Losing sucks. It is just that simple. Nobody puts on a jersey, laces up their shoes and checks into the game because they want to lose. It doesn’t happen, and while losing is something nobody likes, it is even harder to take for somebody who is used to winning. For North Carolina State senior forward Richard Howell, that pretty much summed up his first two years in Raleigh.
After winning a Georgia state championship at Wheeler High School as a senior, Howell came into college expecting to pick up right where he left off in high school. Winning was all he had ever done and all he had ever known, but unfortunately it is not something that happens over night at the college level. Upon arriving at N.C. State, Powell went through a 20-16 season that saw the Wolfpack finish tied for ninth in the ACC, a long way from the top. While that season was frustrating for him, where the frustration really set in was as a sophomore.
Despite a disappointing 2009-10 season, coming into 2010-11, N.C. State was loaded with talent. Looking back on it, that team had four potential NBA players – Howell, Ryan Harrow, C.J. Leslie and Lorenzo Brown – yet they finished with a losing record. Plagued by chemistry problems and the uncertain status of head coach Sidney Lowe, the Wolfpack significantly underachieved, and ultimately Lowe resigned after the season. For Howell, the most frustrating part was looking around at the talent and not seeing that translate into wins.
“I think that was one of the most frustrating parts of my sophomore season,” Howell says. “I feel like we had enough talent to go out there and do a lot better than we actually did. It is definitely frustrating to be with a group of guys, who you know what they are capable of doing but it just doesn’t click on the court. That was really hard. And losing in general was just hard, I don’t want to say I ever adapted to losing but it was just frustrating to lose that much especially when you are so used to winning.”
After the season, N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow went on a national search for a head coach, being repeatedly turned down by candidates like Sean Miller and Shaka Smart before finally hiring former Alabama head coach and then ESPN broadcaster Mark Gottfried. At the time, it would have been easy for Howell to transfer and follow the footsteps of teammate Ryan Harrow, who left the program for Kentucky shortly after Gottfried’s hiring. It would have been understandable if Howell wanted to jump ship, escape the losing and start over somewhere new. His team had just finished 15-16 and lost arguably their best player, but Howell says a transfer never crossed his mind, in part because of his previous relationship with Gottfried.
“Me and Coach Gottfried had a previous relationship from when he was at Alabama and I was in high school,” he says. “He was recruiting me during that time so we knew each other but the first thing he said to me when he got here was ‘We are going to get you right, your mind, your body, everything’ and that is one of the things that me and him really worked on doing together. We put a lot of focus on transforming my body with strength training and he told me what he needed from me, and gave me a path to become the player the team needed me to be.”
The player the team needed him to be was its enforcer. Gotffried insisted on getting Howell stronger, both mentally and physically, so he could provide a physical presence on the low block for the Wolfpack. Before the season started, Howell was up to around 250 pounds, most of which was solid muscle. With his transformed body and a new coach, things were looking up for Howell and the Wolfpack. But there still weren’t many expecting them to do much more than maybe make the NIT.
However when the season started, the Wolfpack played well, winning their first three games even without star player C.J. Leslie (suspended). In their fourth game, they had a tough 86-79 loss to Vanderbilt in the Legends Classic. Howell scored 16 points to go along with nine rebounds, before rebounding to beat Texas in the second game of the tournament after coming back from a double-digit deficit in the second half. Those two games showed people that maybe N.C. State might be better than originally thought, and they finished up the non-conference season with a 15-6 record, equaling their win total from the previous season heading into ACC play.
With their solid non-conference start, the ‘Pack headed into ACC play looking to pick up some quality wins. They didn’t beat any of the league’s top three teams (Duke, UNC or Florida State) during the regular season, and it seemed they just wouldn’t make it over the hump for the NCAA Tournament. But they won two games in the ACC Tournament before suffering a close loss to UNC in the semifinals. After that loss, they were firmly on the bubble, an uneasy feeling for Howell heading into Selection Sunday.
“Honestly man, the whole team was together waiting for it for about 20 to 25 minutes and I started to doze off, and I started to feel like this is not going to happen because I didn’t know exactly how many spots were still open,” Howell says about watching the selection show.
“But then to see N.C. State flash across the screen like that it was crazy. That’s a memory I’ll never forget, and we were all so happy and even though we were on the bubble and just barely made it in, we knew we were ready to play, but there was a lot of suspense leading up to that. It was stressful to watch.”
As an 11 seed, N.C. State drew San Diego State in the first round, and thanks to Howell’s 22-point performance, the Wolfpack won by 14 before beating Georgetown in the round of 32. They’d eventually lose to Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen. Still, this is something nobody, including Howell, expected. N.C. State wasn’t even projected as an NCAA team before the season and yet they finished three points away from beating Kansas. While some people would be satisfied with that performance, Howell thinks it was just the launching point for something even bigger this year.
“I have another whole year to go so I don’t feel like all the work has paid off because I think we have the pieces to win a national championship this year,” he says. “It was great to make the Sweet Sixteen, but I’m just very excited for this season.”
And Howell has reason to be excited. The team returns four starters from last season, including Howell, Leslie, Lorenzo Brown and Scott Wood, but adds three heralded freshmen to the mix in wings T.J. Warren and Rodney Purvis, and point guard Tyler Lewis. The Wolfpack are expected to have depth this season, and with so many scorers, Howell knows his role this season will be the same as last year: rebound and play physically. For someone who lost so much in his first two seasons, that role sits well with him.
Howell is just happy to be on a team where winning is expected.
“Me and Lorenzo Brown room together and we were talking about this,” he says of being on a team with great expectations. “We never thought we’d be in this position. It’s crazy how things work from going from the position I was in when I got here and now where we are, it is definitely a blessing to be talked about as a national contender.”
So while many people would have left for greener pastures, Richard Howell stuck it out. He stayed. Despite the losing, despite the coach leaving and despite the disappointment, he never wavered in his belief that he made the right decision to enroll at N.C. State. In a day and age where transfers are almost expected when circumstances get tough, Howell was patient and now he is reaping the benefits of his decision, hoping to finish his college career the same way he ended his high school one: by cutting down the nets.
How good will N.C. State be this year?
Follow Daniel on Twitter at @dgm591.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
