North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Q&A with Pete Strickland
5/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
May 29, 2006
Strickland added to Lowe's staff
Interview with Quentin Jackson
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - For two years, Pete Strickland was Sidney Lowe's summer league basketball coach.
It was after Lowe's junior and senior seasons at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md. Strickland, a former DeMatha player who was teammates with legendary Wolfpack players Kenny Carr and Hawkeye Whitney, was playing college basketball at Pittsburgh (with new co-worker Larry Harris) and he would come home every summer to work the summer camp put on by legendary DeMatha coach Morgan Wootten.
Lowe and Strickland have remained friends ever since, bound by their ties to Wootten and their high school alma mater. So when Sidney Lowe was hired as head coach on May 6, he knew he wanted to talk to Strickland, who had spent the past six years as the head coach at Coastal Carolina in Conway, S.C.
Strickland thought it was a perfect fit for he and his family, which includes his wife,, and children, Meaghan, Michael and Conor.
Strickland recently sat down to talk about his new position with a handful of media, including GoPack.com.
GoPack: So are you any more settled than your new co-workers, Monte Towe and Sidney Lowe?
Strickland: Probably not. My family is in Myrtle Beach and my son, Michael, graduates from high school on June 8. We will be able to make a transition after that.
GoPack: Have you ever been through a situation like this, where all the assistants are in place and the head coach is not here yet? Strickland: You do dealt with that a little bit, like when the head coach is away on vacation and things like that. But it's never been for this extended of a time. I am rooting against the Pistons. I finally told Sidney that I have figured out that I am definitely rooting against them now. I like the idea of having that ring on his finger, just like he does, but we need him around. To be honest, though, in this day of technology, with e-mails, instant messages, we are staying in very close touch. The direction, from his point of view, is there. His stamp is already being put on the way things are going.
GoPack: Tell us a little about your relationship with Sidney and how it came about that you ended up here.
 Former Pittsburgh teammates Pete Strickland (center) and Larry Harris (right) are now co-workers at NC State.  |
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GoPack: So you were teammates with [former NC State star] Kenny Carr?
Strickland: This is why I feel great about being here. Kenny was a senior when I was a junior and Hawkeye Whitney was a sophomore. I was between those two NC State greats and two DeMatha greats. NC State didn't recruit me, which I am still mad about. But I would rather be here now. It's just a little delayed recruitment. I coached Sidney two years, after his junior and senior years of high school. He was imminently coachable, just as he would seem to be. He was a very poised and calm leader. He was one of those guys that just seemed a little older than his years. He is a guy I really enjoyed coaching. He seemed to handle everything that came at him with aplomb. He went off to coach in the pros after college and we kind of rekindled our relationship a few years ago, when his son, Sidney, Jr., was trying to decide what he was going to do. We would also stay in touch through the DeMatha family.
GoPack: Speaking of the DeMatha family, what is the relationship like with former players and Coach Wootten?
Strickland: It starts with total devotion to Morgan. He is a tremendous man, a great coach, someone who had a big effect on me. Outside my family, he had the biggest effect on my life. He is a New Bern native who was born in Durham Hospital, so he sees himself connect to this thing too. I have talked to him a lot recently. He told me, `You know Pete, I would really like to come to that first game.' That was a little bit remarkable, because he really doesn't ask for a lot of things. That really touched me and Sidney both. Back to the question, we were all coached by the same man. Any high school has the same feeling, whether it is Mount Tabor, Greensboro Day or Broughton, but many times the coaches are different. We are all joined by the fact that we were all coached by someone I think is an extraordinary man. You know, your high school coach affects you a lot and we have all been affected by the same values. Morgan always talked about God, family, school and then everything else. There is some commonality there that is real.
GoPack: Have you ever asked Coach Wootten about the opportunity he had in 1980 to become NC State's head coach?
Strickland: Yes and his answer was always the same, just as it was when he was offered the Duke job a few years before that: Why mess with happiness? Plus, what he doesn't mention is the financial piece. Unlike most high school coaches, he had a camp that was operated at a high level. Financially, he didn't have the same motivation as a lot of coaches. Thank God he stayed for all those legions of people who came after that.
GoPack: So do you think you can find him a couple of tickets for that first game?
Strickland: Possibly. Thank goodness he is not a high school coach anymore, because now we can take care of him. If he were still coaching, we would have to put him on the pass list and he might be sitting in the upper deck with the vendors. Now that he is retired, we can sit him at mid-court with a robe and a crown.
GoPack: How much does it help having coaches on this staff that have won national championships?
Strickland: First of all, the kids here are used to winning. That's the biggest thing. Herb Sendek did an excellent job. This program is in great shape, unlike a lot of transitions. Obviously, Monte Towe and Sidney Lowe, what they bring to the table is extraordinary, because that is what our kids want to be: champions. They also want to be where both of them were as players, in the pros. Those guys are winners. Having players that are used to winning is more important.
GoPack: You are kind of the bridge between all the coaches on the staff. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Strickland: I know all the secret handshakes. A staff's ability to work together is contingent upon the relationship you have with one another. One of the things Sidney and I talked about when we were discussing me coming here was the relationship Larry and I had I had. I figured Larry and I could hit the ground running. That has proven to be true. Larry was a great teammate in college and we have stayed in close contact. We have hit it running. Monte is so infectious and open, that he fits right in too. Sidney's management style has been easy to get accustomed to. The four of us have some common ground that we have been able to till. It's been fun.
GoPack: With the turnover, how far behind is the program in recruiting for next year?
Strickland: I will say that we are not ahead. We have to catch up. One thing that is becoming clear is that the four of us are in the same generation. What is happening is that our peers' children are players. It's already showing up. Additionally, the four of our contacts and strongest recruiting areas are really different. We are covering some ground in just that alone. At the moment, though, yes, it is a concern. It's the hand we are dealt; let's go. We have a great product to sell, both with our head coach, the university and its tradition. We are certainly not handicapped by anything other than maybe a little bit of the timing.
GoPack: Monte mentioned that the longer the hiring process went on, he expected his name would be involved. What was it like for you?
Strickland: I was keeping my eye on it, because it was such a great fit geographically for me and my family. Washington is my home, but my wife and I acknowledge that the South is our children's home. I was kind of keeping an eye on it for that reason. When Sidney got the job, I really thought it might be possible. Then I got the call from him. I was tracking it all along, because of the opportunity to stay in this region where I am strongest professionally. It was a win-win.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
