NC State basketball coach opens upscale piano bar in Wilmington

Fresh off a shocking run to the NCAA Tournament Final Four, NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts took on a totally different project this summer.

Keatts and his business partner, Clayton Gsell, opened an upscale piano bar in downtown Wilmington, NC on Friday evening.

Tempo 33 had a soft launch on Wednesday and officially opened the doors on Friday, giving Wilmington an expansive, upscale bar with live entertainment which will be open three nights a week on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Keatts began his head coaching career at UNC Wilmington in 2014, winning three straight regular season titles in the CAA and leading the Seahawks to the NCAA Tournament in both 2016 and 2017 before he was hired on at NC State.

While in Wilmington, Keatts began looking for a space to open a business, and eventually he got connected to Gsell who shared the same vision.

“Kevin and I were looking independently for space to do a piano bar, and two business brokers put us together,” Gsell told WECT reporters. “We shared the same thoughts about the need for a bougie piano bar downtown.”

Despite coaching in Raleigh, Keatts kept his vision to add an upscale dining space to Wilmington’s downtown area, and that vision became a reality with a little less than three months until his Wolfpack squad looks to defend their ACC Tournament victory and build on last year’s late season momentum.