No Contract For Neinas? Say It Ain’t So, “Coach”
I may be overreacting, but a comment reported in today’s News & Observer causes some real concern about the coaching search.
NC State Athletic Director Lee Fowler, who stumblebummed through the Sidney Lowe hiring some months back, told the newspaper that, “[h]e has talked with Chuck Neinas, a Colorado-based headhunter who helped North Carolina hire Butch Davis, about the search but said there was no contract with Neinas.”
Now, while this is not specifically contrary to Fowler’s previous announcement that NC State would use a “search firm” for the hire, it seems odd, to say the least, that one would employ a search firm without a contract for that firm’s work.
Odder still is the recent report from the Charlotte Observer on the matter, which suggests a more concrete role for Nienas in the search:
Unlike the school’s basketball search, which athletics director Lee Fowler conducted on his own, N.C. State will use a consultant. Chuck Neinas of Neinas Sports Services in Colorado, who helped North Carolina hire Davis, will help Fowler gauge the interest of coaches and negotiate.
Perhaps, as a lawyer, I am hung up on the term “contract.” But let’s face it: most fans anticipated (and expected) that Fowler would not take the lead in this search given the university’s public humiliation the last time Fowler tried to hire a major coach. And in the Lowe case “Coach” Fowler was dealing with a sport he’d actually played and coached.
A scenario where Neinas merely acts as a sounding board for Fowler suggests a far more significant decision-making role for “Coach” than I am comfortable with. Simply put, there is nothing about Fowler’s work last time around – nor, in fact, in general – that makes one feel warm and cozy at the thought of him calling the shots for such an important hire.
And I’m not alone in that opinion. Even discounting the “lunatic fringe” (translation: loyal fans and alumni) members who openly concur that the prospect of Fowler running this search gives them the willies, consider today’s comment from, of all sources, Al Myatt of Bonesville.com:
Given the spectacle of N.C. State’s recent venture in hiring a basketball coach, Wolfpack athletic director Lee Fowler might do well to put Neinas on his speed dial as a successor to Chuck Amato is sought. Had that phone call been made after Herb Sendek left for Arizona State, the Pack would have been saved the suspense and agony of missing on high profile types such as John Calipari of Memphis and Rick Barnes of Texas.
Myatt also noted with approval how UNC’s Dick Baddour learned his lesson after the Beamer and Roy Williams fiascos – resulting in the Butch Davis home run. In contrast, there’s more than a whiff of evidence that Fowler still doesn’t get it; the public rejection of NC State feelers by god-candidate Bill Cowher has a depressingly familiar similarity to the Barnes turndown earlier in the year.
And of course, “Coach” being “Coach,” Fowler just took time out to blather to The Technician that other than finding a new football coach, it’s those dratted Internet fans that are – are you ready for this? – the biggest challenge for NC State athletics:
But other than that, the biggest challenge? It’s probably the message boards on the Internet. There is so much negative stuff coming off the boards, and I think that drives the newspapers. Then the papers are constantly chasing stuff that’s being talked about on the Internet. But I think that’s the biggest challenge facing all ADs.
There are so many people on the Internet, and you never know who they are. You don’t know if they are affiliated with N.C. State in any way.
Listen up, “Coach,” and listen well: I’m “affiliated” with NC State through the degree that hangs on my wall, among other items – an affiliation which, I note in passing, you lack. And based solely on your past performance, I don’t believe you are the best person to take the lead on this coaching search.
One cascade of national humiliation is quite enough, thank you.
189 Responses to “No Contract For Neinas? Say It Ain’t So, “Coach””
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
-
12/01/2006
The Daily Roundup
We’re tracking this story on the Basketblog. Get over there!!!
-
-
12/02/2006
[...] A lot of fans on the internet – including some authors on SFN – have made a big deal about the fact that NC State is not working with Chuck Neinas. If you remember Lee Fowler’s statement from Sunday night – he said that we were using a consulting firm; he never said it was Neinas. We were told on Monday that NC State was using a consulting firm based in Atlanta, not Neinas. [...]
-
-
10/29/2007
date from your mobile phone…
date from your mobile phone…
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Very well said….very well indeed!
What I’ve been saying since this whole thing happened…
Fool me once, shame on Jed
Fool me twice, shame on anyone who expected anything different.
Amato had a bad year, but no way another year of Amato could have done more damage than Jed is about to do.
Firing ANY coach while Fowler is the AD is a mistake. But there is a simple solution to that. Fire Fowler.
I have to agree that it’s a bit unnerving that it looks like Uncle Jed might be calling more of the shots than he should be after the last debacle. I hope oblinger has a search going at the same time for Lee’s replacement.
Let me add one other observation:
IF Neinas hasnt been officially hired and is only being used by Fowler to get a few pointers here and there, then that makes the quiet surrounding the search puzzling. In my opinion one of the following must be true:
1-Fowler has a VERY short list of candidates…maybe only 2 (Cowher & ?)
or
2-He has learned many lessons from the basketball debacle and discovered how to keep this search “hush-hush.”
or
3-Cowher has been the only one contacted and now that he has said “no”….the circus will officially begin.
