Yow’s preference and Paul Hewitt’s departure from Georgia Tech

Given her druthers, you will see Debbie Yow attempt to find ways to prolong the announcement of Coach Lowe’s imminent departure from NC State for as long as she can. As we alluded to in this conversation, NC State would like as little time – and therefore media attention -to exist between Lowe’s ‘official’ departure and the hiring of the next coach.

The prospective coaches that comprise the current ‘list’ that serve as Yow’s ‘top tier’ will all be playing basketball at least through next weekend. So, it will be of benefit for all potential parties to create as little of attention to each other as possible.

At this point, we don’t have any reason to believe that Georgia Tech’s job opening will have an impact on ours or our potential candidate pool. That could change. We will let you know.

While you are here…we think you would enjoy reading this entry and also spending some valuable time on our vibrant message forums.

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Paul Hewitt has been let go at Georgia Tech.

According to sources, the Yellow Jackets coach – who has spent the past 11 years at the school – was informed of the decision this morning.

Hewitt finished his career with a 190-162 mark and led Georgia Tech to the national championship game back in 2004.

The Yellow Jackets were 13-18 overall this past season and 5-11 in ACC play. They lost to Virginia Tech in the first round of the league tournament.

Hewitt had an opportunity to take the St. John’s job last offseason, but turned it down to remain at Georgia Tech.

There was some thought that Hewitt would be retained since he is owed $7.2 million and the school is rebuilding Alexander Memorial Coliseum. However, athletic director Dan Radekovich decided to part ways with Hewitt – who signed a contract after getting to the national title game that included an automatic rollover.

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127 Responses to Yow’s preference and Paul Hewitt’s departure from Georgia Tech

  1. JEOH2 03/13/2011 at 1:47 PM #

    Bradly, teams lose games, it happens…I saw nothing that reminded me of Herb in that game…watching that game, AZ didn’t choke and played hard till the very end…but Washington played better down the stretch and Isiah Thomas made some HUGE plays…that’s going to happen, and its not as if Washington was coached by a scrub either…

    Lets remember SM is already more successful in 7 years as a head coach then Sendek has been 18…

  2. JEOH2 03/13/2011 at 1:48 PM #

    but, on topic…who is GT possibly looking to hire?

  3. ClassOf95 03/13/2011 at 1:53 PM #

    Here’s one for you all. Geno Auriemma. The guy’s a winner. Big Italian personality. And we would have huge national press. I wouldn’t be worried about transitioning to the men’s game. You can’t tell me he doesn’t watch and pick apart men’s games now. My one question would be whether he could recruit high school guys. Finally I don’t know what he makes now but I think we could get him for a lot less than the $2.5-3 million mentioned above.

  4. ClassOf95 03/13/2011 at 1:57 PM #

    PS – Geno made $1.65 mil this year.

  5. JEOH2 03/13/2011 at 1:58 PM #

    ^ WTFreak

  6. 98st8 03/13/2011 at 2:40 PM #

    1998… I don’t know if GT has a good plan or not. I would think that they would since they have been thinking about PH leaving for the last year or so.

    FWIW, If it costs me $7MM to fire him before March 15 and $11MM to fire him on March 16…. I fire him before March 15.

    I also don’t think they will have nearly as many options as we will because of the payout amount to PH and the stadium renovations over the next year.

  7. Bowlpack 03/13/2011 at 2:58 PM #

    @Classof95

    No. It won’t happen, but…no. Collins won’t happen either. He’s the heir apparent at Duke and K won’t be there forever. I’m putting my eggs in the Sean Miller basket and think that is the right move for the longevity of our program.

  8. bradleyb123 03/13/2011 at 3:58 PM #

    JEOH2, I wasn’t blaming that loss on Sean. But any time Herb has been in a championship game, he has lost it. So I couldn’t help but think about that when I saw Arizona lose it last night.

  9. MatSci94 03/13/2011 at 5:35 PM #

    There is risk involved with any hire. The way you deal with that is you have someone willing to cut it loose if its not working out. The problem with the Lowe hire is that LF was *not* going to set high expectations and hold someone to that. I’m not saying that you micromanage or fire someone at the first mistake, but you have to be willing to say ‘this was a bad move’ and try to make a better one.

