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Justin Gainey appeared to enjoy his first visit to the Raleigh Sports Club.
N.C. State’s new basketball coach took the mic Wednesday and didn’t give it up for 40 minutes. Rather than standing at a podium, he casually strolled about the stage as he spoke to an overflow crowd of 178 said to be the club’s largest in three years.
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Gainey had some fun to start, smiling broadly as he led the crowd in alternating cheers of “Wolf” and “Pack.”
“I’ve always wanted to do that,” he quipped. “I’ve always wanted to be the guy who leads that chant.”
At Gainey’s request, the club served shrimp and grits along with the usual fare of barbeque, green beans, mac and cheese and banana pudding.
“Next time, ask for lobster,” one club member said, drawing laughs and another Gainey grin.
So it went.
For Gainey, much of the hard work has been done in terms of staff building and then roster building. And he did mention the re-signing and late addition to the roster – forward Ven-Allen Lubin, who played at UNC for a season before transferring to NCSU ahead of last season.
“He’s one of us,” Gainey said. “I know the boys down the street may try to claim him sometimes, but we all know he’s one of us.”
Lubin, a graduate student, is eligible to play for the Pack again this season while the courts continue to litigate whether the NCAA can prevent players such as Lubin from having a fifth year of eligibility.
With Lubin, the roster appears set.
‘“It has been a whirlwind, it really has,” said Gainey, a head coach for the first time.
Gainey noted his introductory press conference was held April 1 at the Lenovo Center and that he was in for a reality check on his first official day of work.
“It was exciting. I had just gotten the job and was walking to the office the next day and nobody showed up,” he said. “Nobody showed. It was like, ‘Man, it’s time to go to work.’ Ever since then, it has been nonstop.
“But it has been great. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve grown a lot in that time. And with the help of an amazing staff we’ve been able to put together a team that I think you guys will be proud of.”
Convincing Paul McNeil Jr., in the end, to stay at N.C. State was a major step. The junior from Rockingham is an elite shooter and proven scorer, but Gainey said it was just as important to keep a North Carolina native in North Carolina.
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“It was big for me, big for our program and big for N.C. State,” Gainey said. “His work this summer has been awesome. He’s shooting the cover off the ball. He has taken on more of a leadership role.”
Gainey said the newly built team has connected well and had a 3.3 collective grade-point average for the summer. He cited the team’s summer development work with strength and conditioning coach Cody Dukquits, who he called a “home-run” hire.
The sum game: sophomore forward Mikey Wilkins dropped 25 pounds while graduate forward Kyle Evans came in at 205 and now is 223.
Gainey said initially the staff believed they could sign four or maybe five frontcourt players but now have six with the addition of Lubin, who averaged 13.6 points and 7.1 rebounds a game last season playing for the departed Will Wade.
In the backcourt, he said Preston Edmead, a sophomore transfer from Hofstra, was “tough as nails, as tough as they come.” He mentioned Darius Adams, a sophomore who transferred from Maryland and was a McDonald’s All-America in high school.
“I recruited him three times,” Gainey said. “I knew the third time had to be a charm. He’ll bring a lot of versatility.”
Gainey was a hard-working point guard in his days as a Wolfpack player in the late-1990s, and the Greensboro native said his goal was for the Pack to be the “hardest-playing team in the country” this season.
The Pack has yet to release its full nonconference schedule for the 2026-27 season. The Pack will play Tennessee, where Gainey spent the past five seasons as an assistant and then associate head coach for Rick Barnes.
Gainey, smiling, said Barnes called him Tuesday night and asked how things were going, saying his answer had to be, “Coach, I can’t give you too much about our team.”
Gainey’s first game as a college head coach has not been set. That will be a special night. A red blazer, perhaps?
“I’ll be honest. I never thought I’d be in this position where I am now,” Gainey said. “I knew I’d be a head coach, I just didn’t know where. I wasn’t chasing any job in particular.”
His alma mater called in March and that was that.
Gainey ended his appearance at the Sports Club the same way he started it, orchestrating the crowd again:
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“Wolf!”
“Pack!”
This story was originally published August 26, 2026 at 5:39 PM.