GLENDALE, Ariz. — Shortly before NC State coach Kevin Keatts was scheduled to speak with the media, we sat in a small room catching up.
The last time we’d spoken was April 8, 2013, when Keatts was enjoying the high point of a coaching career that had experienced many intriguing twists and turns. That evening in Atlanta, Louisville defeated Michigan to win the men’s national championship. Two months later, the kid from Lynchburg, Virginia, an assistant coach for Louisville, was at the White House with his team shaking hands with President Barack Obama.
Eleven years later, Keatts is two victories away from winning a national championship of his own when NC State faces heavily favored No. 1 seed Purdue on Saturday in a national semifinal game.
Like the Wolfpack’s Final Four run, Keatts’ road traveled has been an unlikely journey that has taken him from Lynchburg to Ferrum College to Hargrave Military Academy to Louisville, UNC Wilmington and NC State.
This is Keatts’ third Final Four. He reached one with Louisville in 2012 and again in 2013.
This time Keatts is the captain of his own ship.
“This is one of the highest highs that I could ever have,” he said. “This will be my third Final Four, but I’m blessed because I get a chance to take my own team there.
“This is a major thing. I’m in the moment. I’ll look back at it five, 10 years from now and realize how important it is. But it doesn’t get any better than this, especially the way nobody expected us to be here.”
Quite true. In a grand turn of fortunes, Keatts has become the toast of the NCAA universe. Two months ago, some thought some Keatts was already toast.
After seven seasons as the Wolfpack coach, Keatts had never won the ACC tournament and had reached the NCAA tournament only twice in previous six seasons. After finishing the regular season at 17-14, speculation was that Keatts would have to win the ACC tournament to save his job.
He did.
Ever the optimist, Keatts said that he was in such a bubble, so consumed by the moment that he was oblivious to the speculation about his employment. He said he put all of his faith in the divine. “I just said, ‘You lead me. I’m going to coach the team, but I can’t fight all battles.’ ”
He also took social media chatter with a grain of salt. “I don’t when they tell you how great you are and I don’t listen when they tell you you stink,” he said.
“I know the true NC State people and the people who know me who know where my heart is and who know what I’ve done. So, it never really bothered me. If it did, we probably wouldn’t be to this point.”
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In 2017, when Keatts was hired by NC State, his mentor Rick Pitino was fired at Louisville amid a recruiting scandal and a federal investigation into the program. The NCAA also ruled that the men’s basketball program must vacate its records from 2011 to 2015, including the 2013 title and a Final Four appearance in 2012. The NCAA penalized the program for, among other things, arranging striptease dances and sex acts for prospects and student-athletes, according to the infractions report.
When we spoke on Thursday, I asked Keatts how he was affected by seeing the 2013 championship nullified.
“I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “I’ve always been on the high. They talk about that title and all that stuff. I always said you win them on the court. It doesn’t matter.”
In Keatts’ fourth season at NC State, the school announced that the Wolfpack men’s basketball team would be fined, lose one scholarship and vacate 15 wins due to multiple NCAA violations stemming from the 2016-17 season. The violations occurred under former Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried, who was fired a year before Keatts arrived. Keatts said he kept his head down, kept coaching, kept recruiting, kept keeping the program stable.
The point of recounting this history is to make the point that while NC State is the tournament’s underdog, Keatts is no Johnny-come-lately. He’s tough, competitive and accomplished. He enjoyed success at UNC Wilmington as a first-time coach, sharing the regular-season title twice and winning the conference tournament twice. Under Keatts, UNC Wilmington reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.
Keatts has also become a mentor to young coaches, especially young Black coaches who need to know how to build and sustain careers in a fiercely competitive coaching industry.
“I would say, don’t skip steps,” Keatts said. “You can’t get to Spanish 2 or 3 without taking Spanish 1.”
Keatts said his first job paid $5,000 a year. His second job paid $10,000 plus room and board.
“I’m old school because I grew up driving the vehicles at Hargrave Military Academy, washing the cars and all that other stuff,” he said. “Just keep trusting and believing in yourself, because things will pull you different ways.
“What I’ve always done is, I’ve stayed locked into the moment. There is a big picture, but in order to get to the big picture, it’s not going to happen overnight. I put in the work, whereas a lot of young folks now want to go straight to the top.”
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On its way to the Final Four, the Wolfpack faced nine elimination games, beginning in the ACC tournament. The high-wire act understandably framed NC State as the underdog. But Keatts said that is not the team’s mindset.
“We expected to be here,” he said. “I know people don’t believe that but this is not, in our mind as a team, a fluke.”
Three weeks ago, Keatts supposedly was in danger of being fired. Instead, he was given a two-year contract extension and a bonus after winning the ACC tournament. Perhaps it’s because the school recognizes the historic importance of what Keatts is on the verge of achieving.
Keatts was four months shy of his second birthday when NC State won its first national title in 1974. He was three months shy of his 11th birthday in 1983 when, under coach Jim Valvano, NC State won its second national championship. Now at age 51 (his birthday is on July 28), Keatts could become the first Black ACC coach to win a national championship.
It’s taken seven arduous seasons for Keatts to find his way back to the Final Four. In his mind, he is a testament to the power of positive thinking, and tremendous faith and confidence in oneself.
“I’ve always looked at it as a positive,” he said. “And I’ve always looked at it as the Lord is always putting me in a great situation.”
