Catawba County's Bobby Lutz helping restore basketball Tradition at NC State

I think in reading this blog that most of you understand that it was no secret that I wanted Hickory's own Rick Barnes to take the challenge of bringing NC State's rich basketball tradition back from the doldrums. Well as most everyone knows, it wasn't meant to be and Coach Barnes decided to stay in Texas. The chances of Coach Barnes ever coming back to our state to coach have finally been extinguished, but I hold no animosity towards him and I wish him the best of luck at the University of Texas, except when his team faces the Wolfpack in the future.

Coach Mark Gottfried decided to accept the challenge of becoming NC State's next basketball coach and it is a feel good story. Coach Gott was a freshman All-American basketball player at Oral Roberts where he met Debbie Yow, NC State's current athletic director and a North Carolina native, who was the women's basketball coach there at that time (She is the sister of NC State legendary women's coach, the late Kay Yow). Due to a coaching transition, Mark Gottfried transferred to Alabama where he led the program to three consecutive Sweet Sixteens as a player in the mid-1980s. Gottfried was an All-Southeastern Conference competitor, but he just didn't make it as a professional.

Coach Gott began his assistant coaching career at UCLA. Everyone understands that UCLA has won the most national basketball titles of any school in the nation and during Gottfried's time as an assistant under Jim Harrick they won their last National Title in 1995, which was their 11th. Coach Gottfried has long stated the importance of the wisdom that he attained from the Legendary John Wooden during his years in Los Angeles. He went on from that National Title team to become the Head Coach at Murray State for three years before joining his Alma mater Alabama.

Gottfried had success at Alabama, but he himself admits to making mistakes during the latter part of his tenure; he was named the Coach of the Year in the SEC in 2002, he led Alabama to five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (2002-2006), he took the team to an Elite Eight appearance in 2004 (the furthest an University of Alabama Basketball team has ever been in the NCAA Tournament), and he had the team ranked Number 1 in the nation during the 2001-2002 season. Alabama is first and foremost a Football school and basketball has always been an afterthought, but through most of his tenure there Coach Gottfried drew attention to that program. Towards the end that attention became negative; with team goal underachievement, NBA defections, and others walking away. This led to Coach Gottfried's awkward resignation in the middle of the 2008-2009 season.

Coach Gottfried was given a second chance by NC State and he has fully acknowledged that at his introductory Press Conference and in the subsequent articles written in local and national publications. During his press conference he stated that he learned a lot of things from the end of his tenure at Alabama and during his subsequent two years away from college basketball coaching that he spent with ESPN as a color analyst. One of the issues that he addressed was his desire to bring in the best assistant coaching staff in America to help with his weaknesses and strengthen the overall basketball teaching and fundamentals of the players in the program.

One of the hires was made today. It is Bobby Lutz from right here Catawba County. This should be an exciting prospect for the people of our area, especially those from Sherrills Ford, because this gives us a high profile tie-in to a program that is marketed and branded nationally. It may not have the savoir faire that the hiring of Rick Barnes would have brought to the area, but it is something that Catawba County and Bandys High School can definitely hang its hat on.

Bobby Lutz was a very solid coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He played basketball under the late Bill Bost at Bandy's High School in the mid 1970s, graduating in 1976. At one time Bill Bost was the winningest Boys Basketball Coach in terms of total wins in the State of North Carolina. And Bill Bost not only coached the Boys team into being a powerhouse, he also coached the girls team to the same stature.

Bobby Lutz was named the coach at Pfeiffer College at the age of 28 in 1986. During his nine years there, he won right at two-thirds of his games, made the NAIA tournament every year, and took the school to one NAIA National Championship game. From there he went to coach as an assistant at UNC-Charlotte under Jeff Mullins and Melvin Watkins before becoming the head coach in 1998.

Lutz was the head coach at UNC-Charlotte for 12 years, appearing in 5 NCAA tournaments and 1 NIT in his first seven years. The University also won two Conference USA championships and a Regular Season Championship during that time. In 2005, UNC-Charlotte was forced to move to the Atlantic 10, because so many top quality basketball programs left Conference USA (University of Cincinnati, Depaul University, Marquette University, and Louisville University) and moved to the Big East Conference. The Charlotte program has struggled making the transition and has since only made two National Invitational Tournament appearances in the subsequent years. It is my opinion that UNC-Charlotte should have stayed in the Conference USA or moved to the Colonial Athletic Association where they would have endured much less traveling and had UNC-Wilmington as a natural rival. But because of the struggles, Bobby Lutz took the fall for the programs lack of success.

I just think it is exciting that Bobby Lutz will represent our State and our area as a part of the largest University in the North Carolina system's basketball program. He is someone who has always represented our area well. I think he will be an aggressive recruiter in the North Carolina area and help keep many of these guys home here in the State, whereas Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill concentrate on being national entities and looking outside the state for talent first. As the North Carolina State press release states:

A native of Catawba, N.C., Lutz led Charlotte to a school-record five 20-win seasons, averaged over 18 wins a year and won three league titles (1999, 2001, 2004) in his tenure with the 49ers. He had four top-20 national recruiting classes and tutored 10 players who earned first-team all-conference honors. Five times in his career a Lutz-coached 49er squad knocked off a top-10 opponent, including a win over No. 3 Cincinnati in 1999. Five of the eight wins over top-10-ranked opponents in Charlotte’s history came under Lutz's watch. In 2005, Lutz was a finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award.

It will give me extra pleasure seeing someone from the area work diligently to bring North Carolina State's basketball program back to prominence. These kinds of connections and stories are important to our area or any area. Success breeds success. Coach Gottfried and Coach Lutz are already working hard in Raleigh and building a rapport with the locals, before long they will be appearing here in Catawba County and the surrounding area to meet and greet the Wolfpack faithful.

Hey, it's only college sports and in the tumultuous times in which we live it isn't life and death; but even if you aren't a Wolfpack supporter, it should be exciting times for the State of North Carolina. The Atlantic Coast Conference isn't what it once was in basketball and this has pretty much coincided with the demise of North Carolina State's program a generation ago. Those of us old enough to remember, truly know what ACC basketball was all about. Today's brand is an emperor who wears no clothes. Duke, Carolina, and the dwarfs has not worked.

It used to be that an ACC with 7 or 8 teams would have five teams in the top twenty in the nation. The last several years it has been hard to fit in two and that is with twelve teams in the conference. It has become hum-drum and television ratings and revenues prove it. My prediction is that the resurrection of NC State's basketball program would go a long way towards the resurrection of the Brand that we all grew up with and cherished in the 1970s and 1980s and the kids today don't really have a clue about. Wouldn't it be something to have ACC basketball back. Wouldn't it be something to have the Big Four mean something again. One can only hope. One can only hope.... A Saga... To Be Continued