Recruits committed to NC State, Importance of managing the transition properly

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Embattled coach Sidney Lowe received a commitment over the weekend. The N&O has a brief story:

Statesboro (Ga.) High boys basketball coach Lee Hill said shooting guard Jaqawn Raymond is fully aware of the possibility of a coaching change at N.C. State, but is committed to the school.

“He loves the school,” Hill said Tuesday morning. “He really likes it there. This is a chance to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which I think has the best college basketball in the country.

“Raymond very much wants to play for Sidney Lowe. It is his program that recruited him. But Raymond is confident that N.C. State is always going to have a good program.“

Additionally, 2012 point guard Tyler Lewis seems committed to the school regardless of who is the NC State basketball coach next season. Packpride’s James Henderson reported this information on 2/25 on their message boards:

“In addition, we get bombarded by people asking what Tyler is going to do if NC State doesn’t retain Coach Lowe. If you will notice, Tyler has not wavered in his commitment to NC State. Let’s be honest, most high elite level players would have de-committed by now.

“In addition, Tyler had opportunities to play for CP3 this coming AAU season but chose to play for Team Loaded. Why? Because he is a very loyal kid! He doesn’t jump from one HS or AAU team to another. The same holds true for his loyalty and commitment to NC State. Whether or not, NC State chooses to make a change in their coaching staff, Tyler wants to attend NC State, providing if they still want him.”

The next few weeks will be very turbulent as Lowe’s departure is officially announced and the coaching search goes into full speed. Let’s not forget that this will be a difficult time for the young men currently on the team and those looking to join the program in the future. Managing this transition with the goal of positioning the next coach to win immediately is critical. The transition from Sendek to Lowe was managed horribly by Lee Fowler(as should have been expected by the people who decided to allow him to handle the process all by himself) and in the end Lowe was handed a total rebuild.

If you don’t remember, then:

-Lowe began his tenure with 6 scholarship players(Trevor Ferguson being one of those, so really 5.5)
-the program lost 4 starters and 5 of its top 7 players from the previous year
-Lowe had only 1 guard on the roster who could handle the ball(E. Atsur) that was graduating after Sid’s 1st year.
-In all, Sidney had 8 scholarships to fill immediately the day he took the job
-Before he could take the job, Sidney had to finish the NBA season and finish his college degree
-Once the announcement was finally made, it was in the midst of a recruiting dead period in the summer

Sidney was setup to fail before he ever took the job. Believe it or not, many universities change coaches and have immediate success. Clemson and Boston College this year are two good examples that illustrate that point.

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42 Responses to Recruits committed to NC State, Importance of managing the transition properly

  1. Cardiac95 03/08/2011 at 3:10 PM #

    Moreover… Fowler released 2-3 kids who had signed LOI’s to go elsewhere w/ no penalty at all… so instead of having to sit a year as a transfer… well… you know…

    There’s a reason why LOI’s are signed w/ the SCHOOL& not the coach…

  2. Lunatic Fringe 03/08/2011 at 3:29 PM #

    I get something a little different out of the article than what most have stated thus far.

    It is clear that these recruits have been sold on NC State, its history, and its future. Sid and Monte clearly know that they will probably not be back next year, but that has not stopped them from continuing to do what’s best for the program. The last 5 years may not have been great on the court, but I do give credit to this staff for improving the awareness of the program to recruits.

    It makes me further question what the hell You-Know-Who was selling for the previous 10 years…I guess his genius and a gimmick offense. Honestly, I don’t recall ever hearing these types of comments (not to this level at least) from a recruit prior to Sid stepping foot on campus. I guess if a coach is selling himself more than the actual school itself than it makes sense that the recruiting class (classes actually if you include Wright) disintegrated once that coach leaves.

    It makes me further question what the hell You-Know-Who was selling for the previous 10 years…I guess his genius and a gimmick offense. Honestly, I don’t recall ever hearing these types of comments (not to this level at least) from a recruit prior to Sid stepping foot on campus. It is no wonder the recruiting class (classes actually if you include Wright) disintegrated once You-Know-Who left.

  3. Pack84 03/08/2011 at 3:56 PM #

    Being that we are NC State if there is a way to f*** something up we can usually find it. Having said that however, I’m holding out hope that DY handles this coaching search in a far better fashion that Jed handled the last one. In fact I would hope that at this point she already has an initial agreement from somebody out there to take the job. Hopefully the time lapse between the time Sid’s departure is announced and the hiring of a new coach is announced is determined solely by the length of the new guy’s run into this year’s NCAA tourney.

  4. Hamlet 03/08/2011 at 4:22 PM #

    Nice to see Tyler Lewis’ loyalty to NC State, a trait that is too rare by coaches and players. We Pack fans thank you, for sure.

    Things will be different this time, guaranteed. The new coach will have a college degree (duh…oh wait, this isn’t ALWAYS the case) and will be able to hit the ground running. There might be transfers but A)There will not be many and B)We will probably get one or two players via the transfer route as well, so the stock will be replenished fairly quickly. A good coach can get things turned around and have us competitive by Year 2, if not next year.

    As for Lowe being behind the 8 ball when he began, well, sure. But let’s not forget that he was a “consultant” to Fowler (whatever that is worth) during the search. I’m tempted to say that he failed in that capacity as well, but I will avoid further jabbing since he’ll be gone by this time next week, official or unofficial. He agreed to become coach and was given 5 years, plenty of time for a decent coach to rebuild a sunken ship, much less one that was still afloat.