    Enter DY. We now have someone that is not afraid to pull the plug on a bad situation. This alone puts us in a 10x better situation than the last search.

  10. wolfmanmat 03/13/2011 at 5:48 PM #

    What assistant at Duke has had success out of Duke? Tommy Amaker? Quinn Snyder? Dawkins? No. Why is Collins different? Those guys were all hot items and left Duke, where they probably would be heirs to K instead of Collins/Wojo if they had stayed. I don’t think we go after Collins anyway, but what are his credentials outside of K’s assistant? K’s assistants always look good because Duke is always good. But as we saw with Amaker/Snyder, they don’t usually do so well away from K.

  11. camel77 03/13/2011 at 6:09 PM #

    JEOH2 – and Thad Matta was an assistant under Herb at NCSU.

  12. wufpup76 03/13/2011 at 7:05 PM #

    Mike Brey has been the most sucessful from the Duke / K coaching tree. He’s been mostly mediocre, with some good seasons sprinkled in. This season has been great for him though, barring an early round knockout.

  13. JEOH2 03/13/2011 at 7:19 PM #

    exactly my point, camel…just b/c someone was an assistant under a great, good, or average coach means nothing in relation to their future success…it is a factor to consider, but it dictates nothing…

  14. ADVENTUROO 03/13/2011 at 8:03 PM #

    Most of the rumors at the ACC amongst folks that appear to have some credibility is two fold…..

    First the short list that had been prepared is getting SHORTER as each of the coaches says a polite NO. That was what influenced the postive comments that were made about Coach Lowe in the N&O recently and the continuing ground swell of unrest from some of the former players who feel that he should be finish out his contract.

    Second is that we have asked for permission to talk to a realative unknown candidate from a perennial “cinderella” school. Whether he is interested or not, the sources did not divulge….but he is the ONLY one that we have actually asked for permission to interview.

    Third is than an informal poll taken among those that are “in the know” or are “influential” finds less than 25% wanting a change…..unless it is a MAJOR change with some REAL guarantees. There is growing concern that change for the sake of change will lead to a WORSE record next year.

    The ONE thing that was on folks mind was that Mrs. Yow obviously has her work cut out for her….and that ANY change must be for the good…..otherwise, see how next season plays out….

    There is NO rumor about Sean Miller….

    The Chris Collins name was actually the result of some “inside” humor and was floated at some of the annual “BS” meetings of the “higher ranking” fans. They were laughing about how their little inside joke had taken legs…..sort of like whispering that the CEO of a major company had been arrested with a male prostitue on an elevator and by the time it gets to the top floor, he has been called in by the board and fired. COLLINS WAS A JOKE at the ACC Tourney….but who knows….

    This is not exactly in sync with what is being blogged here….so take it with a grain of salt….

    Just my comments and my news from G’boro.

  15. ringo 03/13/2011 at 8:44 PM #

    ^this kind of post (if true) leads me to believe we still have idiotic clowns on the inside after 20 terrible years.

    I can’t blame anyone for wanting to go cheap in this economy, but for them actually wanting Lowe back or floating rumors for kicks and giggles….boggles the mind after the circus we had last time…

    sigh….

  16. backnine 03/13/2011 at 8:54 PM #

    Nothing in that report makes me feel good. Hoping there’s some bad info in there.

  17. Bowlpack 03/13/2011 at 9:18 PM #

    ^
    Me neither, but I take everything I read on the interwebs with a very large grain of salt.

  18. bradleyb123 03/13/2011 at 11:30 PM #

    Adventuroo has been supportive of keeping Sidney another year. I think I would take his posts with a grain.

  19. wufpup76 03/14/2011 at 2:24 AM #

    “I appreciate Adventuroo sharing his/her experience, BUT he/she is a huge Sidney supporter.”

    ^Is what I meant to say. Apologies for the double post.

  20. Rick 03/14/2011 at 7:45 AM #

    “I don’t get the Sean Miller lovefest. No doubt he will fair better than sid did but he is from the Sendek coaching tree. I would much rather pick a fruit from the coach K tree.”

    1) If you have seen his teams you would notice they are more like Thad Motta than Herb Sendek.

