The documentary was produced by Chris Corchiani, a star college athlete at NCSU from 1987-91, and directed by Tor Ramsey, a former team manager for N.C. State. It was released last December with the intention of retelling the stories stored in the walls of William Neal Reynolds Coliseum and in the hearts of many N.C. State fans.

Unfortunately, even with such an engaging premise, the documentary occasionally fell short.

Running with the Pack includes footage of games dating back from 1911 to the current Gottfried era, which did showcase the progression of basketball. However, the final product is a scattered memory-board. Some of the pieces of our history are very prominent while others are lacking.

The documentary is organized into sections that include the pre-game years, the team under coach Everett Case, the first NCAA championship win and the team under Jimmy Valvano.

The pre-game years, which date from 1911 to 1946, introduced the invention of basketball. It then followed the story of the students of 1908 who requested a men’s basketball team be created on campus. It also brought in some interesting history about how the World Wars halted construction of a coliseum on campus.

After this, the documentary does a wonderful job of encapsulating the spirit and teamwork of not only the players, but the NCSU fans. While the order of events was slightly scattered and there were typos and sloppy editing work, the fervor behind the basketball program and N.C. State in general could not be ignored.

For example, Running with the Pack covers how the NCSU basketball team became a huge success from about 1947 to 1966, mostly due to the coaching of Everett Case who suffered only one home loss in his first three years.

Reynolds Coliseum was also finally built and N.C. State led the nation in game attendance for the next 10 years – the film captured this excitement well with quotes from Jim Hunt, the former governor of North Carolina.

“When the Pack got going and the game got close, the place exploded,” Hunt said. “I’ve never felt anything in my life like the excitement, the magic and the thrill of basketball in Reynolds Coliseum.”

It was clear from the documentary which periods of coaching were memorable, as it explained which coach es had a great impact on the game and the way it was played. For instance, a section of Running with the Pack introduced N.C. State former coach Norm Sloan and told about how the team went on to win their first NCAA tournament championship in 1974.

Running with the Pack also told the story of the “Crazy Italian Guy,” Jimmy Valvano and how under his coaching, the team went on to win another NCAA tournament championship in 1983. Because of their incredibly close games they earned the name “The Cardiac Pack.” It captured the inspiration of the moment by including Valvano’s famous speeches, like his much quoted line, “Don’t ever give up, don’t ever stop fighting.”

Running with the Pack may have been lacking in the quality of its editing and its cohesion, but it made up for it with the amount of passion and emotion that it was able to capture. It told the amazing success stories of the N.C. State men’s basketball team, following their progression from students that were playing in a small room to the team they are now, playing in front of 19,722 fans in PNC Arena.

“I owe this athletic department everything,” Chris Corchiani said in Running with the Pack. “They gave me the four best years of my life…playing for the best fans around.”