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DURHAM — Strictly in terms of résumé-worthy accomplishments, N.C. Central coach LeVelle Moton appeared to be out of his league.
Moton, however, quickly pointed out that he’s actually in a league of his own.
The inaugural Triangle Tip-Off Luncheon held Thursday at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel featured Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, coach of three NCAA title teams and a recent gold medal triumph; UNC’s Roy Williams, winner of two of the last four NCAA titles; and N.C. State’s Sidney Lowe, an NCAA title winner as a player and a former NBA coach.
Then there was Moton, the first-year coach at NCCU who was coaching at West Millbrook Middle School five short years ago.
“Regardless of Hall of Fame accomplishments and national titles,” Moton told the audience, “I’m the only undefeated coach on this panel.”
Realistically, Moton won’t stay undefeated for long. His Eagles, in the throws of a tough transition to Division I, will open their season Nov. 11 against Williams and the reigning national champion Tar Heels.
After that game, Moton and the Triangle’s trio of ACC coaches will appear to go their separate ways, with Duke, UNC and N.C. State battling it out on the national stage while the Eagles wade through the nomadic existence of an independent, playing Indiana one night and Carver Bible College another night.
Yet still, in ways that fans don’t typically see but that the 300 or so on hand Thursday caught a glimpse of, Moton and the Triangle’s more celebrated coaches still will travel in the same circles.
“We’ve all developed great friendships,” Moton said. “The day that I was hired, on March 25, outside of my mother, the first three phone calls I received were from these individuals.
“I’ve been touched by these guys in so many ways. I’m proud to be sitting here.”
Each coach took time Thursday to pay homage to the region’s love affair with college basketball. Krzyzewski reminisced about first becoming entrenched in the “fever-pitch intensity” three decades ago; Williams said he was flattered to be a part of such rich rivalries; and Lowe talked about all the Monday mornings at offices around the Triangle where talk of the previous weekend’s games dominates discussions.
Moton, however, stands as the only one who truly lived it as a child.
He remembers Lowe visiting the Boys and Girls Club when Moton was 9 years old and handing out an N.C. State basketball poster, a poster that Moton still has. He remembers looking up N.C. State guard Chris Corchiani in the phone book, calling him, and having Corchiani take the time to talk basketball with him.
“I grew up in the area,” Moton said, “so I’ve always known what Tobacco Road was like.”
The Raleigh housing project where Moton grew up didn’t have a basketball goal, so he and his brother knocked the spokes out of a bicycle tire in order to have some semblance of a hoop.
That’s another area where all of the Triangle’s coaches share common ground.
“You look at us, and the one commonality between us all is that we all come from humble beginnings,” Moton pointed out. “Coach K, his mother and my mother had so much in common because they both had to work so hard and clean houses just to take care of us.
“I remember seeing a commercial with Coach Williams and reading about his mother just wanting to provide him with enough change to get a Coca-Cola, and Sid is from the inner city of Washington D.C.”
There’s no way to know if Moton’s career will take him anywhere near the upscale neighborhood now inhabited by Krzyzewski, Williams and Lowe. The UNC game will be Moton’s first as a college head coach, and winning at NCCU in its current climate is harder than it’s ever been.
But Thursday, Moton belonged beside the Triangle’s other coaches.
“It’s like I’ve been touched by an angel,” he said. “I’m just so privileged to be on stage with these guys.”
