Eleven months after Kevin Keatts took NC State to the Final Four, he is out of a job.
The Wolfpack parted ways with the coach after eight seasons, following a 12-19 season that saw State miss the ACC Tournament with a 5-15 conference record. Keatts finishes with the sixth-longest tenure and fifth-most wins in Wolfpack basketball history.
“The last eight years have been a dream come true, and I will always cherish my time being a part of the Raleigh community,” Keatts posted on social media. “I want to thank (former NC State athletic director) Debbie Yow for giving me this tremendous opportunity to lead the Wolfpack back to the top of the ACC. Her leadership and vision brought so many great coaches to NC State.”
Keatts was reportedly on the verge of being fired last season, after a 17-15 regular season and tenth place ACC finish. The Wolfpack won five games in five days to take the ACC Tournament crown, however, triggering an automatic two-year contract extension for Keatts. He went on to win four NCAA games, taking he Pack to the Final Four for the first time since 1983.
“I am extremely proud of what we accomplished during my time here,” Keatts said. “Prior to my first season, the NCAA informed us that we were being investigated due to the actions of the prior staff. We were able to guide the program through five years of investigations and penalties and came out on the other side with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, and for the first time in 37 and 40 years, an ACC Championship and a trip to the Final Four.”
“I want to thank Coach Keatts for his contributions to NC State and for always representing the university with class,” said State A.D. Boo Corrigan in a statement. “He will always have a treasured place in Wolfpack history for the accomplishments of his 2023-24 squad and I appreciate the passion he brought to this role. We wish him and his family the best in the future.”
The extension meant a higher buyout amount to get rid of Keatts a year later. Reportedly, State will pay him just under $8 million.
NC State is reportedly already interviewing candidates to take over the program.
The clear-cut favorite for the job is Will Wade. The former LSU coach and current coach of McNeese State was a finalist eight years ago, when Keatts was hired. He comes with baggage, however. In 2019, wiretaps from an FBI investigation into basketball recruiting that recorded him arranging payments to potential LSU players were made public. A year later, a school investigation uncovered multiple recruiting violations, and he was fired. He took the job at McNeese while serving out a show-cause penalty from the NCAA that restricted his recruiting activities. That penalty expired at the end of this season.
If State and Wade don’t come to an agreement, other leading candidates include VCU coach Ryan Odom and Tennessee assistant Justin Gainey.
Odom is the son of former Wake Forest coach Dave Odom, and a North Carolina resident who also worked on staffs at UNC Asheville, Charlotte and Lenoir Rhyne. He’s best known for his time at UMBC, when he engineered the first win by a 16-seed over a 1-seed in NCAA history. State would likely have to beat out UVA, the team Odom’s UMBC team upset, to hire him.
Gainey is a Greensboro native and a former Wolfpack point guard from 1996 to 2000. While he has no head coaching experience, Gainey has been at Tennessee since 2021 and is a key component in the Volunteers’ suffocating defense. He’s also coached on staffs at Elon and App State and worked in NC State administration from 2006 to 2009.
The next tier of candidates includes mid-major coaches Alan Huss (High Point), Tony Skinn (George Mason), Ben McCollum (Drake) and Richard Pitino Jr. (New Mexico).
The new coach will inherit a roster that was going to be in transition, even without factoring in any attrition due to the coaching change. Bowling Green transfer Marcus Hill, State’s leading scorer, announced plans to return next season for a fifth year of eligibility, but the next six leading scorers on the team have all expired their eligibility. Convincing freshmen Trey Parker and Paul McNeil to return will likely be an early priority for the new staff.
The Wolfpack will likely need to address its NIL budget in order to provide the new coach with the means to compete in the ACC. Neighboring rivals UNC and Duke both have reportedly significantly higher budgets and both have added general managers in recent years to help recruit and construct a roster.
“As we enter this new era of college sports, I wholeheartedly believe that I am leaving the program in better position to succeed than when I started – and that the basketball program will continue to thrive when supported to the level necessary to compete,” Keatts said.
