Bobby V Bridges The Past

General NCS Basketball43

Tip of the hat to a poster on Pack Pride. Really interesting stuff in this article by Bob Valvano.

The following is just the beginning excerpt of the piece:

It is the late 1960’s and the college coach gets a call from his brother, who is a high school coach. The call concerns a player the high school coach has seen and thinks might make a good college player.

The college coach asks the kid’s name. He is told, “Julius Erving.” The college coach says, “Erving? What is he a Jewish kid?” Told the player is an African-American, the college coach tells his brother he has never heard of the kid who, of course, is destined, just three years down the road, to become a basketball legend, a future Hall of Famer, as the great “Dr. J.”

It is 1979 and that same college coach has just interviewed for a very prestigious college basketball coaching job.

The interview is just between the coach and the university’s athletic director.

This is an important job. The school had won a national championship just five years prior.

Now the interview was winding down. The athletic director shook hands with the coach and they said goodbye, before the coach flew back to his hometown.

The following day the athletic director called and congratulated the coach. He was being offered the job. The coach was excited and pleased, but surprised it happened so fast.

He asked for a day to talk it over with his wife.

The athletic director expressed some surprise, and said that was fine, but in two days the school was having a press conference to announce their new coach. It was either going to be this coach or another guy, but they weren’t going to wait.

Still no mention of salary.

The coach took the job that next day, only to find that the head coach at North Carolina State was to make the princely sum of $40,000, less than he was already making coaching at a tiny Catholic school in New York, Iona College.

I know those stories to be fact since, as you might have guessed, they both concerned my brothers — my oldest brother Nick, the high school coach, and Jim, the college coach.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

General NCS Basketball

43 Responses to Bobby V Bridges The Past

  1. legacyman 03/29/2007 at 8:23 AM #

    In earlier days we always were a cheapskate as witnessed by our facilities, etc. Guess we had to as there was little money for anything…the WPC had not blossomed into its’ current state.

  2. CarnifeX 03/29/2007 at 8:26 AM #

    ^ bloated?

    Too soon?

  3. packpigskinfan23 03/29/2007 at 8:26 AM #

    great article…

    didnt know all of that about Mayo. I already didnt like him after last night… now I dislike him even worse. How can he be so cocky when he cant even hit his shots wide open?!?!

    reminds me of the Letterman clip where Coach V tells of how he didnt offer to Dr. J

  4. Mr O 03/29/2007 at 8:28 AM #

    I always enjoy Bob Valvano. I liked him on the Golf Channel when he used to be on the 19th Hole(golf talk show like PTI).

  5. noah 03/29/2007 at 8:36 AM #

    Who was our AD in 1979? Willis Casey?

  6. Texpack 03/29/2007 at 8:48 AM #

    Willis Casey was indeed the AD. In Norm Sloan’s book “Confessions of a Coach” he talks about the touchy relationship he had with Casey. He also missed Willis Casey after he moved to Florida and worked for Bill Arnsbarger. I really enjoy Bob Valvano also. The sound of his voice on his overnight radio show makes me think of Coach V. It is the one bright spot to driving home from work after a 2am call out.

  7. Pack84 03/29/2007 at 8:49 AM #

    Reading about the Mayo situation just confirms what I already suspected. This kid is trouble with a capital “T”. It might not happen tomorrow, it might not happen next week or next year. But at some point down the road he’s going to be a huge headache for somebody. At this point my guess is Tim Floyd.

  8. Rick 03/29/2007 at 9:01 AM #

    I have never been impressed with Mayo’s game.
    I cannot figure out why he is so hyped and after reading this I would not want him anywhere near the Pack.

    Good read, I think Valvano is a good commentator and hope he does more.

  9. BoKnowsNCS71 03/29/2007 at 9:08 AM #

    So who was the other choice for Coach other than Jimmy V? His brother? Seems unclear.

  10. Mr O 03/29/2007 at 9:11 AM #

    Why are people bothered that OJ didn’t want every coach in the country calling him when he knew where he was going to go? He didn’t string any other coach along and he honored his word in signing with USC.

  11. choppack1 03/29/2007 at 9:13 AM #

    I saw OJ play in a regular high school game on ESPN. He was very spectacular – really used the glass well and had nice drives.

