In the middle of LAST YEAR’S NCAA Tournament, my wife and I moved into a new house. During our move… I came across a bunch of old “State stuff” in some boxes that had been taped up and not opened in years. My curiousity got the best of me so I ripped into one of the boxes, peaked inside and found…old Info-Packs!!!!!
I had evidently catalogued printed versions of most of the old “Info-Packs” starting from January 1, 1996 . Unfortunately, I don’t have any prior to that date…which, I believe was the first date that the ‘publication’ actually carried the catch-phrase, Info-Pack.
Since we moved in March of 2005, we have moved again and are now in temporary housing while we wait for renovations to be done on a new house. So, all of the old IPs are now in storage and unavailable to me. I thought that I had typed a couple of entries into SFN and had wanted to throw them on SFB to mark the ten year anniversary of some of the most popular InfoPacks – the first days of the Herb Sendek era at NC State. Unfortunately, I don’t have as much typed as I had originally hoped.
History of the InfoPack
Before there was ever such a thing as “Blogging”…and before many Wolfpackers that roam the internet today were out of junior high school…there was, The Info-Pack.
Sometime between late 1994 and mid-1995, I learned about this thing called ‘the internet’. Using a laptop from work I began playing around on the internet and came across some NC State-related information that that in what was called “newsgroups.” I began posting some information that I had to share because: (a) I was still living in Raleigh, (b) I had a lot of friends who were still at school, (c) I had a lot of friends who worked at State.
Remember that this was a time before recruiting was followed as intensely as it is today. If I shared just a couple of names that were on Robbie Caldwell’s recruiting board, the information was like gold! After some evolutions, the newsgroup conversations turned into some email conversations. Before I knew it, I was directly emailing people all over the world in kind of a one-way newsletter.
Over the course of the next year, the InfoPack’s subscriber list grew to over 3,000 people (mostly Wolfpackers) all over the world. I would cut and paste from emails that others sent to me to share information. It didn’t take long to realize who had real inside information to share with the community. It also didn’t take long to start to develop some relationships with some nameless and faceless email addresses that later becamed known with faces and true friends.
The internet wasn’t as developed as it is today. “Posting” on web-based message boards (and other websites) was not yet an alternative. In the absence of message board communities, The InfoPack became a prototypical example of the power that internet communities generate. For example, if I shared the name of a recruit – say, Damon Thornton – the nature and diversification of the large subscriber base immediately be able to share information that they had on Thornton based on their connections &/or their proximity.
The IP primarily rose to prominence in the “Lose Less, Win More” years. (Can you believe that there was actually debate over the topic? There was. And, Les’ biggest supporters quickly became huge Herb Sendek fans after years of threatening how NC State could never survive without a great guy like Les.) Now that NC State is searching for a new basketball coach in 2006, the IP suddenly feels relevant again!
In hindsight, the IP was a modern day Message Board with a single editor mixed with a large dose of current-day blogging. As simplistic as it was, it also was quite effective.
April 15, 1996
The following is just a little nugget of an InfoPack from exactly ten years ago today.
“Sendek Speculation Grows”
Info-Pack#97: Monday, April 15, 1996
“Speculation regarding NC State’s vacant men’s head basketball coaching position seems to have come full circle and is intesfying around Herb Sendek. Although top tier candidates like John Calipari, Jim Harrick, PJ Carlesimo and Tim Floyd are still mentioned among Wolfpack fans as “possible”, Sendek has been mentioned all along and the last 48 hours has produced more speculation about Sendek
Other random items from the IP:
* Rumors were flying that Sendek was on campus over the weekend. Other rumors placed him in town on Monday. Les Robinson pointed out in an article that he never set foot on campus during the interview process (but he neglected to remind the paper that he went to school at State).
From some subscribers:
* “Heard Sendek interviewed this weekend and Turner didn’t like him (from WP source)…have you heard the same? I guess that would leave us with a worthy Cyclone?
* Jerry Vallencourt (on Charlotte Sports Radio) said that he cannot believe that Capel has not been contacted, like we’re nuts. The station called Herb Sendek’s office today and they said that he was traveling, didn’t say where.
