The game of basketball can take you places you never thought you could go. For former Johnson C. Smith (JCSU) basketball player Larry Dixon, it’s taking him to the Final Four in his first season as an assistant coach with the NC State basketball program.
The Salisbury, NC native graduated from JCSU in 1996, where he was a four-year letterman as a player. Dixon helped the Golden Bulls to a pair of CIAA Southern Division titles and a championship game appearance during his time in Charlotte, NC. He was named the team’s most improved player following his junior season and the top defensive player after his senior season.
Before leaping into coaching at the collegiate level, Larry Dixon was the head coach at Garinger High School in Charlotte for three seasons, leading Garinger to a North Carolina High School sectional championship while earning Mecklenburg County Coach of the Year honors from the Charlotte Observer.
His journey as a college coach has taken him all over. He began as an assistant at St. Andrews University and has had stints at South Carolina State, East Carolina, Winthrop, Georgia Southern, and South Florida.
After a coaching change at USF, Larry Dixon found himself looking for another place to call home when we got a call from NC State head coach Kevin Keatts while shopping at a mall.
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors had just voted to allow two more assistant coaches on men’s basketball staffs and coach Keatts wanted Larry Dixon to fill one of those new roles.
“I’ve enjoyed working for Coach Keatts,” Dixon told the Salisbury Post in a recent interview. “We all have input and can offer our opinions and suggestions, and he makes the final decisions. I’m very involved in recruiting, not on-the-road recruiting, but I’m on the phone a lot. We all watch film and do scouting. Coach (Levi) Watkins and I work with the bigs on practice days.”
NC State has one of the most exciting big men in the NCAA tournament in 6-foot-9, 275-pound D.J Burns.
“Burns has always been able to score the ball,” Dixon told the Post. “I think we’ve got the best low-post, back-to-the-basket scorer in the country, The difference in Burns in the ACC tournament was his focus. He was locked in.”
The Wolfpack have continued to be “locked in” as their magical ACC tournament run has turned into a magical Final Four run that has captivated the nation.
“I’m enjoying it all,” Dixon said in his interview with the Salisbury Post. “The fan support we had when we got back to the campus and for the NCAA selection watch show was incredible. It’s a very good time to be at NC State, and it’s wonderful to know that this team will be remembered.”
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