    That said, I think this kid may be the next Harold Minor. His handle isn’t nearly as good as he thinks it is and his outside shot is inconsistent. Truthfully, he should be a 3. I think it was evident last night that he needs the game revolving around him to be effective – when it’s not, he’s just another player out there.

    I like Bob V too – something very comforting about his voice and always enjoyed his Jimmy V stories.

  12. noah 03/29/2007 at 10:59 AM #

    “So who was the other choice for Coach other than Jimmy V? His brother?”

    I don’t know if he was a finalist, but Morgan Wooten was under heavy consideration during that search.

  13. joe 03/29/2007 at 11:55 AM #

    Morgan Wooten said no pretty quickly after Sloan left. I don’t know if he ever had a formal job offer – I think he basically told a reporter he wasn’t interested in the job.

  14. noah 03/29/2007 at 12:08 PM #

    When V was thinking about going to UCLA, I had pretty much assumed that he was going to take the job.

    I mentioned Wooten’s name as a replacement and was told that he had turned us down in 1979. I don’t remember if they ever mentioned where in the process he said “no.”

  15. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 03/29/2007 at 1:02 PM #

    Why did Sloan leave State?

    Does anyone remember the name of the talk show Valvano hosted briefly after the Letterman appearance and while still coaching at State? The show was probably on ESPN.

  16. redfred2 03/29/2007 at 1:08 PM #

    My memory can’t be trusted and I’m sure there were others in the picture at the time, but Wooten is the only name that I remember being seriously mentioned, other than V’s of course, when Stormin’ Norman left for Florida.

    It would be interesting to know who else was under consideration back then.

  17. foz 03/29/2007 at 1:18 PM #

    I just learned something new – Sloan coached Florida before coaching NCSU.

  18. BillyTheKid 03/29/2007 at 1:19 PM #

    I’m sorry, I can’t take this anymore. It was 1980, 1980 when V came to State not 1979. Stormin’ was gone AFTER the 79-80 season was over.

  19. BillyTheKid 03/29/2007 at 1:31 PM #

    There was a lot of “talk” around the time Sloan left having to do with C. Austin having two cars and the like.

  20. joe 03/29/2007 at 1:51 PM #

    Valvano did not go to UCLA because of his buyout. Had UCLA paid the buyout he was gone. And in 1988 there was no Golenbock book so it’s very likely a coach other than Les Robinson would have been hired.

  21. BillyTheKid 03/29/2007 at 1:58 PM #

    Joe, it really makes you wonder how different everyone’s life would have been if V had gone to LA in 1988.

  22. class of 74 03/29/2007 at 2:40 PM #

    Norm left right after we got our butts kicked by Iowa and Lute Olsen in the NCAA tourney in Greensboro. Ronnie Lester lit us up that day as I recall. I think the big thing with Norm was he was tired of the constant comparisons to Dean’s program and he just decided he could go back to UF and the pressure would be a lot less. Anyway, as soon as Norm announced his departure the main name that surfaced was Morgan Wooten. That speculation lasted about three days before Wooten declared he had no intention of leaving DeMatha. It was just a couple of days later that JTV was named as our next coach. No flights were tracked, no midnight soirees through Reynolds or daily rejections by dozens of name brands. Pretty short and sweet and to the point which is how Willis Casey conducted most of his business. And yes, he was very frugal with NCSU’s money that was always the case with old Willis. But for a UNC guy he really wasn’t a bad guy.

  23. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 03/29/2007 at 2:41 PM #

    Wasn’t Valvano courted for the Knicks job in the late 80’s?

  24. class of 74 03/29/2007 at 2:53 PM #

    Oh and by the way, I know several people here that did not like Willis all that much but he did bring in two of my personal favorite head coaches. Those being Lou Holtz and Jimmy V. Both were great salesmen for the school IMHO.

  25. Gene 03/29/2007 at 2:57 PM #

    I think the NBA rule not letting high school kids go straight to the pro’s is going to cause this kind of thing.

    Mayo’s clearly thinking of endorsement deals once he goes pro.

    If he’s good, I can’t blame him.

    Glad to see Floyd’s trying to the right thing, by making sure Mayo was going to USC for something other than a publicity jaunt.

    With the lack of action taken against USC regarding allegations of impropriety by Reggie Bush and his family, I don’t think the NCAA’s will bust the Trojan’s chops over Mayo. The more people in a large city, like LA, who watch college basketball, the better for the NCAA’s bottom line.

1 2

Leave a Reply