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And nobody is looking to hire him away from us, that is pure bay at the moon lunacy.
After we hired Keatts, I read reactions from a bunch of Louisville fans online. Their comments, to a man/woman, were some variant of this: “Great hire. Not looking forward to facing him. He’s on our short list of Pitino replacements for 5-6 years down the line.”
Again, we’ll see. He has to win here. But I don’t buy the notion that no one else has been or will be interested in Keatts.
BJD: I’m surprised by your take on this. To me, events have shown that once IU opened, our chance with Archie went to near zero. We can’t match IU’s contract. We can’t match IU’s prestige, particularly for someone who was always intrigued by the top B1G jobs (per numerous reports). And I do think Archie was looking for an “easier” job and IU is it. Not easier in terms of less pressure – far from it – but easier in terms of the school’s place in the relative conference pecking order.
I see no evidence nor reason to believe that Yow was a major factor here (certainly not that we chose Yow over Archie).
I think you can fault Yow for hiring Keatts instead of other possible options (Wade, or angling for a P5 coach who might want to move). But once IU opened, Archie was not one of those possible options, realistically.
Georgetown just fired John Thompson III. Keatts almost certainly would have been a major candidate there.
^I hope you are right. This was the worst defensive team in recent ACC history, statistically, and they will be learning a completely different offensive and defensive system. Some of the players probably will not fit those systems well. I’m just not expecting a miraculous turnaround (and I would be saying that with any coach we hired).
If he can keep all eligible in the fold this is a 7 seed team at worst.
Team goes 4-14 in the ACC last year, loses by far its best player, no impact freshmen/transfers coming in, and it’s supposed to be “at worst” at borderline top 25 team? Dude.
If he can double the ACC win total and get to the NIT, it will be a positive first step.
I was a big Will Wade fan. But boy, it sure does seem like he’s just playing the game, trying to get schools to bid against each other (and maybe return back to VCU for a raise in the end).
It seems as though Yow & company sniffed that out and decided to pass. If so, good call.
Time will tell if Keatts succeeds here, but I can say that I’m ready to run through a brick wall after watching that press conference.
If you are skeptical of the hire (and I still am as well), at least watch the press conference and give the man a shot. He’s got the right attitude.
High points:
-Grew up an NC State fan in Lynchburg
-Repeatedly said he “loved” that we had passionate fans and views that as a huge positive
-Identity is we will play hard and be the best conditioned team in the country
-When asked about “the Blues,” said (paraphrasing) I don’t care what they are doing, my job is to beat everyone and win championships
-For those who like analytics, he correctly cited from memory his team’s high turnover percentage when discussing his defensive philosophy
-Closed his introductory remarks by saying flat out “I am a winner. I know how to motivate players and win games.” and PROMISED a championship.Underwood’s style is very similar to Keatts – up tempo, high octane offense.
I wonder if we considered Underwood. Keatts probably is a better fit here given his deep recruiting ties in this region.
I would not be surprised if things played out different for Archie than what he expects. I doubt he gets IU. Illinois just filled. Matta may hang on at tOSU for a while, and even if not, will they want to bring in a Matta protege to replace him? Similar to how we didn’t want Sean Miller in 2006. None of the other good B1G jobs seem all that likely to open soon.
And what happens if his less-experienced team next year takes a step back and he has a down year or 2? Is he still the hot mid-major name?
Bottom line – he may have viewed NCSU as risky, but waiting carries its own risks.
Hey Rