Scoop & Analysis – How Fowler Flubbed Beilein
So, what happened yesterday to cause two coaches to back away from the NC State job at the same time?
Well, we don’t have a clue what happened to Steve Lavin. We know that Lavin had already commenced in detailed and significant discussions with three prominent assistant coaches from three different schools which would have comprised a very good staff. That is a lot of preparing to not be interested in the job.
Did Lavin feel like State would rather have had Beilein and wanted to bow out before he didn’t get the job? Did Fowler tell Lavin that we had a deal with Beilein and mistakenly let Lavin publicly withdraw his name?
^That speculation would not be beyond the realm of belief since NC State did have an agreement with John Beilein. As was previously rumored, NC State and John Beilein had agreed to split the cost of the $3 million buyout from West Virginia – 50% State and 50% Beilein. We don’t know if West Virginia wanted all of their money up front or were going to allow the parties to pay it off in installments as some had previously speculated.
But, this was one of the reasons that we really liked Beilein – he wanted to be here so badly that he was willing to give up $1.5 million to make it work. (That doesn’t stop the media from talking about
Evidently, Beilein didn’t want to be here bad enough to work for a notoriously cheap Athletics Director with a value structure that would allow him to try to change the deal on Beileien at the last moment.
StateFansNation has learned that Lee Fowler tried to change his previously agreed upon deal with John Beilein late yesterday. We don’t know the magnitude of the change, but late in the day Fowler sprung it upon Beilein that NC State would not pay the previously agreed upon $1.5 million portion of the buyout. Beilein, accordingly, said good-bye.
If you missed last night’s update then you may want to go take another look at what was written as this may have played a role in the switcheroo:
One potential reason that Beilein may have fallen through was the issue of taxes related to the proposed pay structure. As was widely reported, West Virginia’s professionally managed Athletics Department had installed a $3 million buyout in Beilein’s contract. It was rumored that NC State’s compensation package would pay Beilein more money to then pay West Virginia the buyout over time.
Nice idea, except the rocket scientists at NC State may have never considered the income tax consequences of the payment. As a hypothetical example – let’s say that NC State was going to pay Beilein $1.2 million per year and Beilien was going to pay WVU the $3 million buyout over six years in $500,000 annual increments.
In that scenario Beilein would still be responsible for income taxes on the $1.2 million compensation…meaning that the additional $500,000 would need to be grossed up to something like $750,000 per year to create a net neutral income situation for Beilein.
Our goal is NOT to criticize Lee Fowler. Our goal is to share with you what we know and analyze it accordingly and generate fan conversations.
This situation happened. Period.
Lee Fowler took on a tremendous risk at the beginning of this process when he chose to own complete control of the whole process. But, that is what he wanted; that is what he got. When someone with zero business acumen and no real-world corporate experience gets thrown into this kind of situation, they need to recognize that they need a team of very talented people around them to guide them through all of the complex and sophisticated issues. But, Lee Fowler wanted to be “the guy”. He is going to get his wish.
If Lee Fowler was more sophisticated, then throughout the last five years he would have realized that all of his criticisms of NC State’s fans would ultimately not serve him well when he needed to find a coach…and all of his attempts to defend Herb Sendek by de-valuing the NC State job wasn’t very strategic, either. But, Lee Fowler isn’t that sophisticated. He never has been. Why would anyone think that he could be sophisticated enough to handle the intricacies of a real-world situation like hiring a multi-million dollar employee?
The real story here is not that NC State has a bad job or that NC State fans mistreated Herb Sendek by allowing him to coach for 10 years despite assimilating the second worst record in this history of NC State Basketball, as some in the media keep trying to portray. How many of the four impressive candidates that have gotten all the way down the aisle have cared about these issues? If those issues were a problem, then the candidates would have never started conversations with State.
The processes with Barnes, Calipari, Beilein and Lavin have all broken down at the end. All broken down in the execution and negotiation stage. One man is responsible for that phase. That is the way he chose it.
John Beilein is breathing a sigh of relief this morning while NC State’s program wakes up to a very different reality that no one has mentioned yet — now that Fowler has all but insured that he won’t be NC State’s Athletics Director in the future, what coach is going to want to come to NC State when they don’t know for whom they will be working in the future? Additionally, in light of Fowler’s unethical move on Beilein, why would other coaches remotely consider talking to Lee Fowler? Who can trust the guy?
When State struggles to land the next guy, expect the media to focus on everything but the intricacies of what is really going on…just like every other day.
53 Responses to “Scoop & Analysis – How Fowler Flubbed Beilein”
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04/03/2007
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Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse
I dont want my life!
Expecting good results from a Lee Fowler led coaching search is like tying two cripples together and expecting them to walk a straight line. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t see this coming back on April 2nd.
If you’re a state fan, you NEVER think it can’t get any worse.
SFN – How long do you think it will take for NC State to recover from this. I mean, what coach wants to go to a new job knowing his boss will likely be gone, especially when new AD’s like to bring in their own “guys”. What players want to come to a school that cannot land a head coach for almost a month?
wow. oblinger & purcell need to walk to the mound and ask for the ball
Somebody please tell me that they have seen a Murphy plane somewhere in the area of Winthrop and Gregg Marshall. This guy has future superstar written all over him but then again that’s probably why we haven’t talked to him.
Now my worry is that Fowler will continue to be the AD. How do we know that “he has all but insured that he won’t be N.C. State’s AD in the future”? He shouldn’t be in the position now. Are there any inside sources saying this is the end for Fowler?
That’s why we need to act NOW – get Fowler out and Holland in. Hopefully Oblinger can show a little more skill in hiring than Lee has. Of course, Oblinger has hired far more “stars” in their respective field than Lee ever has (still batting a perfect 0).
