Add former Wolfpacker Vinny Del Negro to the list of Jim Valvano’s former players who have made a big splash in basketball years after their playing careers ended.
Multiple media reports indicate that Del Negro is set to become the Head Coach of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls.
The deal isn’t complete, but sources said Del Negro will sign a two-year contract with a team option for a third season and be paid roughly $2 million annually. That will make him one of the league’s lowest-paid coaches.
Del Negro is considering hiring former Spurs, Sonics, Knicks and Pacers coach Bob Hill as his lead assistant, sources said.
That Del Negro, most recently the Suns’ assistant general manager, edged out former Minnesota coach Dwane Casey despite having no coaching experience was viewed with surprise around the league. The Bulls offered no official word on the impending hire.
This will link you to ESPN’s most recent article.
Del Negro joins current NC State Head Coach, Sidney Lowe and one of the NBA’s best current coaches, Nate McMillan as former players from Coach Valvano’s NC State program to have become Head Coaches of NBA franchises. Add Dereck Whittenburg, Andy Kennedy and Terry Gannon’s prominence as a successful college coaches and as an ABC television announcer and one builds a very strong case to stick in the eye of the army of naysayers who criticized the ‘character’ of Valvano’s players and teams in the 1980s.
All guards.
Mostly point guards.
It’s a truly impressive run of capable, upstanding individuals that came out of V’s program.
^A splash? Let’s not get carried away here,Looks more like Bull’s managment looking to hire on the cheap and let Paxton run the whole show.
SFN: I just think that it is important to share with you one more time — we delete most of your comments because they offer no value and position you as a troll always looking for trouble. Your leash is much smaller than everyone elses. Please just keep this in mind in the future when you wonder why you waste your time posting only to see your posts vanish by deletions.
^ Naysayers???? What the ? Listen Collins declined the job I wish Vinnie all the luck and best with the Bulls,but word has it he is going to hire Bob Hill as his top assistant not a good idea with his track record…………As we know it is very important for an inexperienced coach in over his head that he surrounds himself with the most experienced and qualified people! Isn’t that right Sid? Oh never mind
1
The link that notes Del Negro’s hiring makes no mention whatsoever of Valvano as it implies that Del Negro is ultra green. Another case of slipshod reporting.
I was thinking today how amazing it is that all of these players are having success in the NBA arena: Lowe, Nate and now Vinnie - as 3 NBA head coaches from one college coach and one school. Can any school compete?
Regarding character - I think it really depends on perspective: V recruited a lot of very heady basketball players w/ high b’ball IQs who have equated themselves well after their playing careers ended. V also recruited a lot of kids who had no business on campus from an academic standpoint. Also, the graduation rate while he was here was miserable.
I think V could have recruited a better student and should have been given the chance to do so.
ky, is there any reason that blackdom follows your every post about 5-10 minutes later?? Just wondering….I think you (or both of you) are an infiltrator. You (neither of you) have ever posted one thing with an ounce of anything positive about State or State athletics. You should consider going back to a UNC blog. Just my opinion…
Honestly, there is some truth behind this. A lot of the Bulls fans are unhappy with the pick. Hopefully, Vinny proves them wrong, I think he can, but this was a risky choice for the Bulls. He’ll get respect quickly though I think.
Hopefully Sid can right the ship, and start the tradition over again. Going to be a rough road though.
SFN: No doubt that there is truth behind the fact that they are getting Vinny on the cheap. That is why we didn’t delete the comments.
Do not sell Vinny short. He worked his way up from an afterthought in a very strong recruiting class to an all-ACC player. His work ethic and steady improvement are very similar to another Wolfpack player–Googs. Good luck Vinny!
NC State got Jim Valvano on the cheap.
Valvano was at NC State for 11 years and has now produced 3 NBA coaches from his former players. To put this in perspective, Dean Smith, Roy Williams and Coach K in over 80 years of coaching haven’t produced 3 NBA coaches combined from their former players.
