Bobby Lutz is coming home to North Carolina to continue his college basketball coaching career.
Lutz, who turned 53 on Monday, will be named an assistant on the staff of new N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried by early next week, a source familiar with the process said.
As of 4:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon, a Wikipedia profile of Lutz had already been updated to list his current position as an assistant coach at N.C. State.
Lutz was in Catawba County on Friday to visit with his father, Bobby Lutz Sr., but did not return phone calls from HDR Sports.
A former Bandys High guard who graduated in 1976, Lutz spent last season as an assistant coach at Iowa State. He took the position after being fired after 12 seasons as Charlotte’s head coach.
Gottfried was hired Tuesday to replace Sidney Lowe, who resigned, and has since hired Orlando Early – a former assistant coach under Lutz at Charlotte from 1998 through 2001 – as a Wolfpack assistant.
Lutz graduated from Charlotte in 1980. After considering becoming a lawyer, he decided to coach basketball and had won a state girls’ championship by the 1982-83 season.
He coached the Parkwood girls in Union County to the state 2A title after beating Bandys and one of his mentors, the late Mike Matheson, in the West 2A Regional title game.
Lutz was varsity boys’ head coach at Bunker Hill in 1983-84, guiding the Bears to an 18-7 record.
Lutz entered the college ranks in 1984 as a graduate assistant at Clemson for head coach Cliff Ellis, then became the head coach at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer.
At Pfeiffer, his teams went 181-91 in nine years and reached one NAIA title game. He left Pfeiffer to become head coach at Gardner-Webb but was offered an assistant coaching job at Charlotte by Jeff Mullins two weeks after signing on at Gardner-Webb.
Having told Gardner-Webb officials that he would consider an offer if Mullins made one, he left to go to the 49ers (for the 1995-1996 season) without coaching a game at Gardner-Webb.
After Mullins retired, Melvin Watkins was named Charlotte’s head coach, and when he left Lutz, still a 49ers assistant, was hired on April 9, 1998 as Charlotte’s head coach.
Over the next 12 seasons, his teams went 218-158 and made NCAA Tournament appearances five times and trips to the NIT three times.
The 49ers went 19-12 in 2009-2010 under Lutz, who was fired after Charlotte lost seven of its final eight games.
Charlotte hired Ohio State assistant Alan Major to replace Lutz and the 49ers finished 10-20 overall (2-14 in the Atlantic 10) this season and lost their final eight games and 12 of their final 13.
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