Elliott Avent: ' I’m just really happy for these guys and really proud of these guys'

Following back-to-back one-run wins over Arkansas, NC State baseball head coach Elliott Avent is headed back to Omaha for the first time since 2013. 

Avent spoke to the media after Sunday’s 3-2 win, here’s a full breakdown of everything he had to say: 

It seems like everyone counted out this team except for you. Was there ever any doubt that you would be in this position?

Well, there’s always doubt. College baseball is extremely competitive now, very tough. Everybody is good. Our league is good. The nonconference schedule we play is good. So, there’s always doubt. But when you know you have players committed to one another, committed to themselves and have a great work ethic and great character people. People like that have a chance of overcoming odds, and that’s what these guys did. It wasn’t a guarantee, but the only guarantee is that if we didn’t stick with it we wouldn’t overcome it. I’m just really happy for these guys and really proud of these guys.

How great was it to see this team clinch the College World Series spot like they did with Torres’ home run and Justice shutting things down?

I thought yesterday’s game, a lot of people talked about what a gut-check win yesterday was with them beating us so badly on Friday. And then to come out here in front of this crowd and this great Arkansas team. Being up 6-2 and then they come back and make it 6-5 in the seventh. They bring Kevin Kopps in. It seems like everytime they bring Kopps in, it does something for their offense and they are able to come back and win the game. Which goes to his incredible record and saves. But I thought today, they had an even better gut-check win because Kopps starts and pitches incredible. He’s absolutely everything that you’ve heard about. Sometimes you don’t get what they prescribe, but he is everything and then some of what you’ve heard about. He was incredible. But to have a thin 2-1 lead and think you have a chance the way our pitching staff was going. [Cayden] Wallace ties it up there in the seventh. That was a real gut check, I thought. I thought the last two innings showed everything that we have seen about our team all year. 

You know how hard it is to get to the College World Series. Can you speak to what it means to you to get back to Omaha with everything this group has fought through this year and to see them get rewarded with the trip there?

Yeah, you’re exactly right. When you go to Omaha, there’s always a reason that is special to you. Besides the players, which is always first and foremost. It’s all about the players. The school gets a lot out of it. The staff gets a lot out of it. And we have an incredible staff. Our coaching staff, Chris Hart who has been with me for like 17 years. Gabe Button, our strength coach. Jodie Cahoon, our equipment manager. [Trainer] Scott Ensell. Clint Chrysler, our pitching coach. [Asistant coach] Joey Holcomb. [Student coaches] Brett Kinneman and Josh Pike. They do an unbelievable job. It’s an incredible job what they do.

It’s always most special for the players. I remember the first time I went there how special it was for the players, but it was so special for me to have my daddy with me. That was a special moment for me. I’m so happy for these players. My thoughts during today’s game and this whole weekend was that I want to see these players. They deserve to walk in that stadium and me see their eyes and their looks and their faces to be in the greatest college baseball environment there is. This time I’ll have my daddy with me, but he’ll be in a different place. I’ve got a keychain that he left me that I keep with me. It’s Matthew 28:20, I believe: ‘he is always with you.’ And my daddy is always with me, and he’ll be watching from a different place this time. It’ll be a special gift to me. For me, it’s all about the players. It’s all about seeing these players who have worked so hard and committed to one another and understand how to overcome adversity, which will help them the rest of their life. To me, it’s about those guys walking in that stadium. 

What does that say about this team that you’ve got a pair of freshmen pitchers that can keep their composure with that crowd?

Yeah, these guys have grown up so much. I think Matt Willadsen has grown up maybe more than anybody on this staff. He and Chris Villaman both. If you take where they were midyear, which was good, and where they are now, they are two entirely different pitchers. For Matt to get into two big jams with this crowd with this great Arkansas ballclub, I think he got out of a bases loaded two-out jam in the first or second with this crowd going absolutely crazy. I’m really proud of him. And then I thought Chris Villaman came in and pitched extremely well. I generally don’t bring Evan Justice into a tied game, but I thought ‘if this team is going to beat us, they’re going to beat our best.’ Thank goodness Jose hit that home run because I don’t know how long we could have gone with Evan. 

What was it like taking on Kevin Kopps and beating him in his own ballpark?

