Kevin Keatts Goes From 'Hot Seat' To Two-Year Extension After NC State Wins ACC Tournament Championship

It sounded as if the Kevin Keatts era at North Carolina State might have been coming to an end before the ACC tournament started this past week in Washington, DC. 

After finishing the regular season with seven losses in their final nine regular-season games, there were rumblings that this could be Kevin Keatts' final week as head coach of the Wolfpack. That was until his team pulled off what will be remembered as one of the best conference tournament runs in the history of college basketball. 

Needing to win five games in five days, it looked as if North Carolina State would be finishing an underwhelming season full of questions about what went so wrong. That after a regular season that ended with a 9-11 conference record and NCAA Tournament hopes just a pipe-dream for fans in Raleigh. Then everything changed. 

Who would've thought that North Carolina State would make it to Saturday night? Really, who in their right mind thought this team would make it past a Thursday night game with Duke? 

I guess the players and coaching staff didn't get the message that they weren't supposed to steal a bid from an NCAA Tournament worthy team, while also making history in the process. 

It started on Tuesday with a win over Louisville, then an eighteen-point win over Syracuse on Wednesday. But surely the Wolfpack weren't going to get past Duke, right? Wrong. They defeated the Blue Devils 74-69 in front of a stunned ACC Tournament crowd, extending their stay, and starting to turn a few heads in the process. 

What started as a dream quickly began to look like a magical run. But this basketball team, which has dealt with a number of different issues this season, still needed to win two more games to extend the season into next week. So what did they do? How about hitting a game-tying three-pointer against Virginia to send the semifinal game into overtime, which they ended up winning, thanks in large-part to DJ Horne. 

Call it destiny, or just a team that found its way at the best possible time, NC State was playing for a conference championship against another hated rival on Saturday night. 

There was still one more game to finish the story, and North Carolina just so happened to be standing in their way of finishing this wild five-game run. Not only did the Wolfpack come out of the gates firing against the Tarheels, but it was the combination of DJ Burns and DJ Horne that ended up being the catalyst to a monumental win that ended with NC State hoisting the ACC Tournament trophy. 

After what seemed like a whirlwind week would come to an end, the dream of extending the season finally became a reality, with the 84-76 win over North Carolina. For the first time since 1987, NC State won the ACC conference tournament, and it couldn't have come at a more crucial time for head coach Kevin Keatts. 

Kevin Keatts Not Only Wins ACC Title, But Gets Two-Year Extension 

Yes, the ACC title wasn't the only thing for this North Carolina State team to be excited about on Saturday night. After winning their fifth game in five days, Kevin Keatts found himself sitting at the podium trying to put this run into words. For him personally, the conference tournament win had a tremendous effect on his coaching career, as a clause in his contract gave him an automatic two-year extension, along with a $400,000 raise, with a $100,000 bonus. 

So, a coach that was fighting for his job entering the week is now heading home with a contract extension and $500,000 thanks to contract clauses from AD Boo Corrigan. 

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 16: The North Carolina State Wolfpack celebrate after winning the Championship Game of the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament 84-76 against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Capital One Arena on March 16, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

If that isn't some type of poetic justice, I don't know how else to explain it to you. Now, North Carolina State, who most thought might've been preparing for a future coaching search, will start preparing for the NCAA Tournament this week. 

Not bad for a team that was counted-out on Tuesday, and had to extend their hotel stay for an extra four days. As Kevin Keatts said postgame, it came down to one game at a time, with history waiting for them at the end. 

"What a day. What a tournament. What a great opportunity that the guys in that locker room took advantage of. When we got on the plane to come to DC, we talked about winning one game at a time, and there would be a big prize at the end of it."