I don’t see how this search can end without setting our next AD back several years without replacing Fowler before its fruition. (Of course, there’s no danger of THAT happening anytime soon.)
After I finally warmed to Beilein, now this. Hire Gregg Marshall for God’s sake & not Phil Ford, and then fire Fowler immediately! That LF doesn’t know how unacceptable Ford is to State folks shows just how completely out of touch he really is. I don’t care for Whittenberg, but how can you use the argument that he’s not qualified b/c of a losing overall record & no major conference coaching experience, but then consider a Tar Heel with NO head coaching experience whatsoever? Lee Fowler is clearly a IDIOT!
Not sure what the heck the “process” is here, but sure need to have it re-evaluated.
i’m starting to think that this process could set us back to approximately 8 years ago before it’s all over due to sheer ineptness on the part of our administration…
dare I say it — but Herb was a class act who did his best and did Fowler the big favor of drawing attention away from Fowler’s incompetence
now that the spotlight is off of Herb, Fowler’s antics are being scrutinized, as they should be.
i was depressed before Herb left, because I felt that without a change at the top we would just make another mediocre hire to replace him.
but it’s worse than that. we haven’t even been able to land that mediocre hire.
i hate to say it, but we’re going to settle for Derrick Whit. no offense to the man, but he’s not an A-list coach. I’d rather see Gregg Marshall, but who knows what happens next.
Its sounding like the fan concensus is Gregg Marshall. Put me on that bandwagon.
LF amazes me. Just when I think I cannot get a lower opinion of the man, he does something like this.
This is the first time I’ve read about Fowler changing the deal with Beilien at the last minute. Now Beilien’s use of the word “erroneous” in his statement that he was staying at WVU makes perfect sense. If the deal didn’t work out for whatever reason, and Fowler and Beilien parted on good terms, he would have kindly stated that he decided to stay at WVU. He was obviously mad that the deal was changed at the last moment.
We’ll probably never know why Fowler changed the offer. However, if I was looking at the job, I would be concerned that the AD just stuck a carrot in front of Beilien and then changed the deal at the last moment.
The longer this goes on, the more I think we’re going to see Fowler step down before he even hires a coach. At this point bringing in some fresh blood and starting the search over may be the best course of action.
2 thoughts:
1. I was fortunate to play volleyball at N.C. State and will always be thankful to the athletics department and the Wolfpack club for financing my education at a wonderful school. However, during my playing days, LF hired a coach that we (the players) knew was a bad choice from the first. This coach was allowed to remain at the school for 5 years, during which the team’s record in ACC matches was literally something like 2-80. In addition, this coach was abusive to the team, and we approached and spoke with LF on a number of occasions about the situation. Did anything ever come of it? Not really… and volleyball is a fully-funded sport. Not a profit-generating sport, but a sport into which a lot of money is invested. We were the laughingstock of the ACC for years (granted, when this coach arrived, we were already dwelling in the cellar of the ACC), and it was difficult to take when we were investing so much time and hard work, only to be constantly beaten down. Just some thoughts on the handling of a different sport at NC State. (The good news is that a new coach has been hired, and I am confident that she will restore the volleyball program at State.)
2. Why would we even consider hiring Phil Ford (and I like Phil Ford), over Whit when he has no head coaching experience???
I am terrified –
*TERRIFIED*
– to plumb the depths of Fowler’s idiocy at this point. We’re so far deep that light cannot enter.
In addition to all of this we can now expect Simmons and Atsur to say, “see ya!” I’m betting that our recruits now will ask to be released from their LOI. Brackman says screw this and sticks to baseball.
If Phil Ford is the coach I will never again cheer for NCSU basketball! Ever!!!!
Maybe Dave Odom. Greg Marshall has been at a low level school for 9 years. That’s a long time to be a Big South coach with that kind of success. Something’s not right with that pick.
As much as some don’t want to hear it, Bobby Lutz would be ideal. This guy can coach. He’s got a lot of fire!
I love Terry Holland. I would rejoice if he became AD. Heck at this point I’d take him as coach.
For the life of me why we don’t have professional salary folks involved is beyond me. There is no excuse at all to get turned down the same day by those two lunchmeats.
For any that haven’t seen Gregg Marshall’s bio:
http://www.winthropeagles.com/default.asp?section=2&type=biography&id=10
I love Whitt but Marshall is the best fit and we need to make a collective push for GM! Remember the “Applause Meter” at Reynolds? Marshall could be a “red light” coach for all of WPN!
1) Les Robinson
2) Todd Turner
3) Herb Sendek
4) Lee Fowler
The problem is the morons who are responsible for letting these 4 people get hired. It may not be the ADs fault but the person or persons who eventually make the decisions on the hiring.
Well, I finally worked up the nerve to come back and it looks like my statement from a week and a half ago is ringing true. LF is pulling a f**k job on NCSU. Get ready for the NIT(if we are lucky) as this has ruined recruiting and worse, our chance of getting a good coach. I hope the boosters and the others who make the behind the scenes decisions at NC State take a hard look at this and make the right decision and let LF go. This whole ordeal(going back 5 years ago when Herb should have been dismissed and Barnes brought in) is sickening. Train wreck if you ask me.
Sad, pathetic, and completely unacceptable for any NC State Alum, Boosters, and Fan.
Look at the bright side.
We may be getting rid of “Fouler” soon!
Isn’t it really “strike five” with Montgomery? There was obviously some initial interest that Fowler couldn’t advance.
SFN – Not really. We have to be told “no” for it to be a strike. The MM situation is much more complicated than that.
We have known for quite some time that LF was a poor manager but this episode has just further highlighted what we’ve known all along. But if past is prologue we will be stuck with this buffoon for several more years.