“At times, it feels like you’re running in place. Even though that’s exhausting, the intelligent thing to do is to keep running.”
One of the hardest things to do in sports and in life is to keep trying to make progress even when things aren’t going your way. There are going to be moments when nothing you try is likely to work right away, for whatever reason.
That’s the situation that’s facing our country right now.
I’m not going to lie; it’s been a difficult four months. That’s one reason why I hadn’t written here for the past eight months: there were so many days that I just didn’t want to write. And when I did want to write, I did so with one of the clients I worked with for money. I’ve always been very bad at taking time for myself, and although I have had a few subscribers pledge money to me (thank you so much), I’m not going to turn those on unless I feel like I’m giving enough content to justify it.
And I know I’m far from alone in that.
Several of my friends have either cut back on some of their activities or cut back on their interactions. I’ve had more than a few friends who have said they needed to take some time away for their own peace. And while taking time away is good and healthy, it’s important to come back when you feel refreshed.
But when you aren’t seeing progress, that can be a difficult thing to do.
The Weight of Expectations
The men’s basketball job at North Carolina State is one of the toughest in the nation. And that’s the case because of three reasons: Duke, North Carolina and the NC State fan base.
NC State’s situation is unique because it’s the only school in the nation that lives in the shadow of two genuine blue bloods. The Wolfpack sit 30 miles away from both the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels, and there’s no sign of either brand ever going away. Duke might have faded if Jon Scheyer hadn’t worked out, but with the Blue Devils making the Final Four last year, it’s clear the school’s basketball staying power goes beyond Mike Krzyzewski.
But it wasn’t always that way in Raleigh, and that’s the other reason why State is such a hard job. The Wolfpack have two national titles to their name. They even made the Final Four themselves in 2024, beating Duke in the regional final to make it.
And because of that, State fans expect their team to compete nationally. After all, Jim Valvano did it in 1983; why can’t the Wolfpack win big today?
But from Valvano’s forced retirement in 1990 onward, N.C. State became an afterthought. The Wolfpack sank to depths they had never seen — literally, because the Atlantic Coast Conference added Florida State to get to nine teams in 1991. (The league now has 18 teams. It’s been a while.)
From 1993 to 1996, State finished eighth, ninth, eighth and ninth in the ACC, and Les Robinson was rewarded with a promotion to athletic director. Yes, that happened because while Robinson lost a lot, he lost the right way. And State recognized that having someone who did things the right way would be an asset to its athletic department, if not its men’s basketball program.
But while State had cleaned up its mistakes off the court, it was staring at a four-year record of 46-69. An entire class had come and gone without even seeing the ACC tournament semifinals.
So in came Herb Sendek.
Seeing Progress Without Seeing Wins
Sendek had proven himself a winner at Miami-Ohio, a basketball school with a proud history in the Mid-American Conference. He’d taken the RedHawks to the NCAA tournament in 1995 and even won a game against Arizona before bowing out to Virginia in overtime. The Cavaliers then beat Kansas before falling to national runner-up Arkansas, showing how good a team Sendek had.
His first team in Raleigh wasn’t that. This was long before the transfer portal and long before one-and-dones were a thing. There were no quick fixes in 1997. Sendek was essentially playing with six, maybe seven, ACC-caliber players. In a league that included Tim Duncan, a strong Clemson squad plus North Carolina, Duke and Maryland, that was nowhere near enough.
And predictably, two things happened often with the Wolfpack: they competed hard, and they lost. Eight points to Wake Forest. Nine to Clemson. Six to Virginia. Three to North Carolina. One to Georgia Tech. One to Carolina in the return game. One to Maryland. Yes, this team lost three ACC games by exactly one point.
It was after the Maryland loss that Sendek pulled out the quote from the top of the page. He wasn’t seeing it in the standings, but he knew his team was getting better. And he knew that if the Wolfpack stuck to what they were doing, good things would happen.
This one took help from the officials, as CC Harrison’s game-winning 3-pointer was really a two. But instant replay didn’t exist in 1997, and the Wolfpack prevailed. They ended up winning four of their final five ACC games, and they weren’t done there.
Remember how I said the Pack hadn’t made the ACC semifinals in the past five years? That changed when they beat Duke, becoming the second No. 8 seed in the ACC to make the semifinals. Then they beat Maryland, finally losing to North Carolina in the ACC final.
Sendek had been right. The Wolfpack kept running, and they were rewarded.
Using Human Nature Against Us
The Trump administration knows the opposite is true. When we aren’t seeing progress, it’s very easy to give up. That’s one reason why they flood the zone with so many idiotic, incomprehensible things. When Trump does 10 dumb, cruel things at once, it’s easy for the average person to get overwhelmed and give up.
But here’s the thing: we are seeing progress.
Trans people didn’t lose their healthcare in Montana. The right divided itself over the Big Bogus Bill. Trump lost his game of chicken on tariffs yet again. Canada and Australia used their elections to tell Trump to eff off.
Are we seeing wins? Not really. Nothing is getting better for Americans, and that’s not going to change for a while. This administration is determined to break as much as it possibly can. But that doesn’t mean things are hopeless. That Wolfpack team made the NIT, the first time since 1991 that State played in the postseason. That gave Sendek time to build his program. And in his sixth year, he finally made the NCAA Tournament. And he didn’t miss again for the rest of his time in Raleigh.
The next few years will not be easy. We’re probably not going to see much in the way of wins. But there will be progress. And even when it doesn’t seem like it and it seems like we’re running in place, the intelligent thing to do is to keep running.