Humble Wainwright, Seahawks enjoying big show

SACRAMENTO - Jerry Wainwright isn\'t afraid to admit it. His players are here to play basketball, but they are enjoying the glitz that comes with being one of the early darlings of the NCAA Tournament this year. That\'s probably because North Carolina-Wilmington is used to being in North Carolina\'s shoes- out of the Tournament before it starts.\nBut after the upset of fourth-seeded USC Thursday night, Wainwright said his team is enjoying the attention, even if it\'s in the Seahawks\' own way.\n\"National spotlight, do I enjoy what\'s happening? In all honesty, we know what I do for a living is very temporary,\" Wainwright said. \"The only thing that matters is the people. We\'re old school. We represent a team. It\'s nice to see them be successful. This is great to see the kids enjoy it.\"\nWith a good deal of attention from the national media on the off-day in Sacramento, the humble and humorous Wainwright reminisced on a career of coaching that has brought him to this point. \nA native of Chicago, Wainwright coached softball, football and other sports before settling on basketball. He also spoke of a former Hoosier coach who had a special influence on him.\n\"It\'s almost a dream come true for me. I grew up in the Midwest in Chicago. I had the opportunity to meet Coach (Bob) Knight at a very early age,\" Wainwright said. \"He had a tremendous effect on Midwest coaches. I worked his camp.\n\"I coached a player named Glen Grunwald who is now vice president and general manager of the Toronto Raptors who attended Indiana University. (Knight) way back when offered me a beginning job on his staff that at that time in my life I didn\'t want to take.\" Wainwright is in his eighth season as the head man at UNC-Wilmington, his first head coaching job. He spent nine seasons before that as an assistant to Bob Staak and Dave Odom at Wake Forest.\nBut this wasn\'t what Wainwright set out to do. He just wanted to coach kids and be free of the politics of high level sports.\n\"I taught kids to shoot free throws underhand in the seventh grade because they couldn\'t hit the rim. I had their parents tell me I was costing them a college scholarship,\" Wainwright said. \"I was told when I was very young in coaching that there are only two good places to coach- one, an orphanage because there\'s no parents and two, a prison because there\'s no alumni. I probably kept that as my credo. I never, ever wanted to be a college coach.\"\nIn 2000 Wainwright got his team to the Tournament for the first time in school history. The Seahawks lost as a 15th-seed, losing to Cincinnati 64-47 in the first round. At the time UNC-Wilmington was so unknown that the charter plane that was supposed to take the Seahawks to Nashville for their Tournament game went to Wilmington, Deleware. This season has been a bit more smooth. UNC-Wilmington earned an automatic bid by winning the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament after winning the conference in the regular season. \nBefore the season began, the Seahawks had the opportunity to be around the Washington Wizards. The lessons learned weren\'t lost.\n\"The first practice Michael Jordan was in, there was no five-on-five. It lasted approximately an hour and a half,\" Wainwright said. \"It was shooting drills and running their offense and during that hour and a half Michael Jordan did not miss one shot.\nHe did everything at game speed. What a great lesson for kids at any age to see that type of talent with that type of practice integrity.\"\nAfter a blowout loss at Ohio State early in the season, Wainwright challenged his team to play harder. They listened, winning 14 of 18 in the CAA.\n\"That was the only game this season coach was disappointed with us because he felt like we quit that game,\" Seahawk Stewart Hare said. \"We didn\'t play hard in the second half. That was a turning point in our season. I think we turned around and got focused and really started playing hard.\"\nThe Hoosiers present a new challenge for the Seahawks. IU has enough athleticism to match up with UNC-W. Wainwright also noticed the Hoosiers\' defense.\n\"When I saw Indiana play (Thursday), the thing that stood out in my mind was how aggressive and how well they play team defense,\" Wainwright said. \"They\'re bulldogs. We\'re going to have to somehow figure out a way that that doesn\'t disrupt what we do.\" Now that the Seahawks are making some noise, Wainwright isn\'t going to change. He still makes jokes and talks about how important the team concept is. National spotlight or not, Wainwright just wants to coach.\n\"I\'m not going to write a book on basketball. People lend me their children,\" Wainwright said. \"I\'m humbled by how much I don\'t know."