Alabama Perspective: Gottfried will turn around Wolfpack

From The Capstone Report:

Many were hoping that VCU’s Shaka Smart would take the job.

Seriously?

No disrespect to Coach Smart, but if you were to spin the clock back to mid February, and I was to ask you who Shaka Smart was, most of you would probably not have a clue.

If Shaka Smart, a guy who barely got his team into the NCAA tournament, would have taken the NC State job, some of these very same clueless media members would have been ranting and raving about what a great hire they made, yet those same people are discrediting Gottfried, a guy with multiple NCAA appearances.

While at Alabama, Gottfried successfully recruited and coached some big time basketball players, he racked up a 210-131 record, went dancing five consecutive times from 2002-2006, and was the 2002 SEC coach of the year.

Before his days in Tuscaloosa, Gottfried coached Murray State, leaving with a 69-23 record. You also cannot forget that he spent eight seasons as an assistant coach at UCLA, where he was part of the 1995 NCAA championship team.

Although NC State does have two National Championship banners hanging from the rafters, and have enjoyed numerous trips to the tournament, as of late, they haven’t had much success. You would have to go back to 2006 to find them in them in the brackets.

Gottfried is a good coach. He is a good recruiter, and after a couple of seasons away from the game, there is no doubt that his fire to get back on the sidelines is at an all-time high.

The losers in this scenario are the Gulf Shores Dolphins who have enjoyed two years of Gottfrieds dressed out in Dolphin football, basketball and volleyball uniforms. Gottfried’s kids have made a positive impact on the Baldwin County program and no doubt, they will be missed.

As for NC State, I think he can do it. I look for them to return to tournament play in the very near future. I refuse to be one of the media naysayers.

Good luck, coach!

Hopefully by now you have begun the habit of integrating visits to StateFansNation with visits to our booming message forums. If so, then you may have stumbled across this very educational conversation regarding NC State’s new Head Basketball coach started by an Alabama Basketball fan:

Some of our fans are still bitter about our downfall in his last three years at Bama, but Gottfried did a pretty good job at Bama. In 1998, he inherited a program that was not in very good shape after the David Hobbs era. It took him a couple of years to rebuild, but by year four he had us as a 2-seed and winning our first SEC Championship in well over a decade. And 2002 began a streak of five consecutive NCAA Tournament bids. In 2004 as an 8-seed, he took us to our program’s first Elite Eight appearance.

If you take the last three years off, his resume is stellar. But those last three years still happened. The program really fell off, and it was good to see him take responsibility for that in the press conference yesterday. I think there were a lot of factors that contributed to the program’s downfall. Some of these were Gottfried’s fault, while some were things that he could do nothing about.

I do think that he got a little complacent after leading us to an Elite Eight. And I think that he was a little bit stubborn when it came to his UCLA High Post and help defensive principles. I have seen some articles that say he is going to bring a fast-paced offense to Raleigh. I wouldn’t really hold my breath for that, although it will likely be fast-paced compared to what Sidney Lowe was running. Offensively, he is going to run the UCLA High Post. It’s really all he has ever done. Occasionally you will see some Flex and Dribble-Drive mixed in, but you will get a HEAVY dose of High Post. I think some of the fans biggest complaints against him were his teams’ lack of defensive intensity. I don’t think he really emphasized teaching defense quite as much as he should have and I hope that he has learned from this.

As I said, there were several factors that contributed to the program’s demise that he could not help. Ronald Steele’s injury is probably the biggest of these. In 2006, Steele was one of the top point guards in the country. He developed a knee problem early in the 2006-2007 season and was never the same after that, even taking a redshirt season in 2007-2008 to try to get over it. Prior to Steele’s injury in 2006-2007, we were ranked 3rd in the country. Early defections to the NBA didn’t help either. Of his early defections, only two ended up being 1st round draft picks(Gerald Wallace in 2001 and Mo Williams in 2003). Two of them were drafted in the 2nd round(Rod Grizzard in 2002 and Richard Hendrix in 2008) and one of them wasn’t even drafted(Kennedy Winston in 2005).

I think that Mark Gottfried can be successful at NC State. I think the biggest key will be for him to assemble a good staff that will challenge him on occasion. The years that he had a former head coach on the staff(1999-2007) were much more successful than the years that he had assistants who had never been head coaches(2008 & 2009).

If he has learned from the mistakes he made during the end of his tenure at Alabama, I think that he will win at NC State. And I really hope that he is successful.

