“Kevin Keatts is a winner!”

“Kevin Keatts is a winner!” That was the phrase Keatts, head coach of the NC State Wolfpack Men’s Basketball team, boldly stated when he was introduced in his current role. That was March 2017.

This year, Keatts’ words were used to deride him and the program he leads. And the purveyors of that scorn were not confined to the alumni and fans of Carolina and Duke. In recent weeks, that contempt had spread to Raleigh like kudzu in the hot summer months of the Old North State.

I’m not an alum of any of the ACC schools. Yet, having a favorite is part of the birthright of North Carolina natives. State was solidified as mine during the improbable - and nearly incredible - run to their ACC and NCAA Championships in 1983.

Since Valvano’s departure in disgrace in the Spring of 1990 and his death three years later, there have been few opportunities for hope and jubilation in Raleigh. I complained to several friends this year that it seemed State had settled into satisfaction with mediocrity. They had looked pretty good early in the season. Once conference competition started, however, they plunged harder than the water spilling over Whitewater Falls. Several late-season losing streaks left the Wolfpack with a losing record in conference play.

But then came the season-end ACC tournament. The brain-child of State’s legendary coach, Everett Case, the ACC Tournament became the prototype for other conferences, with the conference naming their champion through several days of intense competition, not by the season’s conference win-loss record. Winning the ACC Tournament was State’s only hope to make the “Big Dance” the last time they won the NCAA National Championship in 1983. And it would be their only shot at the NCAA Tournament this year.

Yet, 2024 ain’t 1983. The ACC is bigger now. With only eight teams in the conference then, winning the championship only required three consecutive victories. And Valvano’s ’83 team ended the season ranked 16th in the nation. Keatts’ 2024 team wasn’t ranked. At times, they just seemed rank. With 15 teams now competing in the ACC, the Wolfpack’s woeful finish, ending the season on a four-game losing streak, meant they’d have to defeat five opponents on five consecutive nights. And Keatts’ 2024 Wolfpack team did just that.

In Raleigh, the howls for Keatts’ head have become jubilant championship cheers. Of course, from Chapel Hill, we still hear the dismissive jeers. Tar Heel faithful insist that State will return home from Pittsburgh in disgrace after a first-round loss to Texas Tech. We’ll find out tonight or in the wee hours of Friday morning.

Regardless of how that game goes, there are some leadership principles to glean from Keatts’ 2024 ACC Championship.

Leaders don’t allow others to define them. Kevin Keatts’ seven-year-old insistence that he is a winner, spoken with the audacity typical of someone who talks about themselves in the third person, has been mocked this year because we haven’t seen the evidence. And that end-of-season slide seemed to undermine the proclamation’s credibility.

Yet, Keatts showed no evidence that he believed what others said. We’re not friends. Keatts doesn’t call me for advice. Yet, I’m pretty confident he had to know that he would lose the State job had the Wolfpack checked out in the first few rounds of the tournament. However, he continued to coach his team to win. Keatts somehow got the very best out of them when the stakes were the highest.

Leaders will inevitably be criticized. Players may doubt their coaches' decisions. Volunteers may quit confused or disillusioned. Gossip, rumors, exaggerations, and flat-out lies are some of the ammunition I’ve seen used against leaders in the corporate world, local churches, nonprofits, and politics. Leadership at any level is not for the faint of heart.

If leaders are going to be effective amid the barrage of criticism that will surely come, we must have a healthy sense of self to endure it. We need faithful friends and colleagues committed to the mission and vision with which we lead to offer honest words of caution and correction. Yet, we must be able to distinguish those voices from the ones that provide nothing more than complaint and contempt.

Leaders draw the best out of those they lead. My insatiable curiosity prompted me to look at some of the stats of those who have transferred into Keatts’ Wolfpack program from other schools. Some of these stats may reflect the players' natural growth. However, they also demonstrate the influence and value of Keatts’ coaching.

Jayden Taylor, a guard who transferred from Butler, had a substantial increase in the number of defensive rebounds over his previous two years at his hometown school.

DJ Horne, a Raleigh native who had played two years at Illinois State and the two most recent seasons at Arizona State, saw a significant increase in steals and personal fouls this season. Both reflect more aggressive play on defense.

DJ Burns, Jr., saw a significant increase in assists this year, averaging about three times the number of assists he had in his first three years of eligibility at Winthrop.

Fans watching games can easily assume the results come from the players' natural skill, talent, athletic ability, or sheer will. However, good coaches who focus on the fundamentals of the game bring these incremental improvements out of players. Recruiting the right players is a substantial necessity in college sports. Yet, coaching the best from them can make the difference between finishing the season with a so-so record and a pink slip and cutting down the nets and hoisting a championship trophy.

What about you? How can you draw the best out of the team, staff, or volunteers you lead? What do you need to learn about them to get those incremental improvements that accumulate into big wins?

How do you handle the doubts and derision of those who seek to harm you or don’t know you? What steps can you take to become more sensitive to words of caution and concern from those who support your leadership? Who can help you develop that healthy balance?

Enjoy your weekend… and go Wolfpack!

The views and opinions expressed in my Thursday Thoughts on Leadership are my own. They do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina or any affiliated churches.