The game had yet to start, but Jim Valvano was already ticked off.

The North Carolina State head coach had just returned to his bench following a conversation with North Carolina head coach Dean Smith. Valvano had wished the legendary head coach good luck before the 1983 Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals.

But Smith didn’t return the gesture.

Instead, he told Valvano that his team better win, or the Wolfpack might not make the NCAA Tournament. It left Valvano fuming.

That’s when Dereck Whittenburg came over to ask what was wrong. When Valvano told him, Whittenburg just chuckled and said, “Don’t worry. We’re gonna win.”

It took overtime, but N.C. State shocked the top-seeded Tar Heels, 91-84.

“I think we just believed in ourselves,” Whittenburg said. “It wasn’t cockiness, we just believed in who we were, and what we needed to do. I believed that I could whoop anybody.”

Whittenburg eventually led that team to the ACC tournament championship, and then the national title. He was the starting shooting guard, and one of the best players on a team that won it all as a No. 6 seed.

Now, Whittenburg is back at his alma mater as the director of player development for the Wolfpack. He’s no longer the face of the program like he was 31 years ago. But every time he looks up, he sees his No. 25 jersey hanging from the rafters at PNC Arena.

His time with the Wolfpack is one he looks back fondly on, and uses to help the current team from the bench.

“It’s always greater to be a part of a great team, a championship team,” Whittenburg said. “What I’m most proud of is that we have those banners up there. The ACC banner, Final Four and winning a national championship. That’s what’s very special to me.”

When Whittenburg was a player, he acted like a coach. When his teammates needed to be talked to, it wasn’t the coaching staff that took them aside. It was Whittenburg.

He had great relationships with everyone on the team. But when something needed to be said, he didn’t mince words.

“He didn’t tell them something to do that he didn’t do himself,” said then-assistant coach Ray Martin. “Guys on the starting team or guys on the bench, they all knew that he walked the walk and talked the talk.”

Whittenburg was a team player, but he loved to shoot and did so more than anyone on the team.

In the national championship against Houston, with the game tied at 52, Whittenburg recovered a loose ball with several seconds left on the clock. Instead of looking around for open teammates, he flung it up in the air toward the basket.

The shot was well short, but Lorenzo Charles stood unimpeded under the basket. He caught it in midair and dunked it. Whittenburg got credited for the assist on his air ball, and it won N.C. State the national championship at the buzzer.

That wasn’t how it was drawn up, but it left Valvano looking for someone to hug.

“I tease him all the time that Terry Gannon was open when he shot that damn air ball,” said then-assistant coach Tom Abatemarco. “Luckily Lorenzo bailed him out. He keeps saying it was a pass. It wasn’t a pass.

“When we have our reunions and stuff, we talk all the time about why he didn’t pass it to Terry.”

The always outgoing Whittenburg still has great relationships with mostly everyone from that team, and is the self-appointed “go-to guy” when it comes to keeping in contact.

He has everyone’s phone number, and talks to many of them every week. Several years ago, when he was working at ESPN, he had an idea to make a “30 for 30” documentary about the legendary team.

He pitched the idea to ESPN, and two years later, “Survive and Advance” was released, the first-ever two-hour “30 for 30” special.

“We had very special relationships,” Whittenburg said, “and we had great chemistry.”

Now, at the age of 53, Whittenburg has made many stops since graduating from N.C. State.

He had a brief NBA career. He’s been an assistant at six schools — including N.C. State for three seasons, from 1988-1991. He’s been a head coach at Wagner and then Fordham, and was also an analyst at ESPN.

But now Whittenburg’s back with the Wolfpack, at the school that has given him endless memories. He’s coaching a team that makes him reminisce of the one he won a national championship with.

He’s mentoring student-athletes that remind him of himself.

“I just hope that I can provide those kids with some experience and wisdom,” Whittenburg said, “so that they can use it to be successful here at State.

“I know my school and I love my school.”

Published on February 14, 2014 at 12:49 am

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3