NC State Men’s Basketball Head Coaching Search: Former Wolfpack PG Justin Gainey is a Viable Option

According to Joe Giglio’s intel—which I’m not claiming to be gospel truth—the two coaches at the top of NC State Athletic Director Boo Corrigan’s wish list were Georgia’s Mike White and VCU’s Ryan Odom. In his estimation, those coaches were a no-go.

As a result, Giglio believes that NC State is down to McNeese State’s Will Wade and Tennessee Assistant Coach Justin Gainey, who played point guard at NC State. We have written at length about Wade and will continue to do so, but we haven’t yet broken down how Gainey finds himself in this position.

According to Giglio, prior to Corrigan reportedly flying to Louisiana to meet with Wade today, he had previously met with Gainey. It’s his understanding that Corrigan’s preference is for Gainey, while the fanbase and money base prefer Wade.

I’ll go on the record and say that Wade would be a bigger fish to reel in than Gainey. There’s no denying that. Wade has been a head coach at the collegiate level for 11 seasons. Gainey has been an assistant coach for 13 years at the collegiate level but has never served as a head coach at any level.

In Giglio’s opinion, Wade isn’t in a desperate position to take the NC State position and likely wouldn’t sign the dotted line without knowing that the financial commitment from the university and the NIL collective were up to his standards. On the other hand, he believes that Gainey would take the position if offered quickly.

So let’s take a moment to look at Justin Gainey’s resume.

Gainey played at NC State from 1996-2000 and began his journey towards becoming a college basketball coach a few years later at his alma mater, serving as an Administrative Coordinator for the Wolfpack from 2006-08, and the Director of Operations from 2008-09.

His first two coaching gigs were in the state of North Carolina, starting as an Assistant Coach at Elon in 2009-10, and then serving as an Assistant Coach at Appalachian State under Jason Capel (former Duke forward who is now an assistant coach at Pitt) from 2010-14.

Gainey then jumped to Marquette, where he worked under another former Duke player, serving as Steve Wojciechowski’s Director of Operations at Marquette from 2014-17.

The former NC State point guard truly went back to his roots with his next move, joining Herb Sendek at Santa Clara, who was his head coach when he played at NC State, jumping back into an Assistant Coach role. Gainey was an Assistant Coach for the Broncos for the 2017-18 season.

Gainey’s next move was interwoven with yet another connection, joining Sean Miller at Arizona as an Assistant Coach for the next two seasons. Miller was an Assistant Coach at NC State while Gainey played for the Wolfpack.

In 2020-21, Gainey rejoined Wojciechowski at Marquette, this time with the title of Associate Head Coach.

Since 2021-22, Gainey has been working for Rick Barnes at Tennessee, with whom he was already familiar before arriving. When Gainey was running the point in Raleigh, Barnes was the head coach at Clemson.

After one year in Knoxville, Gainey was promoted from Assistant Coach to Associate Head Coach, which is the role that he still holds in the present. Barnes has the utmost confidence in Gainey and seems to be grooming him to take his place when he eventually steps down.

The year before Gainey’s arrival, Tennessee’s overall record was 18-9. In Gainey’s first year in Knoxville, the Volunteers’ record improved to 27-8, winning the SEC Title for the first time since 1979. Upon his promotion by Barnes in the second year, Gainey was given the reins of the defense, leading Tennessee to be the best defensive team in the nation in 2022-23, ranking first in Adjusted Defensive Efficiency according to KenPom. The next season they ranked 3rd and won the SEC Regular Season Championship.

Even though he runs the defense, Gainey’s expertise as a point guard has benefited the Volunteers, ranking in the Top-15 in Assist Rate in the three seasons he was there leading up to this year.

While Gainey hasn’t ever been a head coach at the collegiate level, he has been entrusted by Rick Barnes with an immense amount of responsibility at Tennessee, which has finished ranked in the Top-25 the past three seasons and will most definitely be ranked at the end of this season, currently sitting at #8 in the AP Poll. For perspective, the Volunteers didn’t finish the season ranked in the AP Poll in the two seasons before Gainey’s arrival in Knoxville but were ranked 5th in the final poll in 2022 and 2024, and 20th in 2023.

Outside of his success at Tennessee, Gainey’s coaching experience covers the landscape of America, from the east coast to the west coast, which makes him extremely advantageous in the recruiting world.

Rick Barnes has 831 career wins and earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors four times, and SEC Coach of the Year and Naismith Coach of the Year once. If Barnes trusts Gainey with this much responsibility in the present, he shouldn’t be written off completely as a second fiddle candidate for the NC State job.

Yesterday, Gainey was interviewed by the media and was asked about his name being connected to the NC State job opening.

“I was surprised, like I think everybody was. Being a graduate and former player there and somebody who worked there, I’ve always kind of kept my eyes on NC State just watching them play and everything. I love NC State. It’s a great place. As far as me and my involvement, I’m focused on what we’re doing here. Trying to win a SEC Championship. Trying to win a NCAA Tournament. The fact that I’m even mentioned, I’m flattered, and that’s in large part to what we’ve done here. I credit the guys I’ve had the opportunity to coach here. I credit Coach Barnes for giving me this opportunity to be even mentioned in such a great situation like that.”

You can watch his comments below beginning at the 4:41 mark.

Can NC State pony up the money necessary to land Will Wade? If not, is Justin Gainey in line to be the next Head Coach at NC State?

We will have to wait and see.