There was a day when Elliott Avent didn’t know if he could get the job done.
Avent, then a freshman at N.C. State in the spring of 1975, had been watching the baseball team’s practices in hopes of walking onto the team. But after a while, he decided against trying out because he wasn’t sure he was good enough to make the team.
“I’d look at players that Coach [Sam Esposito] would get on in practice back then pretty harshly. I thought, ‘Hey, these guys are better than me,'” Avent said. “And he’s getting on them — I don’t know what he’s going to think of me.”
He would keep playing what he called semi-pro ball, a less formal level of play that had no affiliation with pro baseball, where he said he had fun for nine years. But Avent still regrets the decision he made so long ago to not go out for State’s team.
“I wish I’d have made a better decision that day,” he said.
But he would eventually make his way back to the Pack, serving as an assistant coach under Ray Tanner for a year before becoming the coach at New Mexico State from 1989 to 1996. From there, he would come back to the job where he is now serving his 12th season, the head baseball coach for State.
Since taking the job in August 1996, he has compiled 443 victories, second-most in Pack history. But his ties to the University and baseball run even deeper than numbers can show.
Baseball, State from the startAvent grew up in a farming community in Nash County during a time when baseball “truly was America’s pastime.” It didn’t take very long for it to be his, too.
“Ever since I was old enough to hold a baseball, that’s all I ever cared about,” Avent said.
He can remember how many of the men would gather at a country store in his hometown.
“All they’d talk about is sports and politics. And you were either N.C. State, or you were North Carolina. And it’s somewhat still true today,” Avent said. “So I’ve always been an N.C. State fan.”
Three choicesWhen it came time for Avent to decide what he wanted to do after high school, he said he had three basic choices: join the Army, start working or go to college. For him, it wasn’t a hard choice.
“The most appealing of those three to me, although I might not have been prepared for it maturity-wise, was college,” Avent said.
With his affinity for State, coming to Raleigh for school was a natural choice. Figuring out a major wasn’t quite as easy, though. Avent settled on textiles, but he was never really sold on the idea of getting into the textiles business, a decision he acted on when he was fewer than 20 credit hours short of graduation.
His dream was to become a head coach one day, but he left State without a degree.
After a brief stint as an assistant at North Carolina Wesleyan, he went to Virginia Commonwealth, where he worked under Tony Guzzo and got his degree with an emphasis in marketing. That would lay the foundation for his future as a coach.
Becoming a head coachBefore long, Avent would end up at New Mexico State, where he would build the program, helping it become a part of the Big West Conference, bringing the team to a full NCAA scholarship level and eventually having the school’s first baseball stadium built as he left to come back to State.
Though State was what he called a “dream job,” he said his focus never wavered when he was with the Aztecs.
“If I had ever once thought about N.C. State while I was at New Mexico State — that’s where I want to be — I don’t think I ever would have done a good enough job at New Mexico State,” Avent said.
After returning to State, he took his first three teams to the NCAA Tournament before suffering through a three-year drought, which he said had to do with some recruiting gambles and “bad luck” of recruits being high draft picks. He said it just gave the program a chance, though, to rebound as it has with five straight NCAA appearances starting in 2003.
“The great thing is through the downside of not going to the tournament for a couple years, we were able to show you what a strong program this is,” Avent said.
Family atmosphereAvent takes pride in the fact that many of his former players drop in when they can. One such player is Mike Rogers, a two-time All-American pitcher who played from 2002 to 2004 who was throwing at Doak Field on Monday.
“He is a players’ coach. He shoots you straight. He doesn’t beat around the bush or anything like that. He’ll tell you. If he says you’re going to pitch, then you’re going to pitch,” Rogers said. “His honesty and his just having your back whether you throw a good game or a bad game, that’s the person he is.”
That approach doesn’t keep Avent from letting players know when they’ve gotten out of line, either. But Rogers said his former coach’s approach gets the most out of players.
Passing on experienceHaving been a student who knew he wanted to coach baseball but wasn’t so sure about his education for a little while, Avent said he is in a great position now.
“These guys are here playing baseball, and they’re sure they want to do that. But they’re not sure about college, and I think part of my job is to get them through that period where they can see the light and understand getting that college education is not only the most important thing in their life for them that they don’t understand,” Avent said. “But [I] try to make them surely understand it is the most important part in their parents’ or grandparents’ life.”
And that’s a part of the job he thrives on the most.
“I love that relationship, and I love getting them through things where they have to make decisions. And they make bad decisions, and they have to overcome it,” Avent said. “And I just love being a part of helping them through the toughest years of their life.”
12-years’ workThe mere fact that Avent has been the coach for 12 seasons at State and has been able to maintain a good deal of success is something Rogers said speaks volumes of the coach.
“Coach Avent being here 12 years, obviously that says something about the type of coach he is, the type of person he is. He’s done a lot for this program,” Rogers said.
The coach himself said his longevity at the school boils down to his motivation.
“I’ve got true passion that this is a special place. And it’s a special place to me, and I want it to be a special place for [my players],” Avent said.
Even with the success Avent has accumulated though, associate head coach Tom Holliday, a longtime friend of Avent who has been to 14 College World Series as a coach, said Avent doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.
“If we can take this program to the World Series, especially as good as the ACC is right now, it would bring the recognition to him that I think he deserves,” Holliday said. “I think guys in our business are graded on College World Series time.”
And he would like to think the program is close to turning that corner. He said getting to the next level will start with getting on the same plane as Miami, Florida State and Clemson.
“To beat those guys, you’ve got to believe that you can do it. And I think if we can get this club to Omaha, it’ll help change an overall attitude,” Holliday said. “Let’s face it: sports is about attitude. You’ve got to have it to win.”