V’s record of developing people is simply astonishing. Even today, people that worked for or with the man absolutely love him. I could be wrong but I don’t think V ever fired anybody during his stint as AD at NC State. What we miss the most from V is the belief he instilled in people. As an example, George Tarantini made it to the NCAA soccer final 4 with V as his AD.
Doug Moe, Billy Cunningham, George Karl, Larry Brown?
Others?
Did one/some of these play for Frank McGuire instead of Dean?
I believe that Mike O’Koren was an interim coach for a part of a season. I don’t believe that Mitch Kupchak has ever been an interim coach.
Larry Brown played for Dean during Dean’s first year as head coach.
Didn’t Andy Kennedy leave after his freshmen year. I’m not sure I would list him as being heavily Valvano influenced. Always wished that kid would have stayed. If I remember correctly he didn’t want to be known only as a three point shooting specialist so that’s why he left. The thing that is funny was he ended up breaking 3 pt shooting records in the conference he went to. In the end he was known as a three point shooting specialist.
RickJ - Regarding Tarantini - it could have been a situation to (dare I say it) Kay Yow…these coaches got in on the ground floor before other athletic deptarments begin emphasizing these sports. As a result, they experienced a lot of success early but competition has revealed their weaknesses.
Looks like the Chicago Media agrees with the ‘cheap’ version of the decision…
“The choice of Del Negro, who will be announced at a news conference Wednesday, seems desperate. They’ve chosen to risk the franchise’s future by hiring an untested and unproven coach.
This hire reeks of desperation and smells like a bottom-line decision. Why would Reinsdorf push two established coaches like D’Antoni and Collins away, yet approve of Del Negro? Probably because Del Negro will come comparatively cheap. At least until the $4 million he still owes Scott Skiles comes off the books, Reinsdorf doesn’t seem inclined to pay the going rate for a proven head coach.”
Let’s hope Vinnie proves ‘em wrong!
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/slezak/996762,CST-SPT-carol10.article
“V also recruited a lot of kids who had no business on campus from an academic standpoint.”
Jim Valvano definitely definitely DID NOT have the market cornered on recruiting academically ‘challenged’ kids. Others have had just as many of those types on their rosters. It just that when you have the right people, in all the right places, it doesn’t ever come out. Perception is better than reality.
“Also, the graduation rate while he was here was miserable.”
Look around, sheep skins or not, it sure looks to me like THE BASKETBALL COACH did his part.
Jimmy V took the fall for all the ills of college basketball. Many of his contemporaries did the same stuff but nothing happened to them. John Thompson did worse stuff than Jimmy V. Georgetown developed a gangsta thug image they have to this day. And yet nobody badmouths John Thompson.
Years after his death, Jimmy V still looms large. We see who got it right and who got it wrong.
redfred - You’re right, there were others who recruited as many or more. He wasn’t alone in this practice. However, he could have done better - and he could have demanded better.
I love V, but IMHO, he did not live up to his potential at NC State. I know that will a lot of people the wrong way. I firmly believe that he had a feel for the game matched by a precious few on the sidelines. But also believe that unlike his two more successful neighbors a few miles west, he wasn’t satisfied being a “just” a basketball coach. V lived a beautiful life - and was as well-rounded as you’d ever find a coach. However, if he’d wanted to, he could have built what Coach K and Dean D at their respective universities - sadly, he didn’t do EVERYTHING in his control to do so.
Should V have been forced out? Hell no. The man had proven his potential and was ethical. He didn’t fall into the category of “there’s no way he can fly straight.” When he was forced out, NC State athletics took a monumental step back and we still haven’t recovered. But did V do everything in his power to prevent this? Nope.
As much as anything, this just shows why Valvano succeeded and why State coaches since have achieved minimal if any success. You have to have MULTIPLE guys capable of having successful careers in the NBA—playing and coaching and mgt—in order to be really successful as a college program year end and year out.
Lowe, Bailey thru Spud, Vinnie, Nate, Shack, Chucky and on to Gugs, Valvano had a long list of guys who made it and stayed at the NBA level one way or another, playing and/or managing or coaching.
State hasn’t had anything like that talent and consistency of talent since then, and the program bears that lack of fruit.
