obby Lutz had never coached outside the Carolinas, but relocating to Ames, Iowa, last summer wasn't a complicated ordeal.
Hired as an assistant at Iowa State, Lutz didn't bother with moving trucks because he rented a furnished house. Clothes were the primary items he and his wife had to pack for the 1,100-mile trip in their Chevrolet Suburban.
That left plenty of room for Sun Drop. Fifteen cases, to be exact.
The Southern soda wasn't yet available in the Midwest.
"I'm a creature of habit," he said.
Lutz remained loyal to his North Carolina roots throughout his 10-month stint with the Cyclones, and he's back in the comfort of his home state. He joined new N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried's staff in April, giving the Wolfpack an experienced assistant with strong recruiting ties and an in-depth understanding of the ACC landscape.
For Lutz, who spent 12 seasons as the head coach at Charlotte before being fired last March, he can again visit family and friends with relative ease when he's not working to rebuild a once-proud program in Raleigh.
"It's perfect as it can be," Lutz said.
Hairy situation
Lutz received an over-the-phone job offer from Gottfried while pacing in the parking lot of the Hair Connection barber shop in Conover, 45 miles northwest of Charlotte.
Don Beal has been cutting his best friend's hair for nearly 40 years, an arrangement that dates back to Lutz's days as a basketball standout at Bandys High School in Catawba, and Lutz was in the shop with his father when he excused himself to field Gottfried's call.
Even when Lutz was coaching at Iowa State, he worked in visits to the Hair Connection during trips home to see his father, who suffered a heart attack in February, and his mother, who has Alzheimer's disease.
"It's just what best friends do," Beal said.
That's not to suggest there haven't been rough patches.
Beal says he's never met anyone who takes losses harder than Lutz, as evidenced by his behavior at Badin Country Club in 1992. Beal and Matt Doherty, then a young Davidson assistant, faced Lutz and fellow coach Don Hogan in a best-ball format.
Lutz hooked his drive out of bounds on the final hole, and Beal finished with a better score thanks to a closing par. He hasn't beaten Lutz since.
"When Bobby left, he was mad as hell, just furious," Beal said. "He didn't say bye. I'm like, 'Man, I just lost my best friend.' Three weeks later, he called and asked for a haircut like nothing happened."
Homeward bound
Before the opportunity at N.C. State arose, Lutz says his wife, Janet, planned to spend more time in the small N.C. town of Denver assisting her father-in-law with his recovery. Lutz visits regularly, making sure to stop in for a meal at Jones Fish Camp, a popular haunt since its opening in 1952.
The move to Raleigh means Lutz eats more homecooked meals with his wife and two daughters. Natalie is in graduate school at North Carolina, and Christine decided to transfer from Kentucky to N.C. State in February, two months before the school hired her father.
"It was absolutely the right move for me family-wise and professionally," he said.
Family has always factored into Lutz's career choices.
Clemson's Cliff Ellis hired him as a graduate assistant in 1984, and the Tigers upset eighth-ranked Georgia Tech on Jan. 8 of Lutz's first season. Two days later, his younger sister, Tammy, was killed in a car accident on the way to watch Clemson play host to N.C. State.
Lutz, deciding he needed to be closer to his parents, left Clemson after two seasons. He became the head coach at Pfeiffer, a small college situated about an hour from Denver, and worked there for nine years. Gardner-Webb hired him in 1995, and he left two weeks later to join Charlotte's program as an assistant.
The 49ers traveled to Clemson in 2008 and upset the 18th-ranked Tigers a day before the 23rd anniversary of Tammy's death.
"I choose to remember the great times and want to remember her every day, if I can," Lutz said. "It inspires me, I think, to be a better person."
没有评论:
发表评论