JC Smith alum Larry Dixon coaching in NCAA Final Four

NC STATE ATHLETICS

North Carolina State assistant basketball coach Larry Dixon celebrates after the Wolfpack won the ACC title in Washington, D.C., in March. Dixon, a Johnson C. Smith graduate, started his coaching career at Charlotte's Garinger High.

Larry Dixon’s dream of making college basketball’s biggest stage is now reality.

Dixon, a 1996 Johnson C. Smith graduate, is an assistant coach at North Carolina State, where the Wolfpack will tip off the Final Four Saturday against Purdue in Glendale, Ariz. The Salisbury native admits coaching in the national semifinals satisfies a bucket list item but there’s a bigger prize at stake for the Wolfpack, who last won the title in 1983.

“It’s crazy,” said Dixon said. “I’m excited to be going, but we’re on to Purdue. It’s another game. It’s a distraction because of all the cameras and hoopla, but at the end of the day, we’re there to win a game and we’ve got to try to lock in and focus. I think coach [Kevin] Keatts has done a great job of getting those guys engaged even up to this point, getting to the Sweet 16.”

Dixon credits recently retired JCSU coach Steve Joyner with teaching him valuable lessons that led to college basketball’s biggest stage. Dixon, a four-year letterwinner with the Golden Bulls, went from a seldom-used freshman forward to most improved player as a junior and top defensive player as a senior. Along the way, JCSU won a pair of CIAA Southern Division titles and advanced to the conference tournament final his sophomore year.

“I was able to play for [Joyner] during some of the most successful years he had, and I was blessed with great teammates, but he taught me the value of hard work,” Dixon said. “When I came to Smith, I was a spoiled kid that did not know how to work to get better. He didn’t play me my first year, so … he instilled in me the value of work and I’m thankful for that. … I appreciate him because I would not be where I’m at now if it was not for him.”

Joyner helped Dixon after graduation, too by recommending him for his first coaching job at Garinger High, where he spent three years. During that stretch, the Wildcats won a sectional title in the 2001 state 4A playoffs and Dixon earned Mecklenburg County coach of the year recognition.

“[Joyner] actually helped me get my first head job at Garinger with another Smith alum, [Principal] Michael Turner,” said Dixon, who later coached at South Rowan and York Comprehensive before moving on to the collegiate ranks. “So, it’s connections in the way he’s helped me I’m truly, truly thankful for. It’s sad to see him go because he’s a legend.”

Regardless of who succeeds Joyner, Dixon, who spent time at four Division I programs (Winthrop, South Carolina State Georgia Southern and South Florida) before N.C. State, said the foundation is in place to return Division II JCSU to the CIAA’s elite. He wouldn’t share whether he’s interested in the job other than his professional aspirations.

“I want the best person possible to get that program with our tradition and elite level status be Charlotte team, the westside’s team, kind of how it was when I was there,” Dixon said. “My ultimate goal is to be a college head coach and that’s what I work every day for, so whoever they think is the best person, that’s who should have that job. I just want to see where we’re winning CIAA championships and compete nationally.”


 

 

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