RALEIGH, N.C. — Kevin Keatts knows he will be under a huge microscope next season.
His N.C. State basketball team won just four ACC games last season, finishing last in the league. As he enters his fifth year leading the Wolfpack, he expects people to be critical of the job he does.
"I'll be honest with you, that comes with the territory, that comes with being an ACC coach," Keatts said. "That comes from being a Power Five guy. I think we're gonna be judged. And we should be. I think that's part of college basketball. When you are in these seats, you should be judged, and I'm OK with that."
During his first four seasons at N.C. State, Keatts has won 57% (90-68) of his games, going 43-50 in ACC play. His first season in Raleigh (2017-18) was his best — he finished third in the league and his team made the NCAA tournament.
Even though his team posted a league-worst 4-16 ACC record last season, and he expects there to be critics, Keatts said he does not feel he enters the 2022-23 season on the hot seat.
"I approach every year as though I was on a one-year contract," Keatts explained. "I'm the head coach and I have to take responsibility for every part of the program. I'm ready to work. I take full responsibility for last year. Yes, we had some unfortunate situations, but we're gonna address those and we're gonna move forward."
New season, new faces
This offseason, the Pack lost four players to the transfer portal: forwards Manny Bates and Jaylon Gibson, and guards Cam Hayes and Thomas Allen.
"There are 1,600 folks in there," said Keatts, of the transfer portal. "So there's an average of three to four players from each program. We're not immune to it. It's going to happen, people leave. This is the world that we are in. And so anybody that's panicking about four guys leaving the program, they haven't really followed basketball as much as they should. Because that's the way it's gonna happen."
Keatts could also lose two more players from last season — Terquavion Smith and Dereon Seabron — to the NBA.
Even with the departures that followed N.C. State's 11-win season, Keatts was able to add four transfers to his roster for next season: guards Jack Clark (La Salle) and Jarkel Joiner (Ole Miss), along with forwards Dusan Mahorcic (Illinois State) and D.J. Burns (Winthrop), who was last season's Big South Conference Player of the Year.
"You know, we've lost some good players in the portal," Keatts said, "but we've also been able to address some great needs that we had, and get some really good players."
'Come see us'
Keatts' office at N.C. State's Dail Center overlooks the practice courts.
A huge 75-inch picture of the Pack's win over Duke in 2018 sits over his desks. In that photo, fans are on the court at PNC Arena, celebrating the win over then-No. 2-ranked Duke — a scene of happier times in Raleigh.
There is a trophy sitting on an island next to the desk. He takes it down and admires it for a second. It's a trophy he won in ping-pong, a noted pastime of Keatts, back when he was coaching at Hargrave Military Academy.
"That was the last trophy I won," he quips.
As Keatts enter his fifth season in Raleigh, he will also have an entirely new coaching staff by his side.
After parting ways with assistants Roy Roberson and Mike Summey, he brought in former N.C. State forward Levi Watkins, who spent the last four seasons as an assistant at Ole Miss. He then added Kareem Richardson, who was an assistant at Clemson last season. With James Johnson leaving the N.C. State staff more recently, there is one more open sport on the Wolfpack bench.
"We didn't have a great year," Keatts said. "But I think everybody's going to see what we've done in the offseason."
The neighborhood isn't making matters easier for what will be a new-look Wolfpack team. In his first season as UNC's head coach, Hubert Davis led the Tar Heels to the national championship game. Jon Scheyer hasn't coached a game yet, but Duke already has back-to-back No. 1 recruiting classes lined up, and the program is coming off its own Final Four appearance.
Keatts would like PNC, which had an abundance of good seats available for games throughout the Wolfpack's 2021-22 season, to return to how it looked in the 2018 picture that sits over his desk. That season, Keatts' first, was also the last time N.C. State made the NCAA tournament field. His 20-win team during the 2019-20 season did not have the opportunity, with the cancellation of the postseason tournament in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"At the end of the day, I'm the head coach, and when things are going well, I gotta continue pushing the gas on it," Keatts said. "And when things are not doing as well as I would like, I'll have to look myself in the mirror and fix some of those issues. And that's what we've tried to address."
Keatts understands the microscope he will be under next season. He appreciates the passion N.C. State fans have and believes his offseason moves will lead to different results in 2022-23.
"If you look at what we've done as a staff and bought in some different pieces and different energy, that's what I would say, 'Hey, come see us,' " Keatts urges. "Come get back in there and see what we have to offer. Don't judge us off of one year."