You don’t really beat a guy like Kevin Kopps. You might outlast him. But I’m not going to say anything about beating Kevin Kopps because that’s one of the greatest pitchers. I’ve been around this game a long time. That’s one of the great pitchers and great performances that I’ve ever seen. He is everything as advertised. You don’t beat guys like him. You might scratch one out. I’m just proud of our guys. But if you look at what he did, he’s been in relief all year, he starts. I think that’s very difficult to go from being a reliever then to starting a game. It’s a whole different thing. I just thought he was amazing. I’m just proud of our team finding a way to keep this great Arkansas offensive club down just to give us a chance. 

What was Jose Torres looking for on that home run and what did you see?

You’d have to ask him, but he hit that one pretty good. The first one he kind of golfed and hit it foul. I think that might have had the distance. The wind was doing different things today. The ball was flying early in the weekend. Today, when the game started, the wind was blowing in and there were a couple balls. Jonny hit one that I thought might go out to center. It got still for a little bit, and then it kind of shifted over from left to right. You’d have to ask Jose what he hit, all I know is he hit it really well. 

You had a freshman pitcher yesterday and two freshmen pitched today, what does that say about the players you and coach Hart are bringing into this program?

Chris Hart, I’ll start with him. He does an unbelievable job recruiting helped by our coaching staff. Coach Chrysler, Joey Holcomb. Joey Holcomb is a volunteer. You see what college baseball generates as far as excitement, this packed house at Arkansas for three days. What we saw at Louisiana Tech last weekend in Ruston, Louisiana. Joey Holcomb is our volunteer assistant, which means he gets paid nothing. Our staff does an unbelievable job. I just hope that they’ll come around and get this third assistant going. Recruiting is tough right now. This transfer portal is going to make it even more consuming. Coach Hart and Clint Chrysler work themselves tirelessly all the time recruiting. I can’t say enough about the job they’ve done, not only to bring in the talent that they’ve brought into NC State, but the character of people they’ve brought into NC State. Even though we are very talented, the character is what got us to the next round. 

You talked about your father. You’ve lost other people like Bruce Winkworth, your former SID, and Chris Combs. How much does it mean to you to succeed building off of what they’ve done?

This has been a difficult couple of years for me. You mentioned them all. Bruce Winkworth, my longtime SID, who wasn’t just an SID to me. He was my bench coach and a great, great friend. And then Chris Combs who was on my first team at NC State. I loved dearly. And then George Tarantini, the longtime NC State soccer coach who was so successful and just a mentor of mine and one of my best friends in life. And then obviously my dad. This spring, that was a tough one. I went through a tough patch, but I’m so happy right now. 

You did a slide in front of your team there at the end. How long is it going to take you to recuperate from that?

I don’t think it will take long to recuperate because it was like a 3-foot slide. I don’t think it resembled Pete Rose whatsoever. 

You’re the most passionate and emotional person on NC State’s campus. How physically, emotionally and mentally difficult has this been up to this point? 

It has. I’ve been so fortunate in my lifetime to be around somany great people. Those people, besides my mom and dad who shaped who all these young men are, they shaped who I am. But when I’ve been around some of the great coaches that I’ve been around, you can start with Tony Guzzo who gave me my first job and I loved that man to death. He is a legend in our business. But then you talk about Russ Frazier, the longtime coach at Louisburg Junior College and a hall of famer.

Then you come to NC State and you talk about coach Esposito, who is so many things to so many people. Buddy Green flew down here this week to be with us. We talked to Monte Towe this morning, Greg Williams, David Thompson. All the people that are NC State. I’ve been so fortunate to be around those people. And then you mention passion. You’ve got to talk about Jimmy Valvano and Kay Yow. I was so fortunate to be around both of those for a long time, and I learned so much from both of them. They shape how you coach through your life. I owe all of them a debt of gratitude because anything I try to say to my players or talk to them about has been learned from those great coaches of yesteryear. 

Arkansas has one of the best offenses in the country. How were you guys able to contain them? 

You’ve have to talk to coach [Clint Chrysler] about that. He does an amazing job with these pitchers, he has all year. He got beset by injuries early in the year. Some guys missed missed the offseason with some COVID and so they couldn’t come back ready to go, and he just kept working and kept working. He has such a great rapport with these pitchers. He’s almost, I don’t want to say the perfect pitching coach, but he has a great makeup. He pitched like nine years in pro ball all the way up AAA. So he’s been around the block a little bit. These guys can relate to him. They trust him. He’s just done an amazing job. To pitch as great as we did against this great Arkansas ball club is just a tribute to him and our pitching staff.

What was your reaction when Kevin Kopps jogged back out for the ninth after already throwing 114 pitches?

I didn’t expect anything different. I didn’t even look, to be honest with you.