The ‘Pack Insider’ Story

After 17 years of running PackInsider.com, we’ve realized that we’ve never really formally introduced ourselves or told the (kind of wild) story of how this site came to be.

So before another year gets away from us, here it goes.

Grab a coffee and pull up a chair. It’s a little long.

That’s us ☝️ (Matthew & Lou) after storming the court our sophomore year at State.

We’ve been best friends since we met in 4th grade, bonding over our love of the Pack. We went to Apex Elementary, Apex Middle, and Apex High School together. Matthew played football, and I played baseball and basketball. But our dreams weren’t to try to become college athletes. Our dreams were to attend NC State together.

And we did it—roomed together, and hit every football and basketball game for 4 years.

Now, remember, this is 2008. We were HUGE fans, but following the team as closely as we wanted was hard.

Pack Pride & The Wolfpacker were growing on Scout/Rivals—but $10/month was tough for broke college kids.

So we used our NC State education (Matthew-business, Lou-Marketing) and hatched a plan.

What if we built a FREE site for Wolfpack fans? Focus on students & the younger generation. Run it off ads. We spun up a ‘Blogger’. Called it “Wolfpack Hoops”—the focus: RECRUITING coverage. We cold-called high school coaches for box scores & recaps. People started coming.

Then, our first big moment arrived. We learned Wolfpack legend Rodney Monroe was an AD at a target school. He loved what we were doing—gave us an interview & connected us to other Pack greats. This sparked our “Where Are They Now?” series.

Fans loved it🐺

The blog grew.

But while the past player pieces were fun, the fans wanted VIDEO… “Film the recruits!” Only @Hoopmixtape & @Ballislife were doing YouTube highlights at the time. What if we did that, but just for NC State recruits? So we bought a camera and started driving across NC.

We met the mixtape guys along the way. They took us under their wing. (🙏 Nils & Webb) That helped us get the video that started it all… Ryan Harrow (4⭐️ commit) was at The @scoutsfocus Elite 80 in Wilson, NC. We got the invite. This Harrow reel racked up 200k+ views.

And as we continued filming and editing, we got a little better at it. Every video was getting 100k+ views on YouTube, which in 2016 was A LOT. We couldn’t believe it. Suddenly, WolfpackHoops.com was THE spot for NC State recruit footage.

Fresh out of college, we were getting savvy with social media—our reach was rivaling established sites. Would NC State give us media credentials? We tried. No luck… blogs weren’t “real” media.

We had to have a PHYSICAL publication.

A dying industry, but a rule is a rule.

So we went back to the drawing board…

➡️Hit DH Hill for access to software.

➡️Learn how to lay out a magazine.

➡️Get sign ups.

➡️Print & ship mags

➡️Back to NC State: “We have a publication.”

They sat us down. We pitched our vision. They gave us a shot—credentials granted!

One chance…Don’t screw it up. 🐺

But we almost screwed it up. Pangos Camp (Long Beach, CA). NC State recruits, including Harrow & 5⭐️ Will Barton, playing together. No NC State media was flying out. Fans asked us to go. We said we didn’t have the money. Fans crowdfunded our trip via PayPal ($2k in 24 hrs!).

So we pack our bags and head west… Gym is mostly empty after day 1 games. Media shooting around on open goals & chatting.

5⭐️ Will Barton walks out.

Matthew grabs a quick interview. Barton finishes the interview, turns to me (shooting around)…

“Check it up.”

Video still rolling. “If he beats me, I’ll commit to NC State.” Barton says, laughing. Obviously a joke. I jab step once. Twice. Go right, Barton elevates, alters my layup. I miss. Barton takes it back, crosses over, immediate lay up.

He wins. We laugh. We walk away.

We posted the playful clip in slow-mo. Went viral—300k views quick. A week later, @washingtonpost calls… doing an article on fan blogs.

We’re young and dumb. We accept. Turns out it’s part of a series on “blurred lines” in fan blogs/recruiting 🤦

Yeah, that’s us.👇

Article drops… Pack fans weren’t happy with us, but as the article circulates, the script flips.

WaPo is getting criticized for making a big deal over a joke and pearl-clutching traditional media. We’re relieved. NC State tells us to chill out. We Understood.

But maybe all press really is good press. Traffic had tripled. We had a great community of followers. Time to stop screwing around and get serious. Wolfpack Hoops expands to all NC State sports and will become

*thinks of name*… ‘Pack Insider?’

Now we need a real website.

ESPN & USAToday are in early stages of creating networks to compete w/ Scout/Rivals. We kick tires but decline to join. We want to build our own platform. Stay independent. Heck, it’s got us this far.

We learn to code a bit…set it up ourselves.

PackInsider.com is born.

And here we are 15 years later. The site looks a bit better. Our writing has improved (?), even Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) started following, but our mission is the same as it was on day 1. Always 100% free. Always innovating & doing our best to give Pack fans an authentic perspective.

As for Matthew and I…

Still best friends.

We both have families. Matthew pastors a church, and I do design & marketing, along with the site. And while we’ve hired a few people to help along the way, the majority of this thing is still just a two-man show.

In a world of paywalls & corporate buyouts, we’re still standing. In fact, we’re growing faster than ever. PackInsider.com is one of the largest independent NC State outlets, producing more content than any other Wolfpack site out there (2025), & it’s still all free!

OK, enough about us. We’ll go back behind the keyboard where we belong, but we just wanted to say thanks to everyone who’s been along for this wild ride & nice to meet you to all the newcomers.

See you around Raleigh and #GoPack!