Key Takeaways and thoughts from the Justin Gainey Presser

Yesterday was the introductory press conference for NC State’s new head coach, Justin Gainey. We attended that presser, and I wanted to give you my takeaways.

– I thought Justin Gainey did a great job in his presser. He wasn’t too ‘anything.’ He was just right. He talked about passion and toughness. He talked about what drives him and what this job means to him. He didn’t promise anything other than a team that would show up every day, wear that jersey with pride, show toughness, and compete on and off the floor. This was the anti-Wade presser that we all needed right now.

– I think it’s worth reading into the fact that Zymicah Wilkins, Cole Cloer, and Jamie Kontuniemi showed up for the presser. I know Gainey has been meeting with the players and evaluating them, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see these 3 guys suiting up for NC State next season. Wilkins looked great. Super trimmed down, and I’ve heard that the staff was impressed and thinking about keeping him even before the Wade fiasco. As for Cloer, he’s only been with the team for half a season and has all of his eligibility left, but he grew up an NC State fan (he’s from Hillsborough), so I bet it was cool for him to see guys he grew up watching (like TJ Warren). We’ve heard there was a good shot we’re able to keep him around, but Gainey will have to evaluate him, make sure he’s a fit, and then fend off any other program that is looking to poach.

– Paul McNeil Jr was not there; however, it wasn’t any sort of statement. He is out of town getting ready for the NBA workouts he’ll likely be doing this offseason. He’ll almost certainly get his feedback and play one more season in college. I believe NC State can retain him for the right price.

– Boo Corrigan had a few of hiccups in this presser. The first was calling Justin Gainey ‘Jason’ two times. Now, before we go too crazy about this, Boo had been saying Justin the whole time, but he was talking about Gainey’s son, Jason, not being able to be there, and then I guess he got the names mixed up.

In the introductary press conference, Boo Corrigan just called Justin Gainey “Jason” twice … 😬

— Joe Giglio (@giglio_OG) April 1, 2026

– Boo was also wrong about Justin scoring the first points at the ESA (now Lenovo Center). Tim Peeler pointed it out…

While new Pack coach Justin Gainey did not score NC State’s first points in the Entertainment and Sports Arena (Damon Thornton did at 7:14 p.m., 3:34 into the game), Gainey’s steal and layup with 8.5 minutes to play tied the game for the first time since 0-0 and he later tied it… https://t.co/KuEkETv88W

— Tim Peeler (@PackTimPeeler) April 2, 2026

– Boo also made a sort of confusing comment about analytics, saying, “In an era of analytics, Coach Gainey’s teams will be built on the basics. We’ll score the ball. We’ll defend at a high level. We will rebound. We will dive for loose balls. We will show toughness every step of the way.” I’m really not sure what that was all about. Was he of the belief that Wade was too bought into the analytics? Was this a shot at Wade? Either way, honestly, I love the idea of Justin focusing on the basics and getting back to an old-school basketball mentality. But if you want to win, you have to know how to blend the two. And honestly, Wade wasn’t as analytical as he portrayed. In fact, he wasn’t a lot of things that he portrayed. That comment isn’t opinion or speculation, and we’ll go into more details on that at a later time. But I wanted to make the comment that I think Boo was going for more of a narrative swipe at Wade here, because the infrastructure around Gainey is shaping up to leverage analytics in a big way. However, Wade relied almost solely on it, while Gainey will almost certainly view it as more of a resource to refine his system.

– Speaking of analytics, Assistant GM Patrick Stacy was at the press conference. We’re going to wait a little longer before we get into details, but other outlets have reported on this, so the cat’s getting out of the bag.  Anyway, let’s just say he was highly valued internally at NC State, wasn’t interested in following Wade after what went down, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see his role increase this coming season.

– Gainey by himself is a good hire that comes with some big upside, but some definite risk. You aren’t going to get another coach with this much high-major AHC experience who sees NC State as a dream job, and at some point, if you want Gainey, you need to buy in early. NC State did that. But I have figured all along that if you go get Gainey, you make sure you invest in the infrastructure around him. He’s going to have a massive NIL budget. He’s going to have one of the top analytics systems in the country. He’s going to have a very curated team of assistants that will be compensated well. Look, if this wasn’t the NIL era I would be a little nervous about the Gainey hire. But things have changed, and the way you win today is not the way you won 10 years ago. You can keep overlooking the perfect fit for an upstart mid-major coach with 2 good seasons under his belt, but that’s more and more seeming like a shot in the dark. Today the blueprint looks to be ‘pure fit’ and Gainey checks that box. Jai Lucas at Miami and Jon Scheyer at Duke have just gone AHC to head coach without issue. Two former floor-general type PGs. Justin Gainey fits that mold and NC State is hoping he’ll follow their lead.