RALEIGH, N.C. — Justin Gainey vowed Wednesday to bring toughness and stability back to the North Carolina State men’s basketball team after his alma mater suddenly had a coaching vacancy for the second year in a row.
The former Wolfpack guard said he can be a bridge to different eras of the program as he becomes a head coach for the first time.
“I’m humbled, I’m grateful and I’m ready,” said Gainey, a 49-year-old North Carolina native. “It’s a surreal moment for me. It’s like a dream come true that hasn’t fully set in.”
Gainey spent the past five seasons on Tennessee coach Rick Barnes’ staff, serving as associate head coach for the last four in Knoxville, and he was formally introduced in Raleigh three days after the Volunteers’ season ended (with a loss in the NCAA Division I tournament’s Elite Eight round), two days after his hire was widely reported, and a day after it was officially announced by N.C. State.
It was really a reintroduction — and even billed as a homecoming celebration — for a player who was a staple in the Wolfpack lineup for four seasons from 1996 to 2000.