NC State's Elliott Avent ready for 'the last ride' with Wolfpack baseball
Went into the decision to hang it up after the
season and what were the emotions like when you when
you came to that conclusion Um You know it's not
something I dwell on a lot
I can't say I've thought about a lot but Um
it's a
I always said I knew there would be a place
and a time when it hits somebody
I think it hits everybody at a certain
Time in their career whether it's to change jobs or
whatever do something else or whatever and It probably just
hit me I don't know a month ago a few
weeks ago it might be the right place and the
right time and There were certain things I want to
make sure were finished before I left
So it didn't be left to the next head coach
and thank goodness the next head coach is Chris Hart
and that was a part of the puzzle too right
It was the right place at the right time but
I want to make sure Chris Hart was the next
head coach or I may not have made that decision
And uh the uh once that was in place and
We got the facilities built
There's still more to build but I think it'll take
another
I think the weight room in center field is pretty
much a done deal and that will happen soon but
as far as the left field family playground in the
left field pavilion behind left field those things may take
a couple more 3 years and I don't think I
have a couple more 3 years in me
And so I just felt like the last as we
got toward the end
It was the right place at the right time
The only thing that Bothered me a little bit is
you know where we're gonna get the postseason
I didn't want the last year
To be this postseason for me these guys that you
just talked to that are going to get drafted and
go play professionally won't be back next year
The seniors that won't be back next year
And to be honest every player on this team you
need to go to postseason
Every player needs to experience that
And so uh but I when I announced that I
took the chance that I announced that once you announce
it's official
And uh Thank goodness the committee saw fit to do
what I think was the right thing and put us
in so that that uh
Gives me a great satisfaction
Go off that
What's it what was it like for you to actually
see the name pop up yesterday I know that you
guys were in and and may have been an anxious
couple of times
I just it's on video
I actually saw it this morning for the first time
It's on video and I saw me and when I
saw it I just watched the players and they were
it's all about the players
If you if you coach for the right reasons
Which I'm not sure everybody does this for the right
reasons anymore
I think college athletics has gotten a little bit skewed
and uh but if you do things for the right
reasons
There's the players that everybody
Should and so I just sat there and watched the
players and to me that's what it was
I can't tell you what it was
It's like I said it
It meant a lot
Why is it so important for you to to know
that Chris was going to be the guy taking over
this position and and what makes him equipped to take
over this job Uh what makes him equipped is
As a testament to how we've been the last 22
years that he's been here
So if you just scroll back to what this program
has done for the last 22 years I think that
his resume for him enough and he's had a lot
to do with that you know charge of recruiting
You know uh practice
He coaches 3 he runs the offense
I mean he can't have any more responsibility than he's
had the last 10 or 15 years and that's resume
enough and um You know in the last 60 years
it's been Coach Esposito myself and Ray Tanner
I think the track record for NC State the consistency
and the stature of this program is top 20 consistently
ranked by D1 baseball of the top programs in America
And so that's something I'm very proud of
So I'm real big on consistency and continuity keeping people
together keeping the same people intact
I think that's important
And so Chris Hart uh being the guy that needs
to be the next guy knowing how this place runs
and operates and he'll keep everybody here that's been a
big part of this some people for 8 years 10
years 15 years
We've got a lot of people here that's got some
tenure here and so it's it was no question he
was the right person to be the next head coach
here
So Michael Jordan had the last dance right on his
last run out
What should we call this for you Um Uh uh
it's certainly not a dance uh no no athleticism here
everybody better better put an athlete uh with me uh
so I'd say maybe the last ride just just the
last ride uh and uh I remember a good friend
of mine Ray Birmingham
So I want uh out of New Mexico great friend
of mine back there
His last game he got on a horse and rode
out from home plate to center field and just kept
riding and uh I love westerns and uh but uh
yeah this will be the last ride
Going to bring a horse down there Oh