(Please refrain from giving me Herb’s “long” list of guys trying to hang on by their nails like Powell—who ran away from Herb—or Ced as an example of anything other than mediocrity.)
if T Ferg isnt NBA material than i dont care to know what is.
so, shootinguard, im glad to see you on here, what is the latest? are the coaches spending more time in the practice facilities and less time on the course? are the players getting in shape? any recruiting news?
I think it was Vinnie of whom Valvano said something like, “I didn’t recruit him because he is Italian, I recruited him because I am Italian”. Always chuckled when I heard that line. Maybe at a Wolfpack Club event or something I guess.
In any case I hope Vinnie proves them wrong and quickly earns either a raise or another opportunity. Loved him as a player.
I agree. A program that expects to be at the top has to have NBA players coming through it often. Herb had some some potentially great college players that never stuck around long enough to bear friut. Powell, Wilkins, Harrington, & M. Wiliams could have been top ACC players. But he needed more to raise the program to where it should be. NCSU’s margin for error concerning big-time players isn’t as large as other programs. We need more talent so losing one early doesn’t kill a season.
Just doing a bit of research on Vinny’s career in SA. Among other things, he and Avery Johnson had the best assist to turnover ratio in the NBA in the ‘95-’96 season.
And Gregg Popovich posted a 17-47 record in the 96-97 season, his first year as a head coach. He was previously GM of the team. I think Pop has turned out alright.
Vinny is getting trashed by Bulls “fans” on the ESPN board. I hope he proves them wrong.
Wish Vinny the best, got a feeling he will do good. Vinny was last point guard to lead us to the ACC tournament/championship, if I remember correctly. NBA all looking for new young bright coach like Hornets got. Bobcats just tried Sam Vincent but that didn’t work out now Larry Brown steps in.
As far as V, he considered himself a gym rat as a player and a young asst coach. V had a postive outlook on life, never took himself too seriously, loved people, and worked hard. He teached the same and that is why his influence has been tremendous on those that were around him, worked for him, and played for him. I have a print of him on my office wall and his book on my shelf. God Bless Jimmy V.
^
Slight correction, Vinny Del Negro was the 2 guard. Quinten Jackson was the point. He took over late in the year for *sigh* Kenny Drummond - who left the team mid-season.
Billy C played for McGuire.
Chop, I pretty much agree with your reply, but it does take an entire university, acting as an extended family, to maintain a major sports program AFTER someone else has already built it up to a certain level. Who else from NCSU received even one iota of the criticism or adversity that Jim Valvano faced back then?
Answer: NOBODY
“Whoa Jim, we need to talk a minute. About this Washburn kid, he isn’t the type of student/athlete we really want representing NCSU.”
I have no doubt that the rest of the administration were in awe of Valvano, and possibly afraid to approach him with a statement like that back then. Hell, you could hardly get a word in edgewise anyway. But regardless, it was their job to SUPPORT him, and ALSO the kids in all of the athletic programs, and it was their job to look at who was being enrolled and deny if it wasn’t appropriate. That was the E A S Y part. They didn’t do it though, they let it go and did not say a word about any of it until they put on their little show by overreacting for the NCAA, well AFTER the fact, and in an effort to clear their own names. The Coach, or even the AD, is never in it alone. At least not if he or she is hired by a university with people who want to be successful themselves, and also want maintain that success for the future of the university.
That definitely was the case many, many years ago at NCSU, but it wasn’t the case during Valvano’s days, and it hasn’t been the case since.
Again, the man was a BASKETBALL COACH, first and foremost, maybe he should have never been given the AD position at NCSU. Or just maybe someone should have had the b*lls to step up and say, “Hold on Jim, you’re new to this and you’re heading in a direction that we don’t really approve of”. Instead, they acted as if he had disobeyed and gone against their will, when the real problem was that no one up there was man enough to tell Jim Valvano, or anyone else for that matter, what their “will” was, until after they were publicly embarrassed.
This administration, and every other one since the Valvano days, have been nothing but stuffed shirts, with ties tied so tight, that they have done their best to choke the life out everything that makes NC State, and college life in Raleigh, any fun at all.
