When NC State wrapped up its 2015-16 basketball campaign, it seemed like a safe bet the program would be bringing back the bulk of its roster next year.
The Wolfpack entered this offseason without any scholarship seniors, and while point guard Cat Barber’s decision to declare for the NBA Draft came as no surprise, the attrition that followed made for an abnormal situation.
Small forwards Caleb and Cody Martin announced in March that they would be transferring, and shortly after, power forward Abdul-Malik Abu entered his name in the NBA Draft. Then, when the NBA Draft early entry list was announced late last month, Wolfpack center BeeJay Anya was among the players testing the waters.
The turnover didn’t stop with the roster.
Assistant coach Rob Moxley was reassigned to director of player personnel once the season ended. Given Moxley’s health issues last offseason, that move didn’t come as a shock, but plenty of eyebrows raised in April when assistant Bobby Lutz was moved off the basketball staff and into an administrative role within the athletic department.
Those weren’t the only recent moves on head coach Mark Gottfried’s staff. Prior to this past season, then-director of player development Dereck Whittenburg left his position for another job within NC State athletics.
While Anya is expected to return to school, the changes around the program in recent weeks have left several questions regarding what’s going on behind the scenes. Thirteen years ago, another program down the road from NCSU experienced similar turnover in a short period if time, and it eventually resulted in a coaching change.
In 2003, ACC Sports Journal editor David Glenn interviewed dozens of people connected to North Carolina’s basketball program after an offseason that included three outgoing transfers. He ran a story that detailed relationship issues between head coach Matt Doherty and his players, causing a significant culture change within the program.
Doherty was fired weeks later and, in the years that followed, acknowledged and confirmed many of the problems Glenn had written about.
On Tuesday, The David Glenn Show discussed the turnover at NC State, noting that the Pack would have only seven scholarship players if Abu doesn’t return, making it the only ACC team other than Syracuse (which is limited by scholarship sanctions) with fewer than 11 scholarship players on next year’s projected roster.
Glenn also explained why the situation at NC State is NOT like the one at UNC in 2003. Click below to hear the full interview: