Most of UNCW recruiting class appears intact following Keatts' d - WECT TV6-WECT.com:News, weather & sports Wilmington, NC

A head coach's departure often brings uncertainty or even worse, turbulence. 

However, despite Kevin Keatts' decision to take the head coaching position at North Carolina State, as of now, much of UNCW's recruiting class appears to be committed to Wilmington, including top recruit Brion Whitley. 

Whitley is a three-star recruit out of Sarasota, Fla., and ranked the No. 73 shooting guard in the class of 2017. 

"I mean obviously, I picked a great coach if he's the one getting recruited to go to a bigger school – so I was just proud of him obviously," said Whitley, who has averaged over 20 points per game at Riverview High School. "Everyone wants to move up in life, that's the goal. I'm trying to go from college to the NBA. So I would just hope the next coach, if it's not Coach Siddle whoever it is – sees me as a big help to the team."  

Another high school recruit to have committed is forward Evan Cole out of Georgia. 

The Seahawks also have commitments from junior college transfers Josh Boutte out of Dodge City (Kan.) Community College, and Zac Cuthbertson from Mineral Area College in Missouri. 

Whitley also received offers from Florida and FGCU. He will be a key piece in helping replace the UNCW backcourt with Denzel Ingram, Chris Flemmings, and Ambrose Mosely all graduating. 

"Me and the other recruit Evan (Cole) were talking about it and we were like, I mean, if the coach goes, you don't commit to the school because of the coach. You commit because of the team that's there," Whitley said. "And the environment, because the question is if you weren't playing basketball there, would you still love the school? And I would still love going to UNCW without basketball."

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