No I'm not going to do that but I uh
uh I uh that's that's the best way for me
to answer what Pat said
It won't be the last dance but it'll be the
last ride
Have you talk to your kids about this and and
say hey you know obviously there's going to be emotion
but at the same time they had to kind of
detach from that when they get out there on the
field
Oh I don't know I don't think there will be
any emotion
I really you know I didn't do it for that
reason
The timing of it
If I would have done you know I didn't do
it you know we weren't in going to the ACC
tournament
If I want to draw some emotion you know what
I'm saying I would have announced it before the ACC
tournament
I'm not that guy
I don't want parades
I don't want jackets
I don't
I'll just put the keys on the desk and say
bye
I guess I'm asking more because they care about you
They're obviously going to want to play and win you
They they care about me I I think and I'm
glad to say that there's a lot of emotion in
that locker room when I told the team that's something
I'll always
We'll share together but uh no they're gonna play
Teams have to play for each other
Teams don't play for coaches
They may come for coaches and they may like coaches
and play a little harder for some coaches than others
because of how they're treated
But teams have to play for each other
That's who they got to play for
So they'll be playing for each other down there
Sherman as you talked about you help them off the
field whether to the parking tickets or or girls you
know how much is that being a mentor really you
know speak to you I think that's what our business
is all about
I I think it's about coaching but we got great
coaches here and we all do as good a job
as we can
And from Bo to Chris to Clint to Josh Fisher
to JT on down the line
Everybody gives great coaching here so that that goes with
it but I think the mentorship
I'm not even sure as I leave you look back
at you don't look back at what you've done as
you leave for me
I look and see what I could have done more
Like if I had to do this over what would
I have done different And I think maybe what I've
done I had a great conversation with Wyatt Piper today
We just wound up in the lounge together went on
on a talk that I normally wouldn't do during the
season because they have school they have social life you
know we don't have that time to sit there and
really talk but the mentorship I hope
What Sherman says I hope I've I've given that to
to to most players I'd like to say every player
but the text that I've gotten
My wife showed me one last night when I got
home from Brett Austin
I cannot tell you what that meant to me
And I saw something from Tom Walter that Tyler Stocom
showed me yesterday
Somebody showed me something from Scott Forbes uh
Those are I got one of the best checks I
got
was from the center fielder
Honeycutt that played for Carolina a few years ago
First of all he had to go to the trouble
to find my number from somebody and then he sent
me one of the best texts I got
I got one from Jordan Sprinkler I coached on the
USA team
Got one from Troy Tulowitzki who I was with coaching
on the USA team and then we coached together
Some of the texts I've gotten from people makes me
think I did a lot of things right
But if I had to do it over
Maybe more men try to do more mentorship for things
in their life that you may not know about
So anyway how long ago did you start really taking
that You said you coached you more
When did that really start for you to be more
of a mentor coach I I've tried to do it
my whole life
It's something I've tried to do my whole life um
and because this is such a
Time in their life
Where I think you can make a difference you know
and they grew up at a different time than I
grew up
When I grew up you got mentored by everybody you
met
Everybody in my small community of Avonton North Carolina was
my mentor
You know and My mom and my dad were my
guiding light my you know they were my um everything
but you got mentored by everybody in that small community
and today things are different for these guys and they're
on such display and
Social world is such a big part of their life
Everything is out in the open and I think they
need more mentorship today more than ever
And so I hope I've always done that
Coach do you see yourself staying in touch with a
lot of the guys here after you're you're gone You
know I I've stayed love the Buffalo Bills by the
way
I don't have a favorite football team
It used to be the Redskins uh but I think
it's the Buffalo Bills
I don't know the
Yes uh the greatest
Present or blessing or whatever you want to say for
a coach
Is former players keeping in touch and I can't tell
you the letters I've gotten from former players
I'd like to share them all with somebody
He said that
It seemed like a little braggadocious you know what I'm
saying and I don't I don't want like to shine
