Fox Sports places Coach Lowe on hotseat (again)

09-10 Basketball Sidney Lowe114

I am sure that some coo-coo for coco puffs ‘hater’ of SFN will somehow blame us for this article, but please note that we are only linking to stories in the national press while generally stating the obvious. There is not much that we can do about the fact that a real world revolves out there whether some of you psychopaths wished that you could create your own reality and not have to deal with the real world.

Fox Sports came out with their listing of College Basketball “Coaches on the Hotseat” today and our own Sidney Lowe is listed as the coach on the #2 hottest seat in the country. (LOL! If only these morons knew how things worked in Raleigh.)

Sidney hotseat

This year’s list has a decided Atlantic Coast Conference & local flavor; and, the irony that Coach Lowe and Dereck Whittenburg occupy two of the top five spots on the list won’t be lost on any Wolfpacker. Included on the list are the following:

(1) Jerry Wainwright, DePaul
(2) Sidney Lowe, NC State

(5) Dereck Whittenburg, Fordham

The Rams coach has virtually nothing going for him these days. He lost his second-best player, Mike Moore, and his best player, Jio Fontan, is leaving despite the school’s flat-out refusal to release him. Fordham finished 12th in the A-10 two years ago and was 3-25 overall and 1-15 in league play last season.

(6) Matt Doherty (former UNC-CH player and Head Coach)

Things haven’t exactly worked out well since he was forced out of Chapel Hill. Doherty needs to win this season after a 46-74 mark in four seasons — including a 9-21 campaign and a last-place finish in C-USA last season.

(7) Pat Kennedy, Towson (former Florida State coach)
(9) Jeff Lebo, Auburn (former UNC-CH player)
(10) Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech
(11) Bobby Gonzalez, Seton Hall (former UVa assistant)

These lists rile my up sometimes; particularly lists that can be influenced by Jeff Goodman, who knows ACC Basketball so well that he said the following before last season.

Three ACC coaches — Maryland’s Gary Williams, N.C. State’s Sidney Lowe and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton — are feeling a little heat to win. My guess is at least one of them is history after the season. But which one?

Ahhh…how about none of them, Jeff?

Good old Goodman. The man who must run around with pictures of Herb Sendek in his wallet; because – in case you did not realize this – Herb Sendek coached at NC State. No really. You see, if you ever see anything written by Jeff Goodman related to NC State, then you will undoubtedly be reminded that Herb Sendek was once our coach. No kidding. If the guy knows anything else about NC State Basketball then I would be shocked, because – even before the 2009-2010 season Goodman still can’t get past 2006. In today’s article we get the following:

Sidney Lowe, N.C. State – It’s one of those “be careful what you wish for” deals. Wolfpack fans ran Herb Sendek out of Raleigh despite five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Lowe is 51-46 in his three seasons without an NCAA tournament bid and this is a make or break year.

Come on folks. You can remember. Don’t you remember how those evil NC State fans just happened to ‘run off’ a coach who chose to leave with multiple years remaining on his contract? And, how much of a coincidence was it that the coach was returning only one scholarship player who had any college basketball experience? Isn’t it amazing that after six years of ‘pressure’ from those mean NC State fans that Coach Sendek just happened to coincidentally CHOOSE to leave prior to the one particular year he had nobody returning?

(This is where I have to link this entry that gets me so friggin angry that I cannot even bring myself to expand my comments. But, of course, does anyone doubt WHY or how NC State fans got the brand that we have with the stenographers, uh, I mean reporters in the media).

But, I digress. Sorry.

One thing that is nice about much of Jeff Goodman’s stuff is that he saves me a lot of time coming up with new work. Since all he does is regurgitate so much of the same information, it allows us to do the same. Check out my insightful comments from this entry last year.

SFN Note:
Allow me to remind you where Jeff Goodman stands on his opinions of NC State:

“Whether it’s Sidney Lowe, Rick Barnes or John Calipari, it doesn’t really matter. There’s no way N.C. State will be able to topple the powers-that-be on Tobacco Road.” — Jeff Goodman, MSNBC

I don’t know how it escapes so many people’s radar and conversations…but, Jeff Goodman was listed as an author at PackPride.com in the early years of the site. Sometimes he will blog some insightful information that you don’t get from some other national coverage – like last year’s preseason blog entry about Farnold Degand.

But, far too often Goodman goes the confrontational direction with WolfpackNation. It perplexes me how often he seeks to criticize NC State’s fans and try to drum up controversy in columns that he authors even in non-controversial times – like these absurd comments about Coach Lowe approaching a ‘hot seat’ in just his third season and with fantastic recruiting momentum building for the foreseeable future.