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Mark Gottfried

26 Responses to Alabama Perspective: Gottfried will turn around Wolfpack

  1. Wolfy__79 04/09/2011 at 3:18 PM #

    the biggest part of this for me is what we’ll see concerning style of play. i’ve watched some of his coaching clips on youtube but that doesn’t do much for me. defensively, i hope he’s going to make this a strong coaching point. of course, unc sucks in the half court and duke has a tendency to jack up threes.. still defense is a key to success.

    MG has also said it’s one thing to say you are going to play this/that way, but actually doing it is entirely different. alot to be excited about with the new coaching staff. i like how its worded that the assistants are to “challenge” MG. let’s see how good of a CEO we have with our bball team! PACK.

  2. TLeo 04/09/2011 at 3:31 PM #

    I enjoyed reading the full article. He factually points out the succesful record MG had in spite of a bad couple years. I think a lot of programs and coaches would like to have his record overall. Then I really enjoyed his shot at the media “experts”
    “Gottfried has caught grief on more than one occasion by members of the media, commenting that he is not a very good basketball coach. (Keep in mind that many of those media members are short, white guys who have never dribbled a basketball in their life.)”

  3. Tampa-Pack 04/09/2011 at 3:40 PM #

    After a few days to digest the hire, I’m feeling pretty good about it. If it wasn’t a complete surprise, I think alot of us would have him listed as a B-tier candidate. Hopefully his floor will be much higher than the Lowe years and on par with Sendek’s last 5. Therefore the ceiling should be much hire. Hope the team stays together and the recruits stick with the pack. If the guys work hard in the off season, we should be very competitive come tip off time next season. Go PACK!

  4. ancsu87 04/09/2011 at 6:01 PM #

    I am always surprised to keep seeing MG as a B-Tier hire but Rick Barnes and Sean Miller as A-Tier. Any one ever watched a Rick Barnes coached Clemson team and did anyone ever look at his record versus UNC and Williams while at Kansas (1-9 and 1-4 respectively).

    Sean Miller is a good coach and will go on to great things I imagine (same for Archie Miller) but as of know he is not an A-Tier coach.

    I would have liked to have hired Miller two years ago before he went to AZ. However I would much prefer MG over RB. At this point in time I would also take MG over Miller (he has settled in at AZ and would always wonder if he made the right move if he came back here).

  5. PoppaJohn 04/09/2011 at 6:41 PM #

    At this point, all we can do is wait to see the product on the floor. Hopefully he’ll bring in this stellar asst coaching staff that Yow talked about, but that too will have to prove itself on the court. If he caps his staff with a defensive whiz, I think we’d all be encouraged.

    We may never know the whole story, but my best guess is that Yow created a list that consisted of three elements; the ones the fan base were clamoring about (Miller, Barnes and …), the well thought of mid-majors (Marshall, Smart, Cronin and …) and then her personal list which would have included Gott. She probably did her due diligence on all of them (including names of which I am unaware) via the search firm to gauge their level of interest. I’m guessing four expressed interest and she talked to them – but Gott was the only one that had coached a major program. So when he wanted the job, he was clearly the best of the four and so she picked him. The personal relationship was a bonus, but probably not the biggest factor.

    So, in summary, I think DY beat the bushes to the best of her ability and Gott is the best she could find. We have no reason to believe she blew it with anyone we would think of as a better hire. And she reduced her (our) risk considerably by bringing in an experienced D1 coach.

    So, congratulations to Yow for her efforts. Let’s see how they work out. It’s going to be a very long six months waiting to see the product on the floor. Luckily, football season should be fun and help make it seem shorter.

  6. Wolfy__79 04/09/2011 at 6:52 PM #

    i’m GLAD shaka smart isn’t our coach! he’s an infant hc at best. lots of lessons to learn.

  7. ADVENTUROO 04/09/2011 at 8:37 PM #

    PoppaJohn,

    I like your summary and I might add a few things. I had “voiced” my opinion and my support of Coach Lowe on a couple of occassions early in the season in emails so my name was one that Debbie was used to getting emails from….and she did respond to all of them. It became clear that this was a strong willed and confident AD. I knew that the inevitagle would probably happen, but I do champion a cause. I talked to Sidney and his mom for a few minutes at his last radio show in Crabtree and he was prepared to go on…whichever direction it took.

    When I saw the press conference and I watched it twice, I became convinced that Debbie was sincere and fair minded and had handled this situation with the highest compassion she could. I was optimistic, but realistic and wanted a coach that would win MORE games next year….my MORE games included the the ones that I know Sidney would have won with a more mature squad. But I did not have Sean or Rick or Jimmy V (re-incarnated) on my radar.