  5. bradleyb123 03/08/2011 at 5:12 PM #

    Why do you want to lose Larry Harris, newt?

  6. Sw0rdf1sh 03/08/2011 at 5:21 PM #

    Cardiac, the NCAA LOI is not a school document but a NCAA document. In fact, just about a year ago they really started to put an emphasis on policy as they said ammendments to the LOI from universities (like Coaching change stipulations) were in fact null and void.

    It is NOT up to the University or AD to change the LOI in any way and any submission of the release-request form has to go through the NCAA. The NCAA will now have the spotlight on them to either deny or grant releases based on Coaching changes.

    I guess we can thank Calapari for something.

  7. newt 03/08/2011 at 5:59 PM #

    Because we haven’t rebounded well in 15 years and our big men stay in foul trouble.

  8. rtpack24 03/08/2011 at 6:36 PM #

    It will be up to who ever is our coach to sign the committs or not. In the event that the present staff is not here, I think it is safe to say that no one on the present staff will be here.

  9. Classof89 03/08/2011 at 8:30 PM #

    “Honestly, giving these late scholarships to “sleepers” usually ends up being a total waste of time anyway since they typically transfer out after a year or 2 (yes, I’m looking at you Rouldra, Mejia, O’Donnell, Davis, et al).”

    boy, those names were a blast from the (recent) past…
    Not to hijack the thread, but did any of those players accomplish a damn thing at whatever schools they transferred to? I seem to remember Mejia landing somewhere, but that’s the first time in 4 years I’ve heard any of the other names…

  10. 61Packer 03/08/2011 at 9:10 PM #

    If Sid and Monte had done what was best for this program, they would’ve left voluntarily, long before now, rather than staying on and dragging the program to new depths. I don’t have any inside information, but I seriously doubt Low’s departure will be voluntary. And don’t feel sorry for Low. In 5 years of atrocious job performance, he’ll make far more than most state workers who are held to high performance standards just so they can last the required 30 years for retirement.

    The whole staff should go. Keeping Harris, who was awful under both Sendek and Low, is simply unthinkable.

    As far as players are concerned, it’s no big loss as far as I’m concerned if the 3 freshmen depart, especially CJ. UVA’s Bennett proved that you don’t have to have talent to compete, something we’ve not done since Jim Valvano left.

    Just give me a new coach who can rid this program of the sloppy, undisciplined, uninspired and defenseless brand of basketball that we’ve seen for way too long.

  11. BladenWolf 03/08/2011 at 9:11 PM #

    Great thread. Some thoughts…

    Jaqawn Raymond: “is fully aware of the possibility of a coaching change at N.C. State, but is committed to the school”. This speaks volumes to me. It strikes me proud that a young talented recruit is looking at our institution like it should be again and makes me want to welcome him into the Pack family.

    Tyler Lewis: “The same holds true for his loyalty and commitment to NC State. Whether or not, NC State chooses to make a change in their coaching staff, Tyler wants to attend NC State, providing if they still want him.”

    I just watched the link from Sw0rdf1sh of Tyler Lewis. His potential excites me. To have a great ball handler with great passing skills again at PG would be a dream come true. To have an equally skilled SG like Raymond on the court along with him will give the new coach something to work with. And they play for NC STATE, not a coach.

    On the coaching change: I love Sidney Lowe. My freshman year was the ’83 Championship and I watched him master the offense many nights in Reynolds. But he is not what we need “at point” in coaching our team any longer. He took over an untenable situation and handled it with grace while restoring the link to our legacy by welcoming our old players back. Thank you Sid and good luck.

    I’m optimistic the transition will be handled professionally and looking forward to the next phase.

  12. Par Shooter 03/09/2011 at 9:23 AM #

    Just say no to Larry Harris sticking around. The fundamentals from our big men under Sendek were terrible and Harris was the “big man” coach. So naturally we kept him around for Sid. And, what do you know, our big men still make freshman mistakes well into their jr and sr years. So you’d really want to keep him around for a 3rd head coach?

    I know the guy is supposed to be a good recruiter, nice and easy going, and relates well to the players. However, I am hoping that our new coach will be able to bring guys who teach toughness and fundamentals as well as being able to recruit. Frankly I don’t care if the players like our new coaches – they just need to respect them and play hard for them.

  13. kyjelly 03/09/2011 at 1:27 PM #

    No to Larry Harris we need a whole new attitude on the bench as well!

  14. MP 03/09/2011 at 1:28 PM #

    61 Packer: I would love to see Lorenzo Brown play for NCSU 2-3 more years. Same with Ryan Harrow.

  15. walton 03/09/2011 at 2:26 PM #

    I have also heard from a good source that Leslie will go pro after this season. I think he is making a mistake. If his performance this year determines where he goes in the draft, he won’t go high at all. Might end up in Europe. I think he would benefit from playing another year under a new coach that hopefully would get him up to his potential.

  16. JT 03/10/2011 at 2:22 PM #

    Leslie is so far from NBA-ready it’d be crazy to go pro unless he plans on going to Europe or the NBDL. I think he’d get eaten up in those leagues- too skinny, weak fundamentals, no go to move, not a great shooter (with bad shot selection), etc. He needs at least another year to prepare. I don’t even think he was our best freshman- that’d be Lo. If he wants good money up-front he needs to stay 1 or 2 years. Otherwise he’ll be a late 1st or early 2nd rounder, wash out, and have to work his way back to the league. Hickson was a one and done guy; Leslie is not.

  17. hawk74 07/21/2011 at 11:10 PM #

    just checking the comment section out. this is my first comment on SFN

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