense in the country, classes, we've had the number one offensive rebounding team in the country, won SEC championships, won SEC tournaments, been as high as a two seed.
And so all those experiences, right, you learn from, you see them, you live them, and you take from each one of those. And so as I go through, my career, and I think about those moments, I'm pulling from all of those different situations. And that's, again, I can't be Rick Barnes.
I can't be Herb Sendek. I can't be whoever else. I'm Justin Gainey. But I'm pulling from all of those things that I've learned. And while there may be some people with maybe more experience or whatever, and in different positions, ain't a lot of people who's been where I've been.
I wanted to ask you about him. He came out with a statement congratulating you, sir. And to extend the lineage of NC State to do his tenure, to be that extension of his tenure at NC State.
Justin Gainey: Yeah, Coach Sendek, he was very influential in my career as well as a coach and as a player. As a player here, I was a part of his first team.
Coach Harris as well, Larry Harris, I think he's in here. And we were kind of that bridge, right? Because Coach Robinson had recruited me, I stepped away, and Coach came in, and he was trying to get it going, right?
And for those four years I was here, we never made the NCAA tournament. We made the NIT team every year, but continued to get better, make it to the final four of the NIT my last year. And so, being with Coach Sinden through those tough moments, fellas, it brought us close.
It brought us closer. And he always, I think, appreciated us for that transition because it was hard. It was tough to go through. He and I have a great relationship now.
And then, year six for him kind of takes off and he ends up doing a good job. And so, it kind of came full circle when I joined his staff as an assistant and had the chance to work under him.
So I played under him, I knew how he worked there, but now to see a different side of him as a coach also kind of brought it full circle. So, some of the things, the good things from Coach, man, I pulled from, right? And it is a part of me.
And I'm proud to say that I played for Coach. I'm proud to say that I had a chance to work with him. That's going to conclude this portion of our press conference.
