Shaka Smart #1 candidate at Wake Forest?

Home Forums StateFans Basketball Shaka Smart #1 candidate at Wake Forest?

Viewing 25 posts - 26 through 50 (of 91 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #49234
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Goes to show there is a sea-change going on with major conferences.

    I agree. Quite a nice hire for Va Tech. And boy was it fast.

    #49237
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    And no, none of us should want to see Shaka in Winston. He’d get that program resurrected quickly. I have no idea if he has any interest. But when Buzz Williams leaves Marquette for Va Tech, you have to wonder if Shaka is thinking it is probably time to move into a power conference.

    #49240
    Lunatic Fringe
    Participant

    Our loss to St. Louis was on them, more so on the great POY Warren. Absolutely terrible at the FT line, he should give his award back. And if he aspires to make the NBA, he owes us at least one more year, after the St Louis game, shooting 4 of 14 from the FT stripe.

    TJW does not owe us a damn thing after the overall year he just put out there. He had a “bad game” by his standards and still scored over 25. Yes – he missed FTs and it cost us…happens.

    Team overachieved this year and did it squarely on back of TJW. If anyone says anything different…you are lying to yourself.

    #49243
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    TJW does not owe us a damn thing

    +1.

    #49249
    mak4dpak
    Participant

    Leaders lead in crucial situations. St. Louis was one of those situations. While I appreciate the contribution Warren made to the team and our record, when the game is on the line, you have to lead by example.

    #49251
    mak4dpak
    Participant

    As for those that are true Wolfpack followers, the men are gone, yes, but the women are still in, and play on ESPN2 tonight @ 630. They deserve our support.

    #49255
    Lunatic Fringe
    Participant

    Leaders lead in crucial situations. St. Louis was one of those situations. While I appreciate the contribution Warren made to the team and our record, when the game is on the line, you have to lead by example.

    You mean like hitting 2 FTs with 24 seconds left to go up 3 (in essence sealing away win) against Syracuse in the ACC tournament. We would not have even been playing SLU without TJW stepping up & leading us to victory hitting those FTs in last seconds of the game.

    I repeat TJW does not owe us a damn thing.

    #49262
    mak4dpak
    Participant

    And missing crucial free throws in the Carrier dome, that cost us the game. So repeat all you want to. If he wants to go to the NBA with his last memory that of his performance against St. Louis, then so be it. He will be back.

    #49263
    84PackFan
    Participant

    Also, I don’t think Duke’s loss makes State’s loss last night any easier to take for Wolfpack fans. Duke will simply re-load next season, but what in the world will State have next season? After what I saw last night, I wish the entire State team AND coaching staff would not be back next season. I’ve followed State basketball since the late 1950s and this one ranks up there with the worst loss ever in terms of defining a program and its direction. This ship ain’t coming in because it ain’t gonna sail.

    Wow, my post on the game thread was not nearly as inflammatory as that and you’d have thought I did something illegal. I am not sure we have to totally start over after that debacle, but the team sure needs to some soul searching.

    #49274
    Lunatic Fringe
    Participant

    You are delusional if you think TJW is coming back next year.

    #49276
    MrPlywood
    Participant

    “Our loss to St. Louis was on them, more so on the great POY Warren. Absolutely terrible at the FT line, he should give his award back. …he owes us at least one more year…”

    WTF?

    “TJW does not owe us a damn thing after the overall year he just put out there.”

    +2

    #49280
    mak4dpak
    Participant

    Isn’t it great that we all are entitled to our opinion, and too bad my opinion isn’t liked by some of you. But that is still and always will be what I think. Of course without the profanity included. He had a great year, but you can’t turn if off when you go to the big dance, when it counts the most. FTs are and always will be part of the game, as I heard that game referenced too more times than I care for today, when St. Louis played Louisville, by the game announcers. TJ don’t want his last memory in a Wolfpack uniform to be the St. Louis game. He will come back next year with a improve supporting cast.

    #49285
    Alpha Wolf
    Keymaster

    My theory is that Smart to WF is another negotiating tactic with VCU. Keep in mind VCU is for all intents and purposes the size of NC State and they really want to keep their guy. Wake will offer, VCU will counter and Smart will be in Richmond next year.

    Howland, on the other hand, is a great coach if you love games in the 50’s. Me, I would rather have my teeth pulled with no novacaine.

    #49286
    packalum44
    Participant

    The choke job ranks among the worst in history. There is little debate. However, coaches should be judged by the following criteria:

    1) body of work (includes all their choke jobs and vice versa).
    2) skill relative to peer group.
    3) anyone else want to hire them?

    Gott’s body of work and peer-group comparison suggest that he is a very good recruiter but average coach. He made an Elite 8 with an NBA All Star PG and an athletic supporting cast. The HOPE was he would recruit EVEN BETTER here, and hence break his high-water mark and take us to a Final 4. This is feasible assuming his recruiting keeps pace and we play Guns N Roses “Patience” on repeat. Even good coaches need luck in the dance.

    Lest we forget, Gott was the backup to the backup…actually scratch that. He wasn’t a serious candidate until KABOOM.

    Do not use the media’s pre-season prediction as a benchmark to judge a coach – that’s not cool. Why use stale data that is worthless to begin with?

    The theory of relativity was conceived by Einstein using a simple “mind experiment”. Lighter, moving train, two people equidistant apart on train, 1 person on platform…and voila. He discovered relativity.

