He wants to make you an offer you can’t refuse.
Gene Smilek, a senior in criminology, has found his own way to support the new N.C. State men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried. By taking one of Gottfried’s better-known nicknames, “The Gottfather,” Smilek has turned the term into a familiar sight at State’s home basketball games.
By simply making an 18-by-24-inch sign showing the coach with the name, Smilek has attracted attention from State fans, players, media outlets, and even coach Gottfried himself. After successfully catching the eyes of so many at sporting events, Smilek plans to expand the Gottfather domain to T-shirts.
Smilek doesn’t claim to have coined the term himself but does take credit for taking the term outside the realm of social media conversation.
“I actually saw a lot of people talking about it through Twitter and Facebook,” Smilek said. “They were calling him ‘The Gottfather,’ but I hadn’t seen anyone make a sign or do anything creative with a play on ‘The Gottfather.’ I did not come up with the name myself. I just acted on it.”
Although he came up with the idea of making the sign, Smilek gives a lot of the credit for the sign’s digital creation to his girlfriend, who helped him create the design.
“I took one of his pictures and made it into sections with the help of my girlfriend, Ayla,” Smilek said. “She has a graphic design degree. I made the sign in Photoshop in a couple of hours and got it printed at Kinko’s. After I designed the sign and got it printed, that’s about it. It got a lot of attention really quickly.”
The response truly was quick. Shortly after Smilek sported the sign during the Wolfpack’s early season non-conference games, Gottfried and the players clearly appreciated the gesture.
“[Gottfried] thought it was hilarious,” Smilek said. “He’s seen it a few times; I actually got his autograph on the sign. A lot of the players have talked about it; a few have said they want one. I’m trying to get some printed for whoever that wants one. Gottfried said it’s hilarious and fun to ignite the crowd with stuff going on with the basketball team.”
Now that ‘The Gottfather’ has become popular, Smilek said he would like to start selling shirts and donating a portion of the proceeds to The V Foundation. According to Smilek’s girlfriend, Ayla King, this is not the beginning of Smilek’s ideas involving T-shirt creation.
“He’s always talking about shirt ideas that he’s had,” King said. “He’s always asking me, ‘Oh, I need your help with this T-shirt design’ and stuff like that. He’s actually been talking to the N.C. State licensing office about a T-shirt design he’s had before.”
Smilek says he isn’t in it for the money; he just hopes he can break even.
“I think I could,” Smilek said. “Right now, we’re just trying to get the logistic stuff down. That’s what I would like to do. I’m just doing it for fun; I’m not doing it for the money or anything.”
Although Smilek has been a diehard Wolfpack fan while he’s been at State, he joked about how little is actually known about the school in his hometown of Powhatan, Va.
“Where I’m from, it’s all about UVA and Virginia Tech,” Smilek said. “In fact, a lot of people at home think UNC and N.C. State are the same school. When they hear I go here, they usually say ‘Oh yeah, N.C. State? That’s the Tar Heels, right?’ I’m like ‘No, not quite.'”
Those who actually know the difference between the Pack and the Heels can expect ‘The Gottfather’ T-shirts to cost about $10.
Do you do anything special during N.C. State sporting events? Send your stories to [email protected] for a chance to be featured in the Technician sports section.
