Kevin Keatts Hire Gets Rave Reviews
4/14/2017 3:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Three different columns rank hire of Kevin Keatts highly
NC State hired Kevin Keatts as head men's basketball coach on Friday, March 17. Four weeks later, with the college basketball coaching carousel slowing down, three different basketball websites have given postive reviews to the Wolfpack's choice of having Keatts take over the program.
FoxSports.com's Aaron Torres ranks Keatts as the number one college basketball hire this offseason:
"Part of ranking the hires is balancing the coach with the school hiring him. For that reason alone, Keatts is atop this list. Not because he'll necessarily be better than Miller at Indiana, but because relative to the school, no one did a better job at finding a coach.Â
"After turning UNC Wilmington into a mid-major winner with back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances, Keatts seemed like the right up-and-coming fit to lead the Wolfpack into a new era after Mark Gottfried was let go. Before his stop at UNC Wilmington, he was an assistant under Rick Pitino at Louisville from 2011 to 2014 and Pitino raves about his recruiting ability and difficult style to play against. He was the first coach to win back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association coach of the year awards after leading the Seahawks to CAA regular-season titles in all three seasons at the helm."
Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde said Keatts is one of the most intriguing hires in college basketball:
"The 44-year-old Keatts can win on the recruiting trail and the court (he's 72-28 as a head coach) and will give N.C. State the opportunity to shed its underachiever label."
FoxSports.com's Aaron Torres ranks Keatts as the number one college basketball hire this offseason:
"Part of ranking the hires is balancing the coach with the school hiring him. For that reason alone, Keatts is atop this list. Not because he'll necessarily be better than Miller at Indiana, but because relative to the school, no one did a better job at finding a coach.Â
The past decade or so of Wolfpack basketball has been a mess, as NC State has been led by a couple of coaches short on experience (Sidney Lowe) and success (Mark Gottfried). So for them to go out and get one of the hottest young coaches in the sport – a guy who has made two straight NCAA tournaments, is a proven recruiter and plays a fun style of basketball – it's a home run."
Scott Gleeson of USA Today ranks the Pack's hire of Kevin Keatts as one of the top-5 coaching moves this year:"After turning UNC Wilmington into a mid-major winner with back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances, Keatts seemed like the right up-and-coming fit to lead the Wolfpack into a new era after Mark Gottfried was let go. Before his stop at UNC Wilmington, he was an assistant under Rick Pitino at Louisville from 2011 to 2014 and Pitino raves about his recruiting ability and difficult style to play against. He was the first coach to win back-to-back Colonial Athletic Association coach of the year awards after leading the Seahawks to CAA regular-season titles in all three seasons at the helm."
Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde said Keatts is one of the most intriguing hires in college basketball:
"The 44-year-old Keatts can win on the recruiting trail and the court (he's 72-28 as a head coach) and will give N.C. State the opportunity to shed its underachiever label."
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