The Wolfpack and the Ted Lasso Way

Jim Valvano once said that there are three things we should do every day: laugh, think, and be moved to tears. If you’re one of the millions who have listened to the now seven-time Emmy Award-winning show Ted lasso, chances are you’ve done all three of these things in a given episode.

Broadcast on Apple TV +, Ted lasso is a comedy about an American football coach hired by an Englishman soccer football team. The show is full of laughs, quotes and messages of kindness and features one of the Wolfpack as supervising producer – former NC State student Kip Kroeger.

Thanks to Kroeger, fans of Wolf-eyed NC State may have noticed that a poster of Jimmy V was unrolled and pinned to the wall of Ted Lasso’s office in the pilot episode. (If you missed it, or haven’t watched it yet, keep your eyes peeled at the 10:33 PM mark and shout a big “Go Pack!” When you see it.)

If you are familiar with the series, you know that the main character has several things in common with the late Valvano – he is extremely positive, he gives brilliant speeches and he believes in his team and his people no matter what. So when production ended and they needed an additional sports figure to shine on Lasso’s office wall, Kroeger suggested Jimmy V and the iconic image of the men’s basketball team from 1983 NC State.

“I found the poster, and they said ‘it’s perfect.’ Jason [Sudeikis] loved it. [Showrunner] Invoice [Lawrence] loved it. They thought it was the perfect fit for Ted, ”he says.

Kroeger ran with the concept and set up a shoot at a post-production house where they unrolled the poster against a gray wall to make it look like part of Lasso’s office. “We found a wall and of course they shot, and I’m rolling out the poster.”

Kip’s Road to Hollywood

Before dropping the Wolfpack Easter Eggs on Emmy-winning shows, Kroeger worked on other shows like Scrubs, Not datable, Perpetuity and Cavalier Whiskey. But what prompted him to take this path?

“I got into IT because I love technology, but after a few years of working I found out that I wasn’t very good at coding and programming,” he says.

Shortly after realizing that his major was not the right fit, Kroeger contacted a friend from high school about the opportunity to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

“I hit my friend and we used our summers to do [film] stuff together.

Kroeger and his friend made music videos and worked on other projects to create a resume that could accumulate in the industry. His passion continued until the following fall semester when he learned how to edit videos and finally decided that this was a path he wanted to take. His parents told him to choose another major in case he needed something to fall back on if his plans for Hollywood didn’t work out after college.

“I grew up around medicine, my dad was a doctor and I was always fascinated by science, so I changed my major to biology and decided that I would put all my spare time into working on my entertainment projects, and I must have good grades [in the meantime] to eventually pursue medicine if I needed it, ”he says.

Kroeger used his time at NC State to focus on school during the school year and his entertainment projects during the summers. He got a few internships in Los Angeles during this time and flew to South Africa to shoot and co-produce a documentary about a school for at-risk children.

“I had a pretty good idea while we were [producing the documentary] that I had to do everything for that, ”he says.

Her mother also noticed her heart for entertainment. “She was like, ‘I’ve never seen you focused on something so intensely before,’ which was telling. I was like, ‘I’m having a lot of fun doing this.’ “

Kroeger graduated from the State of North Carolina with a biology degree in December 2004, traveled to Los Angeles in early 2005, and has lived and worked in Hollywood ever since.

A wolf on the red carpet

Kroeger has enjoyed multiple successes during his trip to Hollywood so far, but perhaps none as professionally great as being part of the Seven Emmys that Ted lasso won at the biggest televised party of 2021.

“It is such an honor to be recognized in these different arenas. It was my first time attending the Emmys. I’ve been here all these years, and I would sit and watch the Emmys and say, “Someday I would love to go. I want to be there and work on a show that can be recognized there.

“And for it to suddenly happen with Ted Lasso, and to go into such a strange year was amazing. It was like a dream, and it was so cool to be there together and to see everyone being celebrated and recognized. “

He spoke about those he helped celebrate – Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence, among others, and mentioned that due to COVID-19 restrictions, all people with tickets to the show shared their seats plus one with other crew members so that more of their team could be there to live the night.

Sharing plus-one during a tough time so more people can be there to celebrate? This is what you do when you are in a pack.

The pack of wolves and the way of the lasso

One of the biggest things that stands out for Kroeger about his time at NC State is the community that came to be a part of the institution.

“Being a part of the Wolfpack is such a great idea, but as long as I’m a part of it, it’s all about connection,” he says. “Connection to everyone. It’s this idea, a bit like with Ted lasso, that the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts of the idea type.

There’s a scene in the show’s first season where the main character is playing darts against an antagonist and he goes into a monologue about a quote from Walt Whitman that he saw at his kid’s school. The quote, “Be curious, don’t be judgmental,” is a quote that Kroeger says corresponds to what it means to be a part of something like the Wolfpack.

“Ted Lasso talks about the importance of seeing people. It was such a poignant thought, to be curious, not judgmental, and I think it creates a natural curiosity to want to know the people around you, which I think is how the Wolfpack becomes family. that it is, ”he said.

As for an NC State sporting moment, he remembers that he wished Ted Lasso could have been a part?

“The 2002 football season was magical. Being a student and being a part of that and watching Philip Rivers take this team and run with it. To be there at Carter-Finley in that student section with the whole place shaking was amazing, ”he says.

Something other than NC State and Ted lasso have in common that the university and the characters in the series are surrounded by loyal, passionate and at times grieving fans. The fictitious AFC Richmond Greyhounds were relegated to the second tier of the English football league system, and the Wolfpack haven’t won a domestic championship since Valvano led the team to the trophy in 1983.

So what would Ted Lasso say to Wolfpack fans?

“I don’t know what Ted Lasso would necessarily say to Wolfpack fans, but he wouldn’t give up hope,” Kroeger says.

Kroeger thought about the question a bit more and grabbed a sign taped under his computer screen. It’s bright yellow and has a word, written in blue, identical to a poster Ted Lasso stuck on the door above his desk, saying, “BELIEVE”.

“If that doesn’t fit AFC Richmond and Ted lasso as well as with the Wolfpack, so I don’t really know what it does.

And “BELIEVE” we will.