    Well, do the same thing to this Wolfpack Squad. Did we not have good talent compared to many schools we faced? Could you not imagine a Jim L or an Archie Miller or a Shaka Smart having a more successful season with this team? Mind experiment with this team and it doesn’t get too hard to imagine the past few years would ALL have been NCAA tournament teams with more chance to go deep.

    Or you could put Gott on the Miami team from last year, or on UVA’s team this year. Think Gott would have won the ACC with either??? Think Shaka or Archie could…that’s not too hard to believe.

    Frankly I couldn’t see him EVER winning the dance, unless he had some of those UNC/Duke teams. Even then…he would need luck. Roy is the only “average” coach that comes to recent memory and frankly he’s better than Gott.

    Hiring Gott is a sunk cost. It should not be factored in when determining our future. If Archie isn’t hire away, give Gott one more year to lessen financial cost of firing him and hire Archie.

    #49291
    packalum44
    Participant

    Sh*t I’m so happy for Archie but each win makes it less likely we’ll ever get him.

    Wow. Just wow. So happy for Archie he’s got as much coaching talent as his big brother if not more. Huge gamble to hire him 3 years ago. Huge mistake not to now.

    Just thinking of some near misses – coulda woulda shoulda – in past decade: Beilein, Calipari, Sean Miller, Archie Miller, Shaka, Gregg Marshall. Archie Miller (deserves to be here twice).

    In a few years Gott will have NC State losing to VA Tech twice a year. If Wake and GA Tech upgrade similarly….oh Jesus help us.

    #49293
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Archie’s stock is sky high. Any program looking for a coach will give him serious consideration. What is there not to love? A star in the making.

    #49297
    mak4dpak
    Participant

    I was cheering for the ACC, but losing to Dayton, was okay, since they have our boy Archie at the helm. Congrats to Archie.

    #49298
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Just thinking of some near misses – coulda woulda shoulda – in past decade: Beilein, Calipari, Sean Miller, Archie Miller, Shaka, Gregg Marshall. Archie Miller (deserves to be here twice).

    Beilein to me is the huge miss here. Most the others have explanations, or were never going to happen. That dude is absolutely killing it at Meechigan. What coulda been.

    #49299
    Alpha Wolf
    Keymaster

    Yeah, if we had gotten a competent AD instead of Lee Fowler, life could have been very good for Wolfpack hoops fans right now.

    At the same time, we shouldn’t take things for granted with the coaches and team we have now. Yes, Gottfried has his faults, but he has gotten the talent to come and this year’s team did exceed expectations in a big way.

    #49300
    Alpha Wolf
    Keymaster

    Hiring Gott is a sunk cost. It should not be factored in when determining our future. If Archie isn’t hire away, give Gott one more year to lessen financial cost of firing him and hire Archie.

    It’s highly unlikely Gottfried will be fired next season, unless the team has less than ten wins overall…and with the players he has, even minus T.J. Warren, coupled with the players coming in or losing redshirts, that’s simply not going to happen.

    #49302
    MISTA WOLF
    Participant

    +100000 Alum44

    #49305
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Gottfried has his faults, but he has gotten the talent to come and this year’s team did exceed expectations in a big way.

    He did a fine job. But if your argument is that Gott is better than Beilein, Miller, etc., that’s what I’m talking about. I think we know what we have with Gott by now. There’s a bunch of evidence from his time at Bama to his three years at State. I get it – he’s not going anywhere. Someone else will get Archie. Not so much a miss as the timing just was not right.

    #49308
    Rick
    Keymaster

    As could only happen to State, Miller will become a star and we will not be able to hire our own alum because we will have a “just good enough” coach. Sigh.

    If Smart and Howland come in along with Williams our coaching becomes bottom third of the conference.

    I know we will not get rid of Gott given what he has done but it is beyond frustrating that we are going to miss the great mid major exodus and also lose the only potential coaching star that is an alum all while watching a coach who does not think defense is important. How nice would it be to have a Boheim or Gary Williams type situation. An alum who loves the school leading it to great things.

    #49317
    packalum44
    Participant

    Funny how everyone admits pre-season that media expectations are useless but at season’s end many grasp to that stale data as if only to ease the cognitive dissonance in their minds. Its human nature. You have to acknowledge cognitive biases and challenge your thinking to overcome.

    Isn’t Archie’s wife from NC State days? She’s cute.

    #49319
    packalum44
    Participant

    So I read Gott’s contract here: http://media.scout.com/media/doc/92/927822.pdf

    Highlights:
    His base salary is $750,000 and runs to end of 2018.

    Bad News:
    This is a roughly $3.4 million payout. That’s a lot for one of the poorest programs in ACC (and we are I have posted on this before and linked to sources).

    Good News:
    It doesn’t have to be paid in lump sum, rather it would be paid out monthly through 2018. $750,000 could easily be made by simply filling the empty seats in the arena which a GREAT coach could do.

    More Good News:
    Also, there is a clause that states: “COACH acknowledges obligation to minimize payments due and agrees to make every reasonable effort to obtain other employment and be compensated at commensurate rate.”

    Conclusion:
    So, if the apologist are correct, and Gott is a valuable coaching commodity, then we should have no trouble firing him b/c he’d easily land on his feet and provide an efficient means for us to hire Archie Miller.

    Assuming he’s a good coach and could obtain employment, we have no financial reason to keep him around. Also a strong argument could be made that additional revenue from a GREAT coach would easily cover the $750,000 annual payout.

Viewing 25 posts - 26 through 50 (of 91 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.