The most popular flight in the history of Duplin County ended today with what we think is very good news.
Although the Masters (Go Tim Clark) ran over on on WRAL, their digital channel has indicated that their sources say that the job is “his (Calipari) job if he wants it.” (Link to website.)
(They also had a good graphic with his career highlights showing that he is 7th all-time winningest through 13 seasons.)
* When we posted our morning update, we did not know that Chancellor Oblinger (and others from NC State) were a part of the contingent that flew to Memphis. We think that this is fantastic news as it indicates that this was a finalization of finer points of the deal as well as the face to face discussion of certain issues that were important to both sides.
* You’ve got to give PackPride.com some great credit for being on top of this today and getting pictures of the NC State contigency as they were exiting the plane. What does the N&O do all day?
* For WRAL-TV to report that the job is Calpari’s if he wants it AFTER the meeting is wonderful news. We find it hard to comprehend that State would officially “offer” the position to Calipari if we were not assured that he would accept it.
At this point, we re-direct you some of our comments made earlier today that we think are still pertinent:
* Calipari’s interest in State seems to have nothing to do with money. State can probably pay Calipari more than Memphis, and we hear that Calipari isn’t pushing State for the same money that we were bouncing around with Rick Barnes. State inherently offers something that Memphis just cannot offer – the national stage and the bright lights of the Atlantic Coast Conference. One of the only intelligent members of the Memphis message board explained it nicely:
Its because college basketball in north carolina is crazy. there are huge rivalry games mutliple times a year, you’re in a national spotlight with the majority of games at least making regional tv coverage. until i got here i never understood how crazy these people are about college basketball. little kids pick on each other and get into fights over it. these people are like jihadists, they are completely insane for their teams. the intense hate for other teams, its insane.
Cal knows that if he goes to state he will looked at like a God. The vicious disapointment of Sendek will turn into strident calls of praise and hope.
These people are crazy, yeah its in the shadow of Duke and UNC but I think Cal would enjoy the challenge of bringing a team back to the forefront.
* If Calipari were to accept the job, he would most likely call a team meeting tonight or call each of his players to personally tell them the news. Additionally, he would reach out to his recruits (probably today). There will be no stopping the flow of information once this happens.
* State people would start talking about a ‘deal being done’ and then ‘confirmation’ would come from the Memphis side. We haven’t heard anything from the State side, which is consistent with the search’s quietness throughout the process.
We have been watching the Memphis Tiger Message Boards for information, but there doesn’t seem to be much of anything there but grade schoolers. The simplistic nature of the Memphis boards highlight just how awesome the NC State online community is.
Some Wolfpackers on the Memphis boards have posted some pretty funny pictures that we have linked below:
