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Former Oak Hall boys basketball coach Monte Towe, a former point guard for North Carolina State’s 1973-1974 men’s basketball team, speaks on his experience helping the school win its first national basketball championship under former UF coach Norm Sloan, and what he’s been doing since on Sportscene with Steve Russell.
Towe Reflects On His N.C. Past
Towe says a lot has changed about the game since he played and the team and program itself is different. However, one similarity between the current N.C. State team, the 1974 team he played on, and the 1983 team he coached is that all those teams have had to win the ACC tournament in order to get into the NCAA Tournament.
The 1973-1974 team was a powerhouse. During the 1972-73 and 1973-74 seasons, the Wolfpack went 57-1 overall, 24-0 in regular-season ACC play, and won 32 straight games against ACC teams, all conference records that still stand today. Towe was no exception to the impressive players on those years’ team.
Those four other NCAA All-tournament team picks were David Thompson, Tommy Burleson, Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas.
Towe says he is still great friends with his past teammates. He also shared that they have a group chat and stay in touch during the times they aren’t able to get together. The most recent get-together was three weeks prior when the team was honored at the Boston College vs. N.C. State game in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Towe says he is excited to see where the program continues to succeed and grow. He will continue to cheer on North Carolina State’s basketball team and is proud to be a Wolfpack alumnus.
After N.C. State
After retiring as a player, Towe went to the University of Florida to coach underneath his former college coach, Norm Sloan. Sloan was fiery and won a lot of games over the course of his coaching career, including leading UF to its first NCAA Tournament, as well as winning its first SEC regular-season championship.
While Sloan was known for being a fiery and aggressive coach, after working with him for so many years, Towe got to know him well and saw a different side of him than others saw on the court. Towe doesn’t remember him as mean or aggressive, but as a friend, great father and husband to his family and a Sunday school teacher, in addition to being a successful coach.
After coaching alongside Sloan at Florida, Towe had many other coaching stops, including at Santa Fe Community College in 1999–2001. Towe returned to coach at Oak Hall School for the past eight seasons. However, he is now leaving his position.
Towe says it was a great experience and a great place to work. He said the school, people and kids were amazing to work with, and he is grateful for the experience.
Towe says he knows somebody else will now have a great opportunity to do what he’s been doing for the past nine years.
