Lutz officially on board:
"I coached against Bobby so I know from first-hand experience what an exceptional coach he is," said Gottfried. "He has great ties in the state of North Carolina from his time at Charlotte and Pfeiffer and that will be a huge help for us in recruiting. That recruiting advantage, plus his on-the-floor coaching expertise, will make him an asset in every part of our program."
The 53-year-old Lutz comes to NC State after a season on the staff at Iowa State, where he helped the Cyclones earn their highest win total since 2005-06. Prior to his stint in Ames, Lutz served as the head coach at Charlotte from 1999-2010, where he led his alma mater to eight postseason appearances (five NCAA, three NIT) in his 12 years at the helm. He is the winningest coach in 49er history, posting a 218-158.
A few notes on Lutz the recruiter:
-- From 2002 to 2009, which were the only years available in Scout's database, Lutz signed six 4-star recruits and 19 3-star recruits. He used junior college connections extensively and signed 11 players from the juco ranks in that time. I'm guessing that won't be necessary at NC State.
-- Lutz brought seven top-100 recruits to Charlotte, including forward Rodney White, who would go on to become a lottery pick in the 2001 NBA draft.
-- By StatSheet's measure, Lutz brought in a string of solid-to-good classes in the early part of the previous decade, including back-to-back top 30 classes.
-- This is more of a side note, but I just remembered it when I was researching this stuff: Michael Beasley originally committed to play for Charlotte. When Bob Huggins hired assistant coach Dalonte Hill, with whom Beasley was very close, away from Charlotte, Beasley followed him to Kansas State. Once Huggins left for West Virginia, Hill was able to parlay Beasley into an associate head coaching position that made him the highest-paid assistant in the country (according to wikipedia). Not a bad deal. I wonder how Beasley would have changed the end of Lutz's Charlotte tenure.