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Interview w/ Coach Joel Justus (Assistant Coach at NC State)
Manage episode 416976288 series 3573036
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Joel Justus shares his journey from growing up in North Carolina to becoming one of the most heralded Assistant Coaches in the nation.
After growing up around college athletics, Joel went on to play college basketball at UNC Wilmington. He helped the Seahawks capture two Colonial Athletic Association titles, make three postseason appearances (NIT in 2001 and NCAA in 2002 and 2003) and was team captain his senior season in 2003-04.
Justus started his college coaching career as an assistant coach at Elon University from 2004-08, where he helped guide the Phoenix to a Northern Division title in 2006 and the Southern Conference championship game in 2008 under Coach Ernie Nestor.
Prior to the 2014-15 season he was hired by Kentucky as their Director of Analytics. UK became the first team in college basketball history to start a season 38-0, the following season he was elevated to Special Assistant to the Head Coach for the 2015-16 season. In 2016 he was again elevated - this time to an Assistant Coach. In his first season as an Assistant Coach, Kentucky won both the SEC regular-season and tournament championships while advancing to the Elite Eight. He played a key part in securing what the Recruiting Services Consensus Index calculates as the best recruiting class ever in 2017 and the No. 1 class in 2020.
In 2017-18, Coach Justus helped UK win their fourth straight SEC tournament championship. The following season Kentucky advanced to another Elite Eight,
Justus helped Kentucky to another Southeastern Conference regular-season title in 2020 and was a key part in what many tabbed as the best recruiting class in the country in 2020. Highlighted as one of the top young assistants in the country, The Athletic tabbed Justus one of the top 40 people in college basketball under 40 and ESPN named him one of the nation's top 40 coaches less than 40 years old in 2020.
After seven seasons in Lexington Coach Justus accepted a similar position at Arizona State under Coach Bobby Hurley. This past offseason he returned to his home state as an Assistant Coach at NC State under Coach Kevin Keatts.
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