Gott has won and put together multiple runs at 2 P5 schools now.
Not a whole lot of coaches can say that. He did well initially and even though his second season the team underachieved, we didn’t collapse totally.
In years 3 and 4 – with pretty much his guys, he had decent years. But in these first four years, it appeared he had a clear and defined ceiling – in no small part due to his teams attention to detail on the defensive end.
So, for me – at that point – his performance to date merited at least 2 more years. Year 5 wasn’t good – but in general, the team competed.
Personally, I viewed year 6 as the indicator in whether Gott could ever get us to turn the corner from bubble team, to P5 national title and conference title contender. I figured deep down that we would end up on the bubble again thanks to mediocre defense. I was not looking forward to the wolfpack civil war – between those saying 5 tourneys in 6 years and those saying 17 years experience and hasn’t built or sustained anything special. (Both of which would have been undeniable.)
Sometimes – you get your answer gift wrapped for you. I don’t think Gott’s offcourt behavior helped him either. If you are going to preside over a sinking ship – you should at least be able to show that you do not deserve a mutiny.
Yow was fair in this. Like the DD hire – there were clear red flags bringing in Gott. Unlike DD, these flags were not a lack of experience or also indicative of very poor personal behavior. Whereas DD can be given a chance to pick up the pieces with a few bad breaks, with Gott it was clear that this was all part of a trend. A guy who could coach and could turn around a team’s fortunes, but someone incapable of sustaining them and building on them.
