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New N.C. State Coach Wants Players To Embrace Wolfpack History

Jul 20, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. — Sidney Lowe is giving his first North Carolina State team a history lesson.

The former Wolfpack standout says he's preparing a film session for his players that has nothing to do with Xs and Os: He's showing them the tape of his N.C. State team's stunning victory in the 1983 NCAA championship game.

"They need to know, and they need to see that, to see how we got it done and the adversities that we had to overcome during the year," Lowe said Wednesday.

It's all part of Lowe's plan to reconnect the Wolfpack's storied past to its present, and now that a link to N.C. State's magical season is in charge of the program, Lowe is urging the players to embrace its history.

"It's something that's been pushed under the rug, and I don't think it's been intentionally," Lowe said. "We hadn't really sat down and thought about it. You look at the history of our school. You don't want to live off of the past, but when you're looking at these kids coming in, you have to tell that story."

The new coach, hired from the Detroit Pistons' staff in May to replace the departed Herb Sendek, remains an important connection to one of the most famous moments in the histories of both the school and the NCAA tournament.

Lowe was the point guard on the team that upset Houston and Hakeem Olajuwon on a last-second dunk by Lorenzo Charles that gave N.C. State its second national title.

Replays of late coach Jim Valvano scampering around the court in Albuquerque, N.M., searching for someone to hug, are a staple each March during the tournament's television coverage.

Now that Lowe is the Wolfpack's coach, he wants his players to learn a few things from that '83 team.

"Just seeing how we got it done. Are you going to be the guy to make that next play? That's the question," Lowe said. "Don't wait for someone else to go do it. They'll see it."

When told rising Wolfpack sophomores Courtney Fells and Brandon Costner haven't seen the tape of that famous game 23 years ago, Lowe responded emphatically, "They're going to see it."

Lowe also pointed one of his recruits to research Hall of Famer David Thompson, who led N.C. State to the 1974 NCAA championship.

"You get a text (message) back (from the recruit saying), 'Wow, he was really good,'" Lowe said. "That's what they need to know."

Lowe remains prominent in the N.C. State record book -- he still ranks second in assists and third in steals -- but he's finding that his name carries more weight with players' parents than with the recruits themselves.

"The kids that we're recruiting right now, a lot of their parents were my generation," he said.