    2) Who from the K tree has lit the world on fire? More flameouts than successes

    3) Who keeps saying Chris Collins has more potential than a current head coach? There is no way to tell as he has never coached. I guess he may but it is pure speculation.

  21. mak4dpak 03/14/2011 at 8:32 AM #

    Randy Bennett of Saint Marys. The guy has 9 out of 10 seasons with 20+ wins. Won the regular sesason conference title, with lesser talent than we have. But lost the conference tourney, and was left out of the big dance, Had some big wins over St. Johns, and lost by 2 to BYU. His teams are rated high in offensive output. I have watched them play and they play smart basketball on offense and defense. My be able to lure him to ACC. Certainly worth a try.

  22. wolfie91 03/14/2011 at 9:05 AM #

    Trying to figure out how the coach of a perennial Cinderella team can be all that unknown, since Cinderella’s are played up each year during the tourney.

    And I assume we’re not going to look at any assistant coaches, unless we absolutely can’t find anyone.

  23. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 03/14/2011 at 9:10 AM #

    I will support just about any coach that NC State picks. At this point a change is needed and we can hope that any coach will do better than what we have seen over the last couple of years under Sid.

    It is my guess that State has 2 or 3 top choices, game changers so to speak.

    $3.5-4 million a year
    I don’t know the names but I would guess this list may include names like Barnes, Donovan, Lavin (former Purdue asst, current NC State Chancellor from Purdue). These coaches would immediately put NC State into the national conversation. I would guess the chances from this list are slim but not out of the question.

    Where would the money come from? I think the the old money resources are limited and well tapped. Is there new donor willing to step up or will NC State go crawling back to Murphy, Dail, Poole, Vaughn? Come on guys… just a few more million and we will have a winning program. Of course, one of these coaches may bring in bigger shoe money.

    $2.5-3.5 million a year
    Still would need some huge money commitments for year one to pay off Sid and bring in new coach. This list probably would change the shoe or merchandise revenue but would be a strong hire. Sounds like Miller is many people favorite from this list. These would be coaches that have had success, been to the NCAA’s but no championship.

    I would think that Purdue’s Matt Painter may be on this list since the new Chancellor is from Purdue. Except for the fact that Painter may be in his dream job.

    I think Butler’s Brad Stevens could be the sleeper in this category. Butler is in Indiana as is Purdue. Then again is Stevens waiting for the Indiana job to open up.

    $1.5-2.5 million a year
    Any of these coaches are going to be a risk. You have some common sense choices like Marshall Gregg and some out-of-the-box names, such as very young coach or assistant from a winning program.

    The obvious benefit is that State could find a great coach that could spend 25 years building a dynasty. These coaches come with less financial risk but may also lead to yet another decade of awfulness.

  24. albunde6 03/14/2011 at 9:31 AM #

    Do we know what wish list names are currently making? Barnes, Donavan, Miller, Stevens. Would eliminate part of my anxiety if I knew they were out of my price point. I am starting to warm to the idea of the St Mary’s coach, but first are still Stevens and Barnes.

    Just finaly question, thought Sydney was in last year of contract. What will buy out cost?

  25. Bowlpack 03/14/2011 at 9:37 AM #

    The only hope we have of obtaining the services of Rick Barnes is that nobody in Austin cares about college basketball. My sister, a Duke grad, lives in Austin and has attended a fair number of in-conference and OoC Big 12 games at UT and is always shocked that the arena is usually less than half full despite their perennial top ranking. Other than the fact that there is minimal fan support, he has a great thing going there at a school with one of the most well-funded athletic departments in the country.

    Also, look at the risk-reward scenario. Leaving a top 10 program to go to try and rebuild versus making the logical career step and going to a big conference/big school to try and prove yourself. I think that the reality of this situation makes much more sense that it’s going to be a mid-major up-and-comer. To that end, I really like Bennett and Stevens.

    Still, though (and I’ll contradict myself), it isn’t too hard for me to imagine Sean Miller heading back to the ACC. It would be a great time to do it with the talent level high in Raleigh and the rest of the league considerably weaker than it has been in the past. He does have a good thing going out in the desert. So I’m 50/50 on our chances with him.

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