    I did not email Debbie until almost midnight on the Monday night of the Final Four. After reading her “letter”, I popped a quick note telling her I supported her and to keep on digging and looking and that I had confidence in her.

    She responded with a thank you and said that she was trying to land a good coach and that he would be a fighter and we would all be very satisfied.

    That told me that she did not have a “YES” from anyone, but had a firm offer on the table. I also concluded that the 4 or 5 coaches that had been on most radars had, for whatever, reason decided not to come to NCSU.

    The next day, I happened to tune in to Adam Gold’s show and he broke the news….I sent a short congratuations and got back a nice response. I could tell by the tone that she was excited.

    I have come to the conclusion that Mark was NEVER on any of her first lists. I think that he might have been a friend that she trusted and could turn to….sort of a sounding board. Maybe someone that might also suggest a name that she overlooked.

    As the search progressed…and I do NOT have a time table or any info on this….my speculation entiirely, I think that he became the Dick Cheney candidate. You are probably aware that Dick Cheney was the chair of the selection committee and brought many names to George Bush. The more that Bush worked with Cheney in this process the more respect he had….and he eventually started comparing the names to Cheney. Cheney did NOT accept…as a matter of fact, he declined on several occassions and finally they had a major meeting and he accepted.

    Mark, I think, became the Cheney candidate….

    I also am impressed with his two hires….and hope that the Harrick idiocity is just the N&O trying to stir up mess. I have also expressed that.

    I also liked Shaka since he reminded me of Valvano…..one guy also said that since his first name ended in a Vowel, that was the “sign”. But it was not to be. I think that, practically, we are MUCH better off with Mark. My German and Scotch Irish frugality also says that we got FAR better value for our money than in Shaka…but there will be NO way to ever figure that out.

    I am looking forward to meeting Mark. He is very articulate and seems passionate. He shot Debbie a look about the GW question and when she answered it, it was like…”Ho, boy….I love her, but she sure speaks her mind.”.

    A coach DOES need to get along with their AD and also needs to be able to talk to them when needed. They have this repoire…

    Good hire. Great Job. Let the games begin….

  8. HPWolf 04/09/2011 at 10:21 PM #

    Roo, you were a supporter of LOWE till the end but with all due respect Sid is gone so its time to move on. He is a great guy but he was a bad coach in the NBA and a bad coach in the ACC. He had his chance with his own players and he was given 5 years to turn it around. He maxed out. We are in much better shape already and the future is bright. MG will take this same group of kids and get into the dance in 2012. The talent is there and the coaching pedigree is there. GO PACK!!

  9. ADVENTUROO 04/09/2011 at 10:46 PM #

    HPWolf,

    I HAVE moved on. I still do support Lowe. I think his destiny was sealed with the lack of talent that he was left by Sendek. I think that he gave the program a much needed shot in talent. Mark will inherit a team that is about a 7 as compared to the 2 that Sidney got. I was disappointed that he did not make the transisition from the Pros to the NCAA….but, as you probably know, there were some personal issues that impacted him. He paid a heavy price to come back here….and I hope he does well.

    As to Mark, I am definitely HIGH on him. Sidney would have won MORE games next year….so just winning the same number that Sidney would have won would be a “break even” and Debbie did NOT make any improvements. I expect Mark to win MORE games that Sidney would have won. I have my own personal goals for the team….and I expect him to iive up to it.

    I really feel that we have a more talented coach and with Sidney’s raw recruits, he will take them to new levels…..just as Jimmy V did with Sloan’s recruits.

    The future is bright…..as to maxing out….maybe he did….but old Two ringers in CH was crying at every press conference last year and many of the beginning of the season about the lack of MATURITY and EXPERIENCE. He made the SAME comments after Coach K out coached him in the ACC Tourney. I sat through every game in Greensboro and had seats above Roy where I could watch his sideline actions. Coach K blitzed him. Barnes had a different defender on him EVERY set. That is COACHING.

    So, Mark will win us more game. Sid left us talent. I suggest that you, too, move on…but give credit to what Sidney did during his five years…..remember, he LOST his first recruiting class….he was able to use HIS reputation as knowing what the Pro’s wanted to land the Fab Frosh last year and had several blue chippers lined up this year.

    GO PACK…

  10. swamppack 04/09/2011 at 10:57 PM #

    Hearing you fellow Pack fans generally be so positive on here about MG makes me really question myself. I just can’t get over the thoughts that we will still be playing 3rd fiddle to Duke and unx for a long time to come.

