NC State head coach Elliott Avent met with the media to discuss his retirement announcement, the regional matchup against UCF, and much more!
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the full press conference!
What all went into the decision to hang it up after the season? And what were the emotions like when you came to that conclusion?
It was not something I dwelt on a lot. I can't say I've thought about it a lot, but I always said I knew there'd be a place and a time when it hits somebody. I think it hits everybody at a certain time in their career, whether it's to change jobs, do something else, or whatever. It probably just hit me, I don't know, a month ago, a few weeks ago, that it might be the right place at the right time.
There were certain things I wanted to make sure were finished before I left, so it wouldn't be left to the next head coach. And thank goodness, the next head coach is Chris Hart. That was a part of the puzzle, too, right? It was the right place at the right time, and I wanted to make sure Chris Hart was the next head coach; I may not have made that decision.
Once that was in place and we got the facilities built, there's still more to build, but I think the weight room and center field are pretty much a done deal, and that'll happen soon. But as far as the left-field family playground and the pavilion behind left field, those things may take a couple or three years, and I don't think I have a couple or three years left in me. So, I just felt like as we got toward the end, it was the right place at the right time.
The only thing that bothered me a little bit was: were we going to get to the postseason? I didn't want my last year to be without a postseason. For me, these guys that you just talked to, who are going to get drafted and go play professionally, won't be back next year. The seniors won't be back next year. To be honest, every player on this team needs to go to the postseason; every player needs to experience that. So, I took the chance and announced it once it was official. Thank goodness the committee saw fit to do what I think was the right thing and put us in. That gives me great satisfaction.
Going off that, what was it like for you to actually see the name pop up yesterday and know that you guys were in, after what may have been an anxious couple of days?
It's on video. I actually saw it this morning for the first time, and it's on video, and I saw myself. When I saw it, I just watched the players, because it's all about the players. If you coach for the right reasons, which I'm not sure everybody does anymore, I think college athletics has gotten a little bit skewed, but if you do things for the right reasons, then it's the players that everybody should focus on. So, I just sat there and watched the players, and to me, that's what it was. I can't tell you what it was like, but as I said, it meant a lot.
Why was it so important for you to know that Chris was going to be the guy taking over this position, and what makes him equipped to take over this job?
What makes him equipped is a testament to how we've been the last 22 years that he's been here. If you just scroll back to what this program has done for the last 22 years, I think that is enough of a resume for him. He's had a lot to do with that, being in charge of recruiting and practice. He coaches third, runs the offense, I mean, he can't have any more responsibility than he's had the last 10 or 15 years. So, that's enough of a resume.
In the last 60 years, it's been Coach Esposito, me, and Ray Tanner. I think the track record for NC State, the distinction, and the stature of this program is top 20. We are consistently ranked by D1Baseball among the top programs in America, and so that's something I'm very proud of.
I'm real big on consistency and continuity, keeping people together, keeping the same people intact. I think that's important. With Chris Hart being the guy who needs to be the next guy, he knows how this place runs and operates. He'll keep everybody here who has been a big part of this. Some people have been here eight years, 10 years, 15 years. We've got a lot of people here who have some tenure. So, there was no question he was the right person to be the next head coach here.
So, Michael Jordan had "The Last Dance," right, on his last run out. What should we call this for you?
Certainly not a dance. There is no athleticism here, so you'd better put an athlete with me. I'd say maybe "The Last Ride," just the last ride.
I remember a good friend of mine, Ray Birmingham, who went out of New Mexico, a great friend of mine back there. For his last game, he got on a horse and rode out from home plate to center field and just kept riding. I love Westerns, so yeah, this will be the last ride.
Are you going to bring a horse down?
No, I'm not going to do that. But that's the best way for me to answer what Pat said. It won't be the last dance, but it'll be the last ride.
Have you talked to your kids about this and said, "Hey, obviously there's going to be emotion, but at the same time, you have to kind of detach from that when you get out there on the field"?
I don't think there will be any emotion. I really didn't do it for that reason, the timing of it. We weren't even going into the ACC tournament. If I wanted to draw some emotion, you know what I'm saying, I would have announced it before the ACC tournament. I'm not that guy. I don't want parades; I don't want jackets. I'll just put the keys on the desk and say bye.
Yeah, but I guess I'm asking more because they care about you. They're obviously going to want to play and win for you.
They care about me, I think, and I'm glad to say that. There was a lot of emotion in that locker room when I told the team. That's something we'll always share.
But no, they're going to play; teams have to play for each other. Teams don't play for coaches. They may come for coaches, and they may like coaches and play a little harder for some coaches than others because of how they're treated, but teams have to play for each other. That's who they've got to play for. So, they'll be playing for each other.
As Sherman talked about, helping them with parking tickets or with girls, how much does being a mentor really speak to you?
I think that's what our business is all about. I think it's about coaching, but we've got great coaches here, and we all do as good a job as we can. From Bo to Chris to Clint, to Josh Fisher, to JT, on down the line, everybody gives great coaching here, so that goes with it.
But I think the mentorship... I'm not even sure. As I leave, you don't look back at what you've done. As I leave, for me, I look back and see what I could have done more. If I had to do this over, what would I have done differently? I think maybe what I've done... I had a great conversation with Wyatt Peifer today. We just wound up in the lounge together and went on a talk that I normally wouldn't do during the season because they have school and they have a social life. We don't normally have that time to sit there and really talk.
