NC State skipper Elliott Avent details decision to announce retirement ahead of NCAA Tournament

Elliott Avent bounced around the playing surface inside Doak Field with the same joyful energy he’s carried over the last 30 seasons. Donning a gray NC State baseball shirt and the matching uniform pants to go with it, the skipper didn’t look like someone who just announced his impending retirement. 

That’s because he’s right where he needs to be. And, for at least one more weekend, Avent will man the Wolfpack dugout on the sport’s biggest stage in his 23rd NCAA Tournament appearance as the squad will head to the Auburn Regional to kickoff another run for Omaha in what he’s dubbed, “The last ride.” 

But before boarding a plane bound for the deep south, Avent reflected on his monumental decision to step away from the program that fueled him as a child. He adored NC State growing up in nearby Nash County, the son of a farming community, Avent has lived his dream each and every day for the last three decades. 

So why now? Avent was quick to answer.

“It’s not something I dwell on a lot. I can’t say it’s something I thought about a lot,” Avent said, standing inside the former locker room turned film room in the ballpark’s offseason renovation. “I’ve always said, I knew there would be a place and a time when it hits somebody. It hits everybody at a certain time in their career, whether it’s to change jobs or do something else. It hit me a month ago, a few weeks ago, that it might be the right place and right time.”

The circumstances lined up. Avent wanted to make sure a bulk of the Doak Field enhancement project was done before he left the dugout, and the completion of the new clubhouse and hitting cages signaled that earlier this spring. The new weight room in center field is set to be done next, while the left field pavilion may take a couple more years to be completed. 

But with the new building down the right field line, Avent felt good about where the renovation project stood. The other aspect of retiring when he did was that associate head coach Chris Hart, who was loyal to Avent over the past 22 seasons with numerous job opportunities elsewhere, was named his successor by NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan 24 hours after the manager’s retirement announcement. 

“Thank goodness the next head coach is Chris Hart. That was a part of the puzzle, too,” Avent said. “It was the right place and the right time, but I wanted to make sure Chris Hart was the next head coach or I may not have made that decision.”

Hart being in line to follow his mentor helped put Avent’s mind at ease about stepping away once his contract expires after the season ends. The timing of his announcement last Thursday, five days ahead of the NCAA selection show, wasn’t a coincidence, either. 

NC State appeared to be a bubble team going into the ACC Tournament and its 21-12 loss to 16-seed Duke didn’t help the squad’s chances of playing its way off the selection cut line. Avent and the program announced his impending retirement the next day, opening the door for those on the selection committee to possibly take that into account as a factor in the entire process. 

The Wolfpack did have a case to make the field anyways, including the hardest ACC schedule and quality computer metrics — DSR (37) and KPI (38)  — but this was a shot in the dark to help push the team over the edge. 

Why? It wasn’t about Avent, he said. Instead, he felt this year’s team deserved to make the tournament after it battled adversity countless times, including losing its top two pitchers Jacob Dudan (out for season) and Ryan Marohn (nearing return, but missed last six starts) to injury, while shortstop Mikey Ryan battled a sprained foot right as he found his stride in the batter’s box. 

“Being honest, every player on this team needed to go to the postseason. Every player needs to experience that,” Avent said. “When I announced it, I took the chance, and thank goodness the committee saw fit to do what I think was the right thing and put us in. That gives me great satisfaction.”

Ever since making the announcement that his reign as the Wolfpack’s longest-tenured (and all-time winningest) coach was coming to an end, Avent’s phone has blown up. He’s worked to answer text messages from dozens of former players, those he coached against and many of which he’s impacted over the last 30 years, while phone calls have streamed in like water rushing into Niagara Falls. 

Avent only took calls from the widows of Bob Guzzo and Jim Valvano, the two former Pack coaches that mentored him over the years. He will get back to everyone else once his time at NC State has come to a close. But, in the meantime, he and the Wolfpack are headed to Auburn looking to begin the quest to reach the program’s third trip to Omaha in the last five seasons. 

Everyone, from the players to Hart, the coach-in-waiting, is on board with that message. So much so that Hart, who is on the edge of taking over the program he’s fallen in love with over the last 22 seasons as Avent’s right-hand man, was quick to point out what was most important in his media availability.

“We want to win,” Hart said. “We’re not going down there to have a celebratory regional for Coach Avent by any means. … We’re going to go down there with everything we got to try to win that regional.”

That’s how Avent wants it. He isn’t looking for a parade of attention, though it may come if his team can put together a postseason run. The longtime skipper only wants one thing: His squad to play as hard as it can for one another. 

“They care about me, I think, and there was a lot of emotion in the locker room when I told the team,” Avent said. “Teams have to play for each other. Teams don’t play for coaches. They may come for coaches, they may like coaches and play a little harder for some coaches than others based on how they’re treated. But teams have to play for each other, that’s who they’ve got to play for. So, they’ll be playing for each other down there.”

If the Wolfpack does that, Avent will continue to don his uniform pants in the setting that’s most natural to his life: A baseball field. It’ll come one game at a time, beginning with UCF on Friday night (ESPNU, 6 p.m.) at Auburn’s Plainsman Park.