    I do not have a desire to come on here with negative thoughts, i’m just being honest.

    My expectations were just too high. Then I go to ESPN’s little video piece about DY’s comments at the presser about GW, and afterwards, all thier commentary on N.C. State was so condescending and insulting. Just having a hard time dealing with what’s happened to State’s image.

    Again, I am thankful for all the positive members on here, keep up the good work.

    Signed,
    Cry-baby

  11. HPWolf 04/10/2011 at 12:08 AM #

    Roo, I have moved on but lets not rewrite history. The truth is Sids best year was his first year with with what sendek left him. It went downhill from there. He has proven twice now that an infusion of talent does not increase his win total. I have great respect for the class with which Sid conducted himself during his coaching days and during his departure. I cannot however give him an “adda boy” (credit) for dropping us to the bottom third of the ACC and 5 years of pain for the entire Wolfpack Nation. His contribution in 83 is far outweighed by the last five years of humiliation and futility. Facts and stats dont lie. I wish Sid the best but I’m pretty sure he will not be in demand at any level in college bb again.

  12. travelwolf 04/10/2011 at 12:13 AM #

    Gottfried, if you are reading this… HIRE AN ASSISTANT COACH WHO KNOWS DEFENSE!

  13. ADVENTUROO 04/10/2011 at 9:17 AM #

    HPWolf,

    I guess we will continue to respect the other’s intelligence, but we will view the facts differently. Coach Lowe’s legacy will be how he was able to overcome the massive talent void that Coach Sendek left us and brought in a great recruiting class last year. I admit that he did not live up to my expectations but, a coach can only do so much with the level of talent he had. This year’s record was probably as good as it could have been, given the make-up of the team and Tracy’s injury.

    I am not the only person that felt that Coach Lowe would win more games this year….the “folks that write and comment” for a living all stated that. They also said we needed to hire a coach that could win even more games. That is what happened.

    Saying that Mark will win because of his superior resume is like saying that Jimmy V’s two recruits and the rest of Sloan’s team had NO impact….it was strictly V’s ability….and if you think I am an avid Lowe supporter, you ain’t gonna believe my admiration for Jimmy V….on and off the court.

    So, if Mark meets MY goals, then he is a good hire. If he does not, then we would have been just as well off with Lowe.

    BUT, so there is no confusion, I am at peace with Coach Lowe’s departure and also believe that Mark WILL meet my goals. I think that my goals are a lot more realistic than the possibility that Sean Miller would be coaching here….so I am NOT a Lunatic Looney Lupin Lobo Linguistic….whatever fan.

    GO PACK. Ready for some FB and then we will let BB play out. I still have my LTR’s for FB and for BB and will take my daughter and my grandkids and my wife and we will be there for every game.

    GO PACK

  14. boonami 04/10/2011 at 10:08 AM #

    Roo,

    I have to agree with HP Wolf… Lowe was a great recruiter for us but after 5 years of showing no improvement of talent recruited, it was time for a change. We needed a coach with D1 HC experience; we got one and i think the future is bright.

  15. HPWolf 04/10/2011 at 10:46 AM #

    Roo,
    I too am and will always be a huge Jimmy V fan. Jimmy V is NCSU and as far as I am concerned he put us on the map in 83 when I believe the whole nation fell in love his energy and passion for the game. This is not meant to diminish Sloan, Thompson and the gang for the 73,74 teams that knocked UCLA off the mountain.
    NC States run in 83 will probably always be the greatest cinderella story in college basketball. Enough of my rambling.

    Mark Gottfried will be a winner for us because past indicators strongly suggest he will win here as he did at Murray State and Alabama. I think and recruiting experts think we have not good but great talent on our bench BUT until they take the court and prove it they are only showing potential. THIS coach with this talent will win. MG will have to bring it out of the kids to win. I believe he will.

  16. packalum44 04/10/2011 at 11:39 AM #

    Adventuroo: You have well crafted posts and articulate your feelings well. I will say however, that I hope you are related to Lowe, because you have an irrational reverence towards him. Cool guy. Bad coach. I mean AWFUL coach. He was really really bad. Worst in ACC and one of the worst in the country.