But the mentorship, I hope, is what Sherman says; I hope I've given that to most players. You'd like to say every player, but the texts that I've gotten... my wife showed me one last night when I got home from Brett Austin. I cannot tell you what that meant to me. And I saw something from Tom Walter that Tyler showed me yesterday. Somebody showed me something from Scott Forbes.
Those are... I got one of the best texts from the center fielder, Vance Honeycutt, who plays for Carolina. First of all, he had to go to the trouble of finding my number from somebody, and then he sent me one of the best texts I got. I got one from Jordan Sprinkle, whom I coached on the USA team. I got one from Troy Tulowitzki, whom I was coaching on the USA team, and then we coached together.
Some of the texts I've gotten from people make me think I did a lot of things right. But if I had to do it over, maybe I'd try to do more mentorship for things in their life that you may not know about. So, anyway...
When did that really start for you, to be more of a mentor? You said you wish you had coached them more in that way, so how long ago did you start really taking that approach?
I've tried to do it my whole life. It's something I've tried to do my whole life because this is such a formative time in their lives where I think you can make a difference. And they grew up at a different time than I did. When I grew up, you got mentored by everybody you met. Everybody in my small community of Aventon, North Carolina, was my mentor. And my mom and my dad were my guiding light; they were my everything.
But you got mentored by everybody in that small community. Today, things are different for these guys. They're on such display, and the social media world is such a big part of their life. Everything is out in the open, and I think they need more mentorship today, more than ever, so I hope I've always done that.
Do you see yourself staying in touch with a lot of the guys here after you're done?
I've stayed... love the Buffalo Bills, by the way. I don't have a favorite football team. It used to be the Redskins, but I think it's the Buffalo Bills now, I don't know.
Yes, the greatest present or blessing, or whatever you want to say for a coach, is former players keeping in touch. And I can't tell you the letters I've gotten from former players. I'd like to share them all with somebody, except it would seem a little braggadocious. I don't want it to shine a light on me, but the things that I get from former players it's everything to me. It's like, yes, I will keep in touch with all these guys. I don't go to weddings, I tell them that. I'm going to go to one more wedding, JT Jarrett's, but that's it; I'm shutting it down. I don't go to weddings, but yeah, players are very special.
Elliott, Ray Tanner said that you were the perfect man for the perfect job at the right time, meaning the renovations and things that you've steered. He said he didn't think anyone else could have done it. He said he knew he couldn't do it. What does that speak to regarding your predecessors, who basically said you took the job and did the best you could with it?
Yeah, Ray could have done it. Yeah, Ray could have done it. Ray's an unbelievable coach, an unbelievable business person, and he is great at what he does; everything he's touched, he's been good at. So, Ray could have done it, but he got frustrated with it not being done, so he went to a place that wanted to do it, right?
But this has been a collection, too, of a lot of people. A lot of people have helped get this thing done. But I said when I left, we would have most of it done, and we do. And it's fantastic. The facilities here are top-notch.
But I appreciate Ray saying that; he's an old, dear friend. I was hired on his first staff; we were in college together. We were great friends and old friends. New friends are great, to make new friends and acquaintances, but there's nothing like an old friend. And when he and I talk, we just go right back to when we were coaching together and when we were in college, and some of the things that happened. So, there's nothing like an old friend, and Ray Tanner is certainly that.
Speaking of old friends, one of the connections obviously you've had to NC State is having those links from the '80s and '90s, and being able to instill things like George Tarantini telling you things, Jimmy V, and Kay Yow. How important has it been to be a bridge for NC State and bring all those things to NC State baseball players and the rest of the athletics program these last few years?
All that stuff, and I appreciate you saying that, all that stuff is NC State to me. It's why I love this school. It's why I never thought about leaving. Maybe I entertained some things at times, but there was never a chance I was going to leave here.
I know the night that I announced, the day I announced my retirement, I went home, and you can imagine the phone was just nonstop with calls and texts. I went home with my wife and sat on the back porch swing and just kind of looked out there. It's very peaceful back there with the birds, the chipmunks, and the squirrels. We've got everything back there, and it's pretty peaceful. And the phone just kept ringing. All friends, all special people that I'll talk to in the near future.
But I took two calls that night. And my wife was like, "You're going to take a call, huh?" because I had just not taken about ten in a row. I took one from Janice Guzzo. She's struggling with the loss of one of the great, great coaches and people who ever graced these grounds. You're talking about the old times, and Coach Bob Guzzo, we'll celebrate his life on June 8th in Reynolds Coliseum. A fitting place; that's where we did George Tarantini's. And so I took Janice Guzzo's call, and then Pam Valvano's call.
Pam Valvano and her family, her little girls, are all special to me because that brings me back to when NC State... we've got all great coaches now, but we had all great coaches then. And everybody was around each other all the time, and it was just... It's what built this place. It's what made NC State great; it's what built this place.
So yes, my connection to all the past, Frank Weedon, Charlie Bryant, Bobby Purcell, my connection to all those great people is what makes this place so special. And yeah, I'm happy to be that person who can still tell those stories.