a light on me
But the things that I get from former players it's
everything to me
It's like yes I will keep in touch with all
these guys
I don't go to weddings
I tell them that
I'm going to go to one more wedding JT Jarrett's
but that's it
I'm shutting them
I don't go to weddings I uh but yeah
Players are very special to me
Elliot Roy Tanner said that you were the perfect man
for the perfect job at the right time meaning that
the the renovations and things that that you steered
He said he didn't think anyone else could have done
it
He said he knew he couldn't do it
What does that speak to your your predecessors that basically
said you took the job and you did the best
you could with it Yeah Ray could have done it
Yeah Ray could have done it
Ray's unbelievable coach and unbelievable business person and He is
great at what he does
Everything he's touched he's been good at so Ray could
have done it but he got frustrated with it not
being done so he went to a place that wanted
to do it right but this has been a collection
of a lot of people you know a lot of
people have helped get this thing done and but I
said when I left we would have most of it
done and we do and it's fantastic
The facilities here are top notch so
But I appreciate Ray saying that
He's an old an old dear friend
I was hired on his first staff
We were in college together we were
Great friends and old friends
New friends are great to make new friends and acquaintances
but there's nothing like an old friend and when he
and I talk we just go right back to
Uh when we were coaching together and when we were
in college and some of the things that happened so
there's nothing like an old friend
Ray Tanner certainly that
Speaking of old friends Corey one of the connections obviously
you've had to NC State is having those connections from
you know the 80s and 90s and and being able
to Instill things like George Tarantini telling you things and
Jimmy V and KL
How important has that been to to be a bridge
for NC State and bring all those things to NC
State baseball players and and the rest of the athletics
program these last few years It it all that stuff
and I appreciate you saying that all that stuff is
NC State to me
It's why I love this school
It's why I never thought about leaving
Maybe entertained some things at times but it was never
a chance I was going to leave here and uh
it's uh
I know the night that I Announced the day I
announced retirement I went home
You can imagine the phone was just nonstop and with
calls and texts
I went home with my wife and sat on the
front back porch swing and just kind of looked out
there
It's very peaceful back there with the birds and the
chipmunks and the squirrels
We got everything back there and it's pretty peaceful and
the phone just kept ringing
All friends all special people that I'll talk to in
the near future
But I took 2 calls that night
And uh my wife was like you're gonna take a
call huh And uh because I had I I'd just
not taken about 10 in a row
I took one from Janice Guzzo
She's struggling with the loss of one of the great
great coaches and people that ever Gracie's grounds uh you're
talking about
The old times and Coach Bob Guzzo will uh will
celebrate his life June 8th in Reynolds Coliseum
Be a fitting place
That's where we did George Tarantini's
And uh So I took Janice Guzzos and then Pam
Valvano called
And Valvano Pam Valvano and her family little girls are
all special to me because
That brings me back to when NC State we got
all great coaches now but we had all great coaches
then and everybody was around each other all the time
and it was just it's what built this place
It's what made NC State great
It's what built this place
So yes my connection to all the past Frank Wheaton
Uh Charlie Bryant Bobby Purcell my connection
To all those great people is what makes this place
so special and and um yeah
I'm happy to be that
Um person that can tell still tell those stories
Thank you all so very much for everything you've done
for me
All of y'all have been so unbelievably special
Well there's people who have been here forever um Pat
Welter who I watch every night I tape it
I tape it so I can keep up with what's
going on
Uh I do like 20 minutes of weather 6 minutes
of news and 45 seconds of sports on WRL and
uh and uh I heard from Jared Fialco the other
day
I don't know where he's at
I hadn't answered him back but he put CNN because
I used to always call him CNN and uh I
uh and uh but anyway uh all y'all have been
very special and very kind to our program
Please continue to do the same for this man right
here
He is a guy that deserves this
As much as anybody and he'll he'll tell you the
story I guess you can ask him but Eddie Beatenbach
is the reason that he's the next head coach at
NC State and there's not a better person that loves
NC State than Eddie Beatenbach
So thank you all
Thanks