Apologies for the rant(s).
Like everyone else, except kyjelly for brains, I hope Vinnie D does well in Chicago. I’m just not going to make any predictions about it, I haven’t done too well in that department lately.
“so, shootinguard, im glad to see you on here, what is the latest? are the coaches spending more time in the practice facilities and less time on the course? are the players getting in shape? any recruiting news?”
Man, I am so far out of the loop—and away from the hoops—these days, it isn’t even funny. I know I can attest to myself getting out of shape by not playing and working on my game, but I can’t speak for the current players. Hopefully, BCostner and I have reverse karma going right now with him slimming down and polishing his game…
Since it’s not too busy on here tonight, and since I rarely stay on topic anyway…
What if the World Series were going on, or the Super Bowl was coming up, wouldn’t we all be talking about it on here?
Yet we do have a major professional championship series going on RIGHT NOW, with two of the all-time great franchises, and while I do watch, SOME, really, WHO CARES?
If anyone is still harboring any delusions about what basketball has become, or what’s the only thing that truly motivates kids these days, look no further than “Da League”. Nobody pays much attention to it anymore, but it definitely pays well.
shooting guard, whenever someone brings up ” “’s ability to groom for the next level, I don’t feel the need to go all the way back to Jimmy V. I always just bring up Todd Fuller, and that guy who coached him. Since that time, no other NC State basketball coach has had a kid with anything close to the kind of success that Todd Fuller had in the NBA.
Sad, but factual.
Since I’ve tried way off-topic subjects and still not gotten any response, I’ll go back to provoking more out of choppack.
“I love V, but IMHO, he did not live up to his potential at NC State.”
Um chop, I wonder if anyone in Raleigh even knew how back then, or if anyone up there has a clue as to how to today, to allow A N Y coach to “live up to his potential (while) AT NC STATE”. It’s not that Jim Valvano did not ‘live up’ in Raleigh, rather the fact is that even a gifted person/personality/Coach like Jim Valvano COULD NOT. He couldn’t do it alone, or maintain it alone after he did, with no viable support system around him.
You’re right though, Jim Valvano did not reach his full potential at NC State University. History does show though, that he did manage to have some really great accomplishments, inspite of NC State University.
Alrighty then, I guess I’ve basically typed myself to sleep now. Thanks for not interrupting. Good night now.
Redfred - I agree w/ you on the inaction of the administration and the admissions office and how some folks got a free pass. Of course, Poulton did lose his job too.
As for being an AD, I think V was actually pretty decent. I would go as far to say as he was better than the ADs who came after him.
I really wonder how V would have handled the RBC. I’ve really thought that we sold our soul a bit w/ the sharing arrangement w/ the Canes. Of course, w/ V being our coach, we might not have needed to split time w/ a pro hockey team to make the arena feasible and show that it can have some kind of atmosphere.
“Yet we do have a major professional championship series going on RIGHT NOW, with two of the all-time great franchises, and while I do watch, SOME, really, WHO CARES?”
To prove your point, after reading this it actually took a few moments to figure out what you were talking about. My first reaction was, “the NHL is already over” then, only after thinking harder, I realized you meant the NBA. Granted I am kind of far from the action, but I keep up with sports just as much as I used to (minus SportsCenter which I’m sure would not allow me to forget that the NBA championship is going on). I just get to focus on sports that I actually care about.
“after reading this it actually took a few moments to figure out what you were talking about,…”
I think that’s the general consensus on pretty much all of my posts anyway.
chop, wouldn’t it have been nice to have filled the RBC to the brim with spoiled and screaming, diehard Wolfpack/ACC Bball fans, instead of always looking around at a bunch of empty red, but MOST IMPORTANTLY prepaid, LTR’s no shows.
There are so many folks who live to pull for, and will pay to see, a winner. Any winner. We had our share of those fans even back before V arrived, but they’ve definitely dispursed and gone elsewhere since.
“so, shootinguard, im glad to see you on here, what is the latest? are the coaches spending more time in the practice facilities and less time on the course? are the players getting in shape? any recruiting news?”
