NC State head men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried has announced that Dereck Whittenburg, a 26-year veteran of the coaching ranks and one of the most well-known athletes in school history, has joined his staff as the Senior Assistant to the Head Coach/Director of Player Development. In that role, he will serve as a mentor for the team and assist with player development.
"We are very excited to have Dereck joining our staff," said head coach Mark Gottfried. "He brings a wealth of not only experience, but of knowledge and love for NC State."
"He has many strengths as a former head coach, including relating with players and their families. We look forward to having him be a mentor to our players, and having his experience on our staff."
Whittenburg achieved national prominence as a starting guard on the Pack’s 1983 team that recorded one of the most remarkable upsets in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
"I’m very excited to return home to North Carolina State," Whittenburg said. "Coach Gottfried and I have a lot in common – we’ve played college basketball at a high level, we’ve both experienced winning a national championship and we’re both passionate about NC State. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with Coach Gottfried and his staff. I’m confident knowing that I will be contributing to his continued success."
Still ranked 28th on the Wolfpack career scoring list and second in three-point shooting percentage, Whittenburg’s honored jersey hangs in the rafters of PNC Arena.
A Washington, D.C., native and graduate of basketball powerhouse DeMatha Catholic High School where he played for the legendary Morgan Wooten and was inducted into the DeMatha Catholic Hall of Fame for his accomplishments as a member of DeMatha’s first national championship basketball team in 1978.
Whittenburg began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under the late Jim Valvano (1985-86). He went on to continue his coaching career at George Mason University (1986-87) and Long Beach State University (1987-88) as a full time assistant before returning to Raleigh for a three-year stint (1988-91) as an assistant coach under the late, Jim Valvano. He was also an assistant coach at the University of Colorado, Boulder (1991-93), West Virginia University (1993-94) and Georgia Tech (1993-99) before beginning his career as a head coach at Wagner College and Fordham University.
As head coach at Wagner College, Whittenburg led his team to two post season appearances (NIT and NCAA) in a four-year stint, and in 2003, he led Wagner College to an appearance in the NCAA for the first time in the school’s history. More importantly, over 90 percent of his student athletes graduated, and they maintained a GPA of over 2.8 during his tenure at Wagner.
As head coach at Fordham, Whittenburg inherited a program with no previous success since joining the Atlantic 10 conference in 1995. He managed to lead his team to a fourth place finish in 2005 and two winning seasons in a six-year period.
Most recently, he has served as a college basketball analyst for ESPN where he was the executive producer of the network’s 30-for-30 film, "Survive and Advance". Whittenburg has also served as a regional NBA scout for the Utah Jazz.
Whittenburg, a third-round selection of the Phoenix Suns in the 1983 NBA Draft, earned a B.S. in business administration from NC State in 1984. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Jim Valvano Foundation for cancer research. He is married to the former Jacqueline Williams of Raleigh.
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