  17. West Coaster 04/10/2011 at 11:57 AM #

    Yeah, I wonder if Sid has had a long, heart-to-heart, phone conversation with Matt Doherty within the last couple of weeks…

  18. ADVENTUROO 04/10/2011 at 12:52 PM #

    packalum44, et. al.,

    I am NOT related to Lowe. I am a 68 Grad who had a FIL that was an NCSU BB lover. When me and my wife done “run off” and got wed while in college, we told my MIL, finally, and then she decided HOW to tell my late FIL…she waited until halftine (radio broadcast on AM…he would go from three separate radios as WPTF would fade). She thought that was the best time and also added that his daughter was NOT PG…he said welcome and gave me the score and off to another room.

    My wife actually likes BB more than I do. I met Norm Sloan at a WP recruiting meeting in 1972. I cheered so loud when we finally beat the Tarheels that my son was “spooked”. He finally got into the act…for a 2 year old and when I cheered, he would yell.

    We started going to the games in the 70’s. I bought my first color TV in 1974 and watched the first game of the second or third round of the NCAA tourney and saw David Thompson fall…My wife refused to watch the rest of the game on the new TV and found the old B&W…

    We started going to more games as we move closer to Raleigh. We followed the 1983 team. I taped every game and special in Super VHS in their NCAA run. I almost went to the Final Four, but my wife said no…Me and my BIL’s wife were about to go (separate rooms), but got shot down. We did take the kids to RDU and Reynolds when they came back. I took them on Tuesday and we were all in Reynolds when V and the team returned. My OTHER BIL met his wife at a Brickyard Bonfire during that run.

    I met V a couple of times at WPC meetings….I am close to his age. I got caught up in his crucifiction and wrote everyone I could think of.

    His death impacted me a lot….I have an audio version of his Book (Lifetme Contract – Declared Dead). It is a one man comedy routine. I would listen to it as I traveled and used the 1983 team and NEVER GIVE UP or ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS THROUGH HARD WORK as the theme for the after dinner speeches that I had to give as the Director of Safety and Environmental at several of my southern plants. They knew I was a Wolfpacker and still remembered their run. That enabled them to get the MESSAGE. I was successful in motivating my individual plant coordinators and we greatly improved our safety and environmental records and received corporate and State Agency recognition for that. SO, I owe V, in a roundabout way, some of my career success.

    When I retired, I bought 2 LTR’s in the Champions Club….we had had season tickets, but decided to upgrade. Then Sidney was hired that year….and we thoroughly enjoyed the games. My daughter and 2 GK’s live locally with her UNC husband. I decided to add two more LTR’s so they could attend and they love it. When my daughter was PG with my GD, she took my 3 YO GS to welcome Coach Lowe as we were out of town.

    I also started going to the ACC Tournament and was in Tampa when he almost ran the table and saw the look on my UNC buddies faces…they were spooked.

    About three years ago, we started going, occassionally, to his radio show and got him to sign some things. He always had time for the fans there and would often, during the breaks, come down and talk. He had a loyal following there.

    I gave him a copy of the Audio Book last year and he thanked me the first time I came to the radio show. He is VERY approachable and a truly first class person.

    You obviously know my feelings….

    We went more times to the radio show this year and there were several “onlookers” from the AD’s office and the WPC. Bobby Purcell was there one night and I talked to him about the situation.

    I decided to give Sidney, what I actually KNEW would be a Farewell Present. I dubbed all the 1983 games, the specials, the interviews, etc. onto DVD. There were 10 DVD’s….a LOT of stuff. He was really touched….I did this in about 3 sessions and would take him a fresh set each week. The last week, his mom and family was there and he commented that she would enjoy watching them because she had never seen some of the events…

    SO….I DO plan on going to Mark’s radio show, if it has it in Crabtree or BYB. I occassionally go to the TOB show, but TOB is IN & OUT and does not make small talk with the fans…I think that Mark will, or I hope he does.

    I will try to close and please take this as constructive, not condensending. If you do NOT appreciate Sidney’s contributions, then perhaps you need to read Tim Peeler’s book, 100 Years of Innovation. It gives you the background. Yes, in the final analysis, it is a matter of W’s versus L’s. But if you fully understand WHAT is going on in the background and become involved, as I did, you have to also understand that “How you play the game” is really critical.

    I am very high on Mark. I expect great things of him. GO PACK…

  19. tjfoose1 04/10/2011 at 2:35 PM #

    Personally, I don’t give a rats rear of what “the folks that write and comment” for a living think.

    Those who coach and teach for a living could see that Sid did not have the ability to do either. At least not with college aged kids.

    I rarely saw him teach. All he did was whistle, point, and instruct. Take a look at just about any team huddle during a timeout… that’s just about all you need to know. A microcosm of his teaching.

