Noah Fleischman: My Introduction To The Wolfpacker

Moving during the middle of the season wasn’t on my bingo card a month ago, but when an opportunity to cover an ACC program with one of the most rabid fan bases in the country presented itself, it was a no-brainer. 

Hi, I’m Noah Fleischman and I’m the newest staff writer at TheWolfpacker.com, covering the NC State football and men’s basketball programs, and basketball recruiting. 

Before I moved down to Raleigh, I covered James Madison football at the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va., during one of the most pivotal times in program history as the Dukes made their move to the FBS. 

It was a wild almost two years on the beat, which included the team’s first FBS game — a 44-7 win over Middle Tennessee last September — and a 25-point comeback win at Appalachian State a few weeks later. Last fall was capped by the Dukes’ 47-7 thumping of Coastal Carolina for the Sun Belt Conference East Division crown. 

And most recently? Oh, I covered the Dukes’ 11-point comeback win at Virginia this past weekend, which included a 72-minute lightning delay and a wild scene with less than a minute to go in Charlottesville as JMU scored the go-ahead touchdown. 

So why leave a passionate fan base in Harrisonburg to move four hours south? The chance to tell the Wolfpack’s stories with an on-the-rise media entity in On3 was too good to pass up. There’s so much to tackle with the NC State football and men’s basketball programs, including Brennan Armstrong’s trips back to Blacksburg and Charlottesville this season, both of which are most likely circled on the southpaw’s calendar. 

Not only do I want to tell great football stories — whether that’s showing who a player is outside the helmet and shoulder pads or looking at advanced analytics to see why a game went the way it did — but NC State’s men’s basketball program is full of stories waiting to be written, including Arizona State transfer DJ Horne’s return home to Raleigh, a busy recruiting cycle for the Wolfpack and everything in between.

While it may not be basketball season quite yet, the Wolfpack is an intriguing team in the ACC this year, and have a chance to make a run in March.

At heart, I’m a college basketball junkie. I went to VCU, where basketball is king in Richmond, Virginia. The Siegel Center was a raucous environment, and rivaled to be one of the best in all of college basketball. That’s where my love for the sport was born and, ever since then, it has been hard to pull me out of a college basketball arena when there’s one nearby. I can’t wait to get inside PNC Arena when the Wolfpack hosts The Citadel to open the 2023-24 season. 

But before then, there are at least 10 more NC State football games to be played, and I’ve already immersed myself in the Wolfpack to be up to speed this week with VMI on tap and a road trip to Virginia (I’m already looking forward to being back in the rare open-air press box) next week. 

I wanted to thank Ryan Tice for reaching out with the opportunity and the rest of The Wolfpacker’s team, including Stu Coman and Ethan McDowell, for being so helpful during this transition. They’ve made it easy for me to get up to speed with all things NC State, while also answering every question I’ve had.

To TheWolfpacker.com readers, I want to hear from you. I am willing to hear any and all feedback you may have, as well as any stories you’d like to see from me. Do you want in-depth features on NC State football and basketball players? Or are you looking for analytic breakdowns of the latest Wolfpack football game (don’t worry, the first one is coming out today)? 

Either way, I’m here, and I’m eager to get to know you as much as I’ll know the Wolfpack rosters. Feel free to reach out to me on X (formerly Twitter) at @fleischman_noah or send me an email at [email protected].

I can’t wait for Saturday’s game against VMI to see the sold-out Carter-Finley Stadium atmosphere in person. But for now, I hope you can welcome another Virginia-born writer to the NC State beat.