And here we go.
It started over the weekend when Georgia Tech decided to part company with Paul Hewitt about three years past his expiration date. If you are not familiar with the situation in Atlanta, after Hewitt coached Georgia Tech in the national title game in 2004, his agent took the school administrators out on the town, got them drunk and took compromising photos of them. The next day he negotiated what may have been the most ridiculous contract in the history of college athletics. Basically Hewitt’s contract would automatically renew every year and had a huge buyout attached to it that even now has the Yellow Jackets paying Hewitt $7.2 million over the next five years. Actually, I made the first part up though I imagine GT officials wish they had something besides their own stupidity to blame for giving Hewitt a sweetheart deal. Someone finally decided the program was never going to improve so like a gangrenous limb, they cut Hewitt off. Yes it will hurt them financially and hamstring them in hiring the next coach but that is the price to pay for putting all your eggs in one Final Four appearance. For UNC fans it is good riddance considering Roy Williams was a baffling 6-8 versus Hewitt.
Meanwhile in Raleigh NC State will hold a press conference at 6 PM to announce Sidney Lowe has resigned as head coach. The end comes after five years of lackluster basketball, poor team chemistry and generally half hearted play on the court. This move that was pretty much in the bag by the time the calendar flipped to 2011. Had the Wolfpack made some serious noise in the ACC i.e. a top four finish, then maybe Lowe survives. However the play during the pre-conference schedule was so discouraging everyone knew it would turn out pretty much like it did. Lowe was just not a good college coach. He lacked the skills to deal with effort issues as evidenced on the court. In the NBA, coaching effort is a very small part of the job, if they do it at all. In college it is all about pushing young kids and riding the turmoil involved with players who are still developing. It was also clear Lowe never got a handle or was unable to teach his teams how to execute very basic plays on the court not to mention his refusal to use fouls to extend a 2-3 possession game until it was too late. Lowe did a fine job recruiting but individual talent does not matter much if you cannot coach them into a cohesive unit on the court. Lowe’s record vs UNC was 1-10 winning his first game against the Heels in 2007 before losing the next ten.
Now we will be mildly entertained watching NC State conduct another coaching search. I say mildly because Yow actually has a clue unlike Lee Fowler so there will be less in the way of major embarrassing moments. There will be plenty of rumors and we have Twitter to kick that stuff around. I have no idea who the Pack will end up with except I think Yow will make overtures to Sean Miller at Arizona, Mark Turgeon at Texas A&M and possibly Rick Barnes at Texas just to appease the fan base who wants a “name” coach. When/if that fails she will move on to some mid-major coach or possibly a long time assistant at a major program. NCSU is behind the eight ball a tad since Oklahoma, Arkansas and the aforementioned Yellow Jackets are already out there. It could be argued NCSU is the fourth best option of that group as far as coaching jobs go.
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its a shame Sidney didnt work out. i enjoyed watching him play, and he seems to love his school. just isnt all that great a coach.
maybe there are some similarities with Bunting, although i didnt think Bunting was a bit better coach.
GT…well…any organization that agrees to that ridiculous contract deserves what they get.
i cant decide if that contract is the worst ever, or it was when the Islanders gave their goalie a 15 year deal.
I wouldn’t be surprised if MooU makes a grab for Rick Barnes. There was a very unflattering piece on him recently in the NY Times:
So if Texas makes an early exit this time, Barnes will be in the hot-seat as well.
THF, I think you nailed the key point as being his inability to discipline, teach, and motivate unruly kid players. Sid must have a good mind for the game or he wouldn’t have been an NBA coach for so long. He clearly was the leader of his team in college and as a pro player. Seems like he’s a good person, too.
Re: Mark Turgeon and another unofficial name somebody put out there, Kevin Stallings. Both are former assistants under Roy. Heh, heh.
Nice summary. Your description of Sidney’s shortcomings is spot on. Only thing I would characterize differently is your assertion that NC State is fourth-best among the openings you mention. Despite the vitriolic hype from the essentially lazy national media, NC State (sans Mr. Fowler) is an extremely attractive job among nearly all college coaches who aren’t named K, Roy, or a very small handful of others. Thanks for the objective look without crucifying Sidney – a LOT of us on the other side are very appreciative of what he did for us, 30 years ago and 5 years ago.
After what State did to Sendek, I don’t know why any big-time coach would come to State.
Well, Sidney wasn’t much of an NBA head coach either — 79-228 in three full seasons + part of two other seasons.
@chapelhillfan “Big-time” can mean different things to different people. The biggest of the “big-time” will stay away – they’ve got good things going. That’s why our AD will not be approaching Coach K or ‘Ole Roy (along with the aforementioned handful of others). But other “big-time” names, like Miller, or Donovan or Barnes, for example, may well be approached. And if you think these guys won’t give serious consideration to the job, you’re wrong. The lure of the ACC, the facilities, the city of Raleigh, and yes the dusty but relevant history of the program, even the opportunity to compete side-by-side with K and ‘Ole Roy – all of these are absolute incentives for the kind of coach that a program wants. Be patient, the search will be short and professional this time. Get ready for a surprise.
Yes, that’s exactly who I am talking about. Those same factors you cite also produced Lowe five years ago. And those coaches di remember the Sendek move. The best thing State has going for it now is that Fowler is no longer the AD. But, while I would like to see a good hire for the overall good of the league and the rivalry, State fans need to be realistic about who they can attract. Who knows, with gobs of money, maybe there will be a shocker.
1987 – I would agree with you regarding the job being a decent one. You need to find someone that’s not afraid to take on big time talent and win against the best. Everyone is always crowing about K and Roy but take a look at the Big East, I think we have a few HOF coaches that make life tough even when their teams are somewhat suspect. It’s just easy as a rival to enjoy the sometimes, almost painful, fretting over the administration and other items on the list of NCSU pain. It’s very difficult to determine who’s the next big coach, I really liked the guy at Winthrop, Gregg Marshall and it looks as though he’s making the Shockers a force to dealt with as well. Marshall is going to be a big time coach at a big time school one day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Marshall
Of course there are lots of big names but seeing the new coach at Clemson you can never really know what’s next. He could be a really dangerous foe if he can keep the recruiting up at Clemson. Tricky business hiring coaches, lots of complexity in the college game. Nice Post THF.
Don’t you think Barnes will say of the ACC,”Been there done that”? Moving from Austin to Raleigh would be a step back for the Hickory native. Now if UNC TV could be convinced to do a hit musical program called Raleigh City Limits……
@badbad…: Agreed, I personally think Marshall would be the perfect hire. Just get a sense that the administration is looking for something different. And I understand about the rival/pain thing – it hasn’t been that long since football season…
@chapelhiilfan:at last we agree on something – it’s a good thing that Fowler is gone. You say that the same set of circumstances produced Coach Lowe five years ago. But Fowler is the key difference. Without him five years ago, Lowe would never have been hired. And I think you’re in for a big surprise over who we State fans can “realistically” attract.
Pat Knight?