NC State’s Newest Man of Intrigue

Justin Gainey ’00, ’06 was never sure he wanted to be a college basketball coach. Then again, he fully admits, he never really knew what that job entails.

When he was a varsity player as an NC State student, he thought a coach drew up a few plays, recruited some players, hired some assistant coaches and blew a whistle — a lot. That was before the former Wolfpack point guard began learning the intricacies of leading in the sport he loved to play.

“I always thought I’d play forever, and the thought of coaching was so far removed from me that I couldn’t see myself doing it,” Gainey said Wednesday afternoon as he was introduced as the 22nd head men’s basketball coach in NC State history. “At the time I was young; I didn’t really understand what coaching was, right?

“Once I started to understand what coaching really was, I was drawn to it. I wanted to mentor. I wanted to share my experiences with guys like me, that have come from places like me, that needed some direction, needed some guidance on how to handle different situations.”

So the young guard from High Point, North Carolina, and Greensboro Day School has spent the last two decades traveling from program to program picking up the skills he believes will help him in his first head coaching position.

Wednesday’s introduction and reception felt like an old-school homecoming, with the 49-year-old Gainey standing at the lectern calling out former teammates, administrators and familiar faces in the Arena Club room at the Lenovo Center, one of the two places Gainey called home during his playing career and now his new home on the sidelines. (To kick off his senior season, Gainey scored the final point in the Wolfpack’s first game at what was then called the Entertainment and Sports Arena in a 67-63 victory over Georgia on Nov. 19, 1999.)

Gainey had a steady four-year career under head coach Herb Sendek and left his mark on the program, notably setting an ACC Tournament record that no one else has ever matched by playing all 160 minutes in four games in 1997. He is one of only three players in program history to earn first-team All-ACC Championship honors, along with Kenny Carr (1975) and Brandon Costner (2007).

His legacy, however, was his tough steadiness throughout his career and the hard work he’s put in since his playing days ended in order to return to the campus where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a concentration in marketing, in 2000 and a master’s degree in sport management in 2006.

“I couldn’t be more proud than to have Justin Gainey as NC State’s new men’s basketball coach,” said Chancellor Kevin Howell, who sat with Gainey and athletics director Boo Corrigan at the front of a packed room. “He’s one of our own. He’s a native son of High Point, North Carolina. He’s a not one- but a two-time graduate of NC State. And he started his coaching career right here.

“This is what we call a full-circle moment.”

Shortly after graduation, Gainey played professional basketball briefly in Europe. When he returned home, just after the birth of his first son, he worked in a Cary gym and volunteered as the eighth-grade coach at Cary Academy.

He was offered a two-year internship in NC State athletics’ business office as part of then-athletics director Lee Fowler’s initiative to introduce more diversity into the college athletics administration.

Gainey is now the third African American basketball coach in NC State history.

“I wasn’t sure if I wanted to coach, but I was trying to find my way,” Gainey said. “Coach Sendek arranged a meeting for me with Lee, and we had a great conversation, which is what led to the internship.

“That meeting changed my whole view on college athletics because I learned about it from a business perspective. From that moment on, the idea of becoming a coach intrigued me.”

And now, Gainey is the most intriguing person on campus as he begins his journey to add to the Wolfpack program’s legacy of success.