‘Why not?’: How Jim Valvano’s influence led Terry Gannon to broadcasting career, another Olympic Games

The location was a given. Amedeo's Italian restaurant was always going to be the spot for dinner with NC State coach Jim Valvano. Each time former Marquette coach and longtime college basketball broadcaster Al McGuire stopped by to see his close friend in Raleigh, the popular local eatery was the go-to spot.  Most of the time, a young graduate assistant was invited to tag along with the lively duo. Terry Gannon, who was a sophomore sharpshooter on Valvano’s 1983 national championship squad, used these meetings to glean as much information from the two basketball lifers as possible.  As Gannon put it, McGuire “felt the game of basketball as opposed to thinking the game of basketball,” and his opinion meant a lot to the recently-graduated player that believed a coaching career was in his future. But at one of these dinners, McGuire, in only his way, was trying to talk Gannon out of that path as a full-time coach.  “Terry, here’s what you do. You go down the street, you coach the St. Anthony’s sixth-grade CYO team,” said McGuire, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer. “That’s your coaching.” A befuddled Gannon wasn’t sure what that meant, throwing his hands up in that air in confusion. But Valvano, the character that he was, served as the translator. “He means coaching is a tough business,” Valvano said. “Go talk for a living. If you want to get your kicks coaching, go down and coach the CYO team.” Gannon, who once dreamed of playing in the NBA, had offers to play professionally in Europe at the time. But Valvano, the ever confident coach that meant so much to Gannon, believed he shouldn’t take it, and said, “Get on with your life, who are you going to be? Walt Frazier?”  Instead, he wanted his guard to pursue a career in broadcasting, just as he had dabbled in over the years.  It brought up his two-word phrase that resonated with Gannon right away: “Why not?” Valvano wanted him to at least give this a shot. If it didn’t work out or he hated being on television, then a job on the Wolfpack’s bench would always be waiting for Gannon.