  20. West Coaster 04/10/2011 at 9:21 PM #

    Many of you have probably already read the following article by Caulton Tudor from yesterday’s N&O but it showed up from the wire in the Sacramento Bee today & I thought that the comments about Yow’s previous “money” hires was worth reading if you haven’t had a chance to yet: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/09/3540330/yows-legacy-tied-to-gottfried.html

  21. 61Packer 04/10/2011 at 9:58 PM #

    The McClatchy Group, which owns the N&O and Charlotte Observer, has its main liberal hive in Sacramento. Tudor’s article would never have been run out there except that NCSU now has a female AD, and this is very important stuff to those who see the world much differently than most others.

    To cut to the chase, neither of our last two hires (AD and basketball coach) were the kind that a decade from now will put NCSU athletics anywhere near FSU/VT football or Duke/UNC basketball.

    However, I’d settle right now for being the next-best thing to those programs, but it won’t come immediately. It will, however, come sooner in basketball because of two things: One- we couldn’t have been sunk any LOWEr in basketball, and Two- our next major coaching hire will more likely be in football. I do not look forward to it, either.

  22. stejen 04/10/2011 at 10:11 PM #

    Like most everyone here, I am excited to see Gottfried as our new coach. I do beg to differ that Lowe was a bad coach. He may have been a bad HEAD coach but not a bad coach. I noticed a long time ago that when he called a timeout that the next play would almost work to perfection. To be a head coach you need to handle the press, be a disciplinarian, recruit, keep the boosters happy (remember the Sendek year?) etc. There were times when I thought the State players conditioning was in question but that is just me. In short, I think Lowe would make somebody an excellent assistant and we may live to regret the day he left NC State if he goes to work for another coach. But let’s give credit where it is due. Had Lowe not taken the job what would State have done? We owe him thanks for trying his best and leaving this program in much better shape then Sendek did. I firmly believe Sendek made up his mind he was leaving much sooner then the end of the season and then threw the basketball program under the bus when he left. He may have been a good man but he had a terrible personality. Why else would Larry Harris move to ASU to be with him and then turn around a week later and come back to State when Lowe called (after he had already sold his house in Raleigh). People say the best year Lowe had was his first year but I can not even imagine how bad that team wouuld have been if Sendek had stayed. Lowe was not the answer but he stopped the bleeding and we should be greatful for that. Now maybe MG can get the wound to heal. Also, why are some of Sendek’s ex players still some of our greatest supporters (Hodge and the like?). You would think they would be disgruntled at State and be ASU fans but that is not the case.
    Just my thoughts

  23. Wolfy__79 04/10/2011 at 10:12 PM #

    the jury is still out with me on TOB in football. i think he CAN have us at the top of the ACC in football and if done consistently then perhaps that keeps/gets us to regular bcs bowl games.

    and of course i have to wait -n- see on our basketball program. i’m sure we’ll get back into the national mix sooner or later. i don’t see fsu/vt or duke/unc-ch as untouchable. in basketball, they will surely have more highs than lows for the next 5-10 years… but eventually duke will fade. hopefully unc as well.. they’ve been able to have more consistent relevance… duke has not.. if we are able to get back to the top then we could see ourselves as ones who know how to do what it takes to get to the tops.

    ACC football is something totally different, especially when talking about fsu. alot of what they do depends on jimbone fisher.. who knows if he has what it takes? it shouldn’t take long to tell. bud foster will eventually leave beamer… it’s only a matter of time when a big program grabs him up… the only alternative is beamer retiring and foster taking over?

    all that considered, imo.. there is no reason why nc state cannot again win ACC championships in football… AND certainly regain national attention in bball! the acc championships may be hard to come by in bball, but they cannot keep us out of the ncaas!!

  24. Wolfy__79 04/10/2011 at 10:20 PM #

    no need to really drag SL into the good/bad discussion. he will again work in the NBA. he had an offer last year.. he’ll have another gig this fall i imagine.. i think the NBA suits him best!! is there really any need to drag the man through nc state politics? it’s a little embarrassing to hear nc state fans bag the man b/c he cannot teach. sorry, he may not have gotten enough out of his players to get the level of success both SL and state faithful wanted.. but the man coached! i’ve been in the front rows witnessing it! okay, even if you differ.. give him a break!

  25. packof81 04/11/2011 at 11:14 AM #

    Now that all the dust has settled, I believe we’ve got a good coach. The more I read about MG, the better I like him. I’m sure he appreciates the golden opportunity he has. Who knows. He may deliver big.

    GO PACK

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