NC State is in the market for a new head coach, and despite the early dismissal of head coach Mark Gottfried, that does not mean they are necessarily getting a head start. The matter at hand though will start commencing quickly without whispers of the Pack going behind Gottfried’s back, a chief reason why the decision was made to go ahead and make the move, according to two sources.
However, NC State is not going to negotiate with active coaches, so it must still wait until seasons are over before getting deep into the process.
The Pack is likely to use the lessons learned over the past two coaching searches for hoops, which both received poor perceptions and grades for how they were handled, fair or not.
When Herb Sendek left for Arizona State in the spring of 2006, athletics director Lee Fowler, a former basketball coach, took it upon himself to solely run the search. His first target was Texas head coach Rick Barnes. A source we spoke with Wednesday night said that Barnes’ interest level was more than serious, and what Barnes really wanted was a face-to-face meeting with Fowler in Austin. Fowler did not comply.
We can recall speaking with a Texas-based source back then who told us that Barnes was asking his fellow assistant coaches how well they thought they could do at NC State. So the interest from Barnes was sincere. However, our source Wednesday night said that Barnes was put off by Fowler engaging only from a distance and subsequently negotiated a raise to stay at Texas.
Then the attention turned to then-Memphis head coach John Calipari. This time Fowler did fly to Memphis (only to get tracked on FlightAware) to meet with him, and Calipari came to Raleigh to check out the campus and facilities. If Calipari is to be believed, when Fowler did not pick up the tab on a late-night pizza meal that led him to believe Fowler would be too cheap to support him.
At the time, the conventional wisdom was that NCSU let Memphis have the last shot and that is what turned him. Some simply believed that Calipari was just trying to put a scare into his employer to earn more respect. Those in that camp pointed out that Calipari relied heavily on recruiting players into Memphis that could not get into NC State and did not want to change recruiting tactics. Regardless, he got a raise to stay at Memphis.
John Beilein, then at West Virginia, appeared to be the coach, but depending on who you believe there was either balks or hiccups at meeting his hefty buyout or a bit of a revolt from Pack supporters who wanted to do away with a Sendek-style offense which Beilien perceivably ran. A few years later Beilein led Michigan to the national title game.
Former UCLA coach Steve Lavin was approached, but sources at the time indicated he exaggerated the interest level from NC State. Then there was the candidate NCSU did not bother reaching out to: George Mason’s Jim Larranaga, who has gone on to obviously great success at Miami.
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When Sidney Lowe was fired after the 2010-11 season, Debbie Yow led the coaching search and very early in the process (after making overtures to Barnes, Arizona’s Sean Miller and others like Mark Turgeon at Texas A&M and Josh Pastner at Memphis) was enamored with VCU head coach Shaka Smart. As luck had it, Smart led VCU on an improbable run to the Final Four, leading to a long wait for Yow and NC State fans.
Smart heavily considered the offer but ultimately decided to take a raise at VCU. When he turned down Illinois a year later, some remarked that Smart came closer to taking the NCSU job than Illinois.
Next on the list were Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall and Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin. Some believe personal reasons led to Cronin staying put, others suggested that Cronin wanted more money. The mutual match was not there for Marshall at the time, although he would later say that was the closest he came to leaving Wichita State.
As both searches showed, NC State is attractive enough to get the attention of coaches, but also showed the Pack must aim for the right targets to avoid risking becoming the butt of jokes for being rejected frequently. Likely to possible jobs to open up this year include Illinois, Indiana, LSU, Missouri and Ohio State. Others like Clemson and Georgia might join that list.
However, NC State is not going to negotiate with active coaches, so it must still wait until seasons are over before getting deep into the process.
The Pack is likely to use the lessons learned over the past two coaching searches for hoops, which both received poor perceptions and grades for how they were handled, fair or not.
When Herb Sendek left for Arizona State in the spring of 2006, athletics director Lee Fowler, a former basketball coach, took it upon himself to solely run the search. His first target was Texas head coach Rick Barnes. A source we spoke with Wednesday night said that Barnes’ interest level was more than serious, and what Barnes really wanted was a face-to-face meeting with Fowler in Austin. Fowler did not comply.
We can recall speaking with a Texas-based source back then who told us that Barnes was asking his fellow assistant coaches how well they thought they could do at NC State. So the interest from Barnes was sincere. However, our source Wednesday night said that Barnes was put off by Fowler engaging only from a distance and subsequently negotiated a raise to stay at Texas.
Then the attention turned to then-Memphis head coach John Calipari. This time Fowler did fly to Memphis (only to get tracked on FlightAware) to meet with him, and Calipari came to Raleigh to check out the campus and facilities. If Calipari is to be believed, when Fowler did not pick up the tab on a late-night pizza meal that led him to believe Fowler would be too cheap to support him.
At the time, the conventional wisdom was that NCSU let Memphis have the last shot and that is what turned him. Some simply believed that Calipari was just trying to put a scare into his employer to earn more respect. Those in that camp pointed out that Calipari relied heavily on recruiting players into Memphis that could not get into NC State and did not want to change recruiting tactics. Regardless, he got a raise to stay at Memphis.
John Beilein, then at West Virginia, appeared to be the coach, but depending on who you believe there was either balks or hiccups at meeting his hefty buyout or a bit of a revolt from Pack supporters who wanted to do away with a Sendek-style offense which Beilien perceivably ran. A few years later Beilein led Michigan to the national title game.
Former UCLA coach Steve Lavin was approached, but sources at the time indicated he exaggerated the interest level from NC State. Then there was the candidate NCSU did not bother reaching out to: George Mason’s Jim Larranaga, who has gone on to obviously great success at Miami.
***
When Sidney Lowe was fired after the 2010-11 season, Debbie Yow led the coaching search and very early in the process (after making overtures to Barnes, Arizona’s Sean Miller and others like Mark Turgeon at Texas A&M and Josh Pastner at Memphis) was enamored with VCU head coach Shaka Smart. As luck had it, Smart led VCU on an improbable run to the Final Four, leading to a long wait for Yow and NC State fans.
Smart heavily considered the offer but ultimately decided to take a raise at VCU. When he turned down Illinois a year later, some remarked that Smart came closer to taking the NCSU job than Illinois.
Next on the list were Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall and Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin. Some believe personal reasons led to Cronin staying put, others suggested that Cronin wanted more money. The mutual match was not there for Marshall at the time, although he would later say that was the closest he came to leaving Wichita State.
As both searches showed, NC State is attractive enough to get the attention of coaches, but also showed the Pack must aim for the right targets to avoid risking becoming the butt of jokes for being rejected frequently. Likely to possible jobs to open up this year include Illinois, Indiana, LSU, Missouri and Ohio State. Others like Clemson and Georgia might join that list.