I know that part of the source of this is his huge love and respect for Herb Sendek, but it doesn’t make the unprofessional behavior justifiable. How was this guy ever an author for an NC State website when he continuously proves that so many of his views about NC State are so grossly disconnected from reality?

See how easy that is? Fits PERFECTLY! Thanks, Jeff!

I am not arguing the fact that the time for Coach Lowe to produce on the court has arrived. But, Coach Lowe’s seat is not so unbearably hot that only an NCAA Tournament appearance can save his job. Many fans will argue with me; but, if this season’s particularly young team shows major progress in fundamentals and defense while earning at least an NIT berth then I believe that the recruitment of Ryan Harrow (and who knows who else) will be enough to provide Coach Lowe a fifth season of opportunity.

Today I prefer to focus on the dynamics of this list and not focus on setting standards for Coach Lowe. With that said, another version of the list – this one by choosing one coach per conference – can be seen by clicking here.

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09-10 Basketball Sidney Lowe

114 Responses to Fox Sports places Coach Lowe on hotseat (again)

  1. packalum44 06/05/2009 at 2:11 PM #

    ^ No I said that Degand and Javi are the worst in the league. That insert you reference was just a sarcastic remark aimed at those fans who are optimistic because our PGs (Javi/Degand) will have another year of experience.

    Bradley: Be negative but only in private? Seriously? What if I asked you to be positive but only in private? The good that comes from being “negative” as you label it, is that we can have a lively debate on an important topic, our head coach. Maybe someone who’s on the fence reads it and says damn, he’s right, Lowe sucks, and they email Oblinger/WPC/BOT and that is one more person demanding accountability. Maybe not. I don’t care. I only post my feelings that I feel strongly about and I think Lowe sucks big donkey balls as a head coach. Its somewhat therapeutic to vent sometimes. You should try it.

    As for recruiting I doubt it has an effect as Lowe landed a nice class this past year with all my ranting and raving. However I could imagine him and Lee blaming recruiting woes on negative blogs. That makes sense. Maybe F-Ball recruits will read the positive blurbs I’ve written about TOB and we’ll land a few 5-stars. It all evens out.

    Why wait until next year to complain? I’ve seen him coach 3 years. We MIGHT be better next year but we will ALWAYS lose those close games that a good coach will win. If Lowe assembles enough talent to make the dance and compete with the powers that be, he’ll still lose that close game and we’ll still UNDERACHIEVE based on whoever is playing. I’m sick of underachieving. TOB OVERACHIEVES. Gary Williams OVERACHIEVES. Jim Grobe OVERACHIEVES. These are good coaches. This is my expectation for the NC State b-ball coach.

    “Some people feel big when they take opposing viewpoints. I think that is the case here. I think it makes them feel cool and intellectual or something. And when a coach eventually fails, they get to say “told ya so”.”
    Ummm, you got the wrong impression of me. I’ve learned its best not to personify the posts in a board room as we are all likely very different in person than the image we create here.

    If you go back and read my posts over the past b-ball season, you’ll see that I was one of the first to criticize Lowe. The mood was very upbeat and positive for Lowe at the start of last season in spite of finishing LAST in the ACC in year 2 and losing to ECU/New Orleans during a year we had considerable talent in the low post (voted best frontcourt in NCAA/pre-season 3rd place ACC). I was reluctant to go along b/c I saw how bad he sucked balls the year before but I was fairly neutral as I bought into the notion that coaches deserve more than X many years and it wasn’t fair to judge him blah blah blah. I then saw him give up halftime leads and lose to Davidson, FL, and Marquette games single-handedly with poor coaching (bizarre substitutions, playing Javi during critical situation, sitting best players on bench for 10 minutes of second half). Do I dare mention V-Tech?

    I just think he is flat out awful and I don’t believe the notion that it takes X many years to identify someone’s coaching ability. That is one of the most ridiculous axioms I’ve ever bought into and I refuse to do it again. Its a fallacy.

  2. bradleyb123 06/05/2009 at 3:37 PM #

    Packalum44, can you name anything good about Sidney?

  3. VaWolf82 06/05/2009 at 4:02 PM #

    Imagine he’s a Carolina fan coming in here to bash our players. How could we tell?

    Why would a UNC fan come here to bash State’s BB players or the coaches? State has only won 15 ACC games over the last 3 years. I would expect that most UNC fans are happy with State’s coaches, players, and results to date.

  4. Thinkpack17 06/05/2009 at 4:26 PM #

    “Why would a UNC fan come here to bash State’s BB players or the coaches?”

    Because we have only won 15 ACC games over the last 3 years.