I would think 2 is VERY unlikely. Altho it is entirely possible that Fowler figured Neinas wasnt neccessary to get Cowher, and now that Cowher has said no perhaps Neinas will be hired….but that is dragging ur feet when u are competing with 4 other good programs for a coach!
This is the most tragic news I’ve heard in weeks… outside of death and maybe physical illness.
We should have got rid of Fowler before Chuck, we’d be in a better boat now if that were the case.
My folks paid a lot of their hard-earned money to affiliate me with NC’s premier university and I pay a lot of my hard-earned money to continue my affiliation with my beloved alma mater. So my question is this: does my $1,200-plus a year in LTRs, WPC dues, and season tix make me a more positive member of the lunatic fringe? I’d hate to be such a negative impact on NC State.
I also have a degree from NC State (Engineering…class of ’84) and I have LTR to Basketball & Football, belong to the WPC and the Alumni Asso…and I was born and raised in Raleigh…and I say that Lee Flower did not do a good job on the BB search! In fact, the only person that might think he did do a good job is Lee himself. Lee you need to contract Neinas to do the work or you will have a lot more to worry about then the internet, your weight and your job…I am ready to stage a protest that will bring the entire media to Raleigh if LF can’t handle this search any better…I know he can not control Bill Cowher but I bet Neinas could have managed the PR and a confidental search a great deal better. I certainly don’t speak for everyone but I do think most of us would agree that Neinas should have been contacted and contracted to replace Lee & CTC. I do hope we are only talking about the word “contract” and that we have secured Neinas and will pay him his ~$35K to get the job done correctly…Please!
I’ve heard from a questionably reliable inside source from the get go that the list was only 2.
Is there are 4th scenario, PQ?
4) Fowler has been so removed from the process that he isn’t even aware that the BOT have hired Neinas on their own accord.
LF might as well get adjusted to the internet. It is here to stay. News travels faster than ever. Even rumors.
I for one take all bits of coaching news a little too seriously. I think we will be king of the football world one minute and the next we will be at the bottom of the league for years. Let’s all learn to not jump on news like this as the end of the world. I don’t think any of us know how this search is being conducted. Let’s wait and see
SFN: i almost wish you had not posted this, because i (NC State class of ’93, Summa Cum Laude) am sincerely nauseous at the idea of LF having anything than a marginal role in this search.
SFN, based on the players and events to this point, this is my prediction:
Things that have happened:
1 Amato released
2 Coaching search started – note the backward order there
3 Favorite Alum rejects us just like Barnes
Things that will happen:
4 Even though Cowher rejects us, people still report its still possible just like Barnes
5 Houston Nutt pulls a Calipari
6 Terry Bowden pulls a Lavin
7 Paul Johnson pulls a Beilein
8 From there I’m not sure. We dont have a football version of Sid to save Jed this time.
. . . i just threw up in my mouth.
Poor Fowler, he’s in over his head. The guy is gonna loose more than 20 pounds this time.
me too.
If LF leads this search, the best we can hope for is Evan’s dad to come out of the booth.
it is time to get the Xanax refilled
BP.. does it sting?
what is lees major malfunction? he best square himself away and start shitting Tiffany Cuff links, or we will seriously Fv$k him up. he is ridiculous. this is ridiculous. here we go again. the only good thing that happened in the bball search is that stumbled across Sid and Sid prob saved Lees job. Thats it, i am now an Appalachian Fan. I give up on NC State as long as this goof is in charge. BTW, didnt ASU get our asst AD a few years back and he has increased their reputation signifigantly and they won a natnl championship last year.
Les Robinson for football HC!
Like I said in an earlier posts, we don’t need to be worrying about who will be the next HC at NC State right now, we need to worry about getting someone who can hire a search firm.
“COACH Fowler” turned down again, by this time #1- Chuck Neinas, the search firm.
Can we hire a search firm, to hire a search firm?
The press release said we would use a search firm, but it didn’t say which search firm…everyone assumed it would be Neinas. Maybe Neinas didn’t want to work with us since he was already working for Miami? I know if feels like the basketball search already, but give it a little more than 3 working days before you panic…
“didnt ASU get our asst AD a few years back and he has increased their reputation signifigantly and they won a natnl championship last year.”
Yes, Charlie Cobb went to App State, and they did win a football title his first year. It is a nice feather in his cap, but I am not real sure how much credit you can give him for that championship.
And, he was in charge of marketing when at NC State, and a good number of you people thought he was an idiot when he was here. Guess he got smarter when he moved to Boone.
Amen on all counts, SFN! The biggest challenge that NCS athletics has is having a descent program with Foulup on the payroll. HE NEEDS TO GO NOW!