^^I’ve seen Ben and he looks like he’s lost about 20 pounds. He’s definitely a lot more fit. It’s time for Ben and BC to prove that the staff was wrong for playing JJ so much (i.e. put up or shut up). In a way, I think JJ leaving may be a good thing (psychologically) for the team. I think the players have been working hard.
Del Negro started at NC State as a point guard. He got into some late season games as the backup to Nate McMillan towards the end of the 1986 season. In 1987, after Drummond left, Del Negro took over at point. We struggled, but once Jackson was installed at the point, we really hit our stride. I think we won six straight until the Florida game in the NCAAs. Del Negro, of course, never went back to the point guard spot until he got to the NBA.
From 1985 to 1987, we really threw pretty much everyone out there to see who could play point. It’s odd too, since the 1985 team had three guys who would play point guard in the NBA (our small forward, Nate McMillan, Spud Webb and VDN).
Noah - You’re right. What was the scholarship limit in those days - it seemed like several of those teams just had crazy depth.
I think it was 15. And V still had trouble with it. I remember being at something like 17 or 18 for either the 1984-85 or 1985-86 season.
There was a guy that ended up at UNC-Charlotte that was supposed to be part of our class and I think Gary Mattison was supposed to come, but didn’t qualify.
I never quite figured out how:
- Charles Shackleford failed to qualify, but only had to sit out a semester rather than a season;
- Gary Mattison failed to qualify and had to go to JUCO; and,
- Pano Fasoulas achieved eligibility exactly…how? He was about 30 years old and apparently played on the Greek National Squad and signed Tony Kukoc and didn’t appear to have ever been to a single classroom in his life (wasn’t he raised by gypsies and spent his life in a caravan reading palms and throwing knives?)
And I never figured out why we were so determined to make room for Kenny Poston.
Also, don’t forget that the next year, VDN and Quinten Jackson gave up point guard duties to a guy named Chris Corchiani. Rodney Monroe came off the bench. Aaah, those were the days. I was 13…
I don’t think the scholarship limits have changed. I could be wrong. I think the difference was in those days, if a guy went pro early it was the exception - not the rule. A lot of teams had a lot of good players.
No, the rules definitely changed in the mid-80s. They went from 15 rides to 12.
For instance, the 1983 team had:
1) Bailey
2) Lowe
3) Whittenberg
4) McQueen
5) Lorenzo Charles
6) Terry Gannon
Alvin Battle
7) Harold Thompson
9) Eeeernie Meyers
10) Walt Densmore
11) George McLain
12) Dinky Proctor
13) Tommy Dinardo
14) Quinton Leonard
15) Mike Warren
They changed in football a few years later. It went from something like 105 to 85.
It appears that Coach V has left a legacy of college/NBA head coaches and good for him and NC State.
We have also had some pretty good radio announcers who attended NC State such as Gary Dornbery and Tony Haynes. Does anyone know when either of these two guys graduated from State? We have had some really good announcers who did not attend State so that is not a reqt.
I could resist this, but “Way to Go”, our N C State cousin Vinnie!
The first thing you can do is burn all of the Michael Jordan pictures in Chicago!!
Noah - Gary Mattison played at Broughton (at the same time Mickey Hinnant played at Cary). I think he went to Chowan and Hinnant went to Louisburg. They both committed to us after Juco. Matteson never played for us - I think he ended up at Shaw’s or St. Aug’s where he put up some good #s. Hinnant, of course, played for the pack.
Ha, Kenny Poston, I’ll bet he would love just seeing his name on a NCSU blog about now, regardless of what it was in reference to. I guess Jimmy V must have really liked him because he should have never been given a basketball scholarship to play at State, or in the ACC. He was a good kid though.
choppack, I know what happened to Mattison…my question was why Shackleford only had to sit out a semester for not qualifying but Mattison had to go to JUCO after not qualifying. They were in the same high school class (I think).
Regarding Poston, I used to think that V recruited a guy to be the last man on the bench. How else did Mike Warren and Poston and Terry Shackleford (anyone remember him?) and Tony Robinson get offers?