  5. bradleyb123 06/05/2009 at 5:22 PM #

    I still contend that bashing Sidney IN JUNE when we KNOW he will be here for the upcoming season, serves no purpose other than to make some of us feel good. It serves no purpose, and does no good. Best case, it doesn’t hurt anything. WORST case, it hurts recruiting, and the morale of the current team.

    Bash Sid when the powers that be might consider our opinions on the subject.

    Bashing him now, after his best recruiting class to date, serves no useful purpose. And when you can’t even give him props for anything he has done right, you show your true colors, that you just want him gone, rather than MAYBE having a successful year.

  6. NCSU4ever 06/05/2009 at 6:00 PM #

    PackAlum44

    I agree with you that Lowe is not a good coach, but if Lee fired him tommorow where would we be? Would Lo Brown or any other recruit still come here? Would Ryan Harrow come here? We are on the verge of putting together a solid team a year or two down the road and firing Lowe now, without a top tier coach already lined up, would set us back 3-4 more years while another coach rebuilds. Lets see what Lowe can do this year without Costner and Ben’s whining and Fells inconsistency. 8 – 8 this year should be the minimum expectation, if Lowe fails to break even this year I’ll gladly jump back on the fire him bandwagon, but at least give him one season with out the Sendek crew.

  7. BJD95 06/06/2009 at 11:45 AM #

    There’s no “bad fan” posting allowed here. The offending posts have been deleted, and those who make a habit of it will find their accounts deleted. Just make your points, damn it.

  8. Thinkpack17 06/06/2009 at 12:09 PM #

    ^Is there a list of rules somewhere that we can reference? I’ve tried the contact us link but got no response.

  9. packalum44 06/07/2009 at 2:50 PM #

    I’m sorry if I offended anyone. I’m done beating a dead horse though. I’m certainly not a UNC fan btw. I have a BS and Masters from NC State!

  10. bradleyb123 06/08/2009 at 11:35 AM #

    Same here (on the dead horse thing). And I apologize if it sounded like I was accusing you of being a Carolina fan.

    I’m not exactly THRILLED with Sidney, myself. There were times I wanted to throw a brick at the TV during games last year, and I wondered what the heck Sid could possibly be thinking on several occasions.

    But I noticed some progress in both Sid and some of the players later in the season.

    A coaching change is ALWAYS a setback (unless you’re Kentucky, Duke, UNX, etc…) I’d just rather give Sid one or two more years given then kind of haul he was able to pull in, and is pulling in for 2010. I think he’s learning, and I think he can be kind of the coach we want. I’d rather give him two more years to prove that than to have a definite five year setback that would accompany a coaching change. I think it’s worth the risk. And if Sid ends up being let go, at least the team will be loaded with great players for the next coach.

    I think Sid is worth that risk.

  11. NCSU4ever 06/08/2009 at 12:36 PM #

    Well said BradleyB, my sentiments exactly.

    Moving on, I think are chances of having a winning record and being a bubble team are looking up.

    WPH has some new footage of Scott Wood up, he played in an Indiana All-Star game this weekend and dropped 26 pts on competition that was said to have included some high D1 prospects

    I think this kid will be ready to play day one, NC State found the steal of the season

  12. VaWolf82 06/08/2009 at 1:31 PM #

    A coaching change is ALWAYS a setback (unless you’re Kentucky, Duke, UNX, etc…)

    BS. There are plenty of examples of new coaches producing more with the exact same players that the fired coach had.

    But I noticed some progress in both Sid and some of the players later in the season.

    We could argue about this, but it doesn’t really matter. The goal is not “improvement” or “progress”, it’s about winning and noticeable accomplishments. Talking about “improvement” instead of wins gets old very quickly.

  13. bradleyb123 06/08/2009 at 2:49 PM #

    “BS. There are plenty of examples of new coaches producing more with the exact same players that the fired coach had.”

    I didn’t say the new coach would have a bad season in year one. Even Sid had 20 wins in his first year with ONLY Herb’s leftovers. I said it was a SETBACK to the program. And it is. Unless you hire a good enough coach that recruiting doesn’t take a hit. Can you name an example of an NC State basketball coaching hire that was a big name, established coach?

    “Talking about “improvement” instead of wins gets old very quickly.”

    So does changing coaches when it isn’t needed.

    btw, you don’t get wins without improvement.

  14. VaWolf82 06/08/2009 at 8:39 PM #

    Talking about “improvement” instead of wins gets old very quickly.”

    So does changing coaches when it isn’t needed.

    A coaching change MAY not be needed, but the jury is still out because Sidney hasn’t proven that he is the right man for the job. Let’s hope that changes next year.

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