12:01 April 7, 2026: And we’re off! There are already more than 1,000 D1 transfers listed in Verbal Commits including more than 50 from the ACC. It’s going to fill faster this time. Let the games begin!
We don’t know exactly the moment that Associate Coach Gainey said “yes” and became Head Coach Gainey, but we know it was sometime in the 24 hours after the Volunteer’s
season ended Sunday March 29. But we do know that whenever that moment happened, he was officially thinking ‘26-‘27 Wolfpack staff and roster no later than Monday 30th. So, as of Tuesday the 7th, he will have been focused on the task at hand for roughly 8 days.
To get a visual of the task in front of Coach Gainey, take a look at the NC State ‘26-‘27 basketball updated roster page. Happily, Coach Gainey has some help. Coach Collins is on board, and word is that Patrick Stacy is still around to help and may be retained as GM.
Assistants:
In his introductory press conference he said he was going to look for both experience and coaches young enough to relate to the players. We’ve also heard some talk about him possibly hiring a former head coach to mentor him during his transition to head coach. You’d better believe he’s got a list of ‘guys I’d like to hire if I were head coach’ and has been talking to them since he took the job.
Riley Collins – We know he brought UT’s Assistant Director of Player Development with him. Collins had been at UT four years, his first two as a part-time grad assistant but promoted to his current role two years ago. Before that he spent a couple of years as a GA at Marymount. Collins also has multiple years of experience as a basketball skills development specialist alongside NBA trainer Alex Bazzell. In that capacity, Collins assisted with skill development workouts for multiple NBA players. He was a four year all conference guard at Drew University setting school records in scoring, assists, and 3PT made.
Timeline – Obviously he needs help right away, but simultaneously needs to hire a great staff to launch this new era at NC State. For comparison, the table below lists the official announcement dates for whatshisname’s staff last season and the number of days after the head coach’s announcement it was released. It’s guaranteed that some started before the PR guys had time to put out the official announcements, but this gives some rough idea of what we might expect, and the sequence. Let’s not forget, six came with the head coach from McNeese State, Coach Gainey will not have that advantage.
Recruiting the roster:
Coach Gainey has a reputation in the coaching community as a very good recruiter and told us during his presser that he had spent a lot of time recruiting North Carolina. Growing up and playing locally could give him a leg up with local players. He should have a lot of existing connections with high school/AAU coaches and players with North Carolina backgrounds. And he’s spent four seasons in Knoxville (basically far western NC) recruiting players for UT. And you can bet he’s fielded calls from the UT players considering transferring. I would expect he’s got a pretty full call sheet right now.
Timeline – The portal dates (4/7 – 4/21) are different this season, it opens a couple of weeks later than last season and is only open two weeks. (Exception: coaching changes) Meaning, we will know just about everyone who is available by the 21st and the top players might sign faster. (Reminder: Players do not have to sign with a new school during the two week period, just announce their intent to transfer.) We don’t know how quickly Coach Gainey will move. If you move too quickly, you’re likely to have to pay the highest price. But if you wait, you’re at risk of losing a player you want. For comparison’s sake, the table below shows how quickly (or not) players were signed in the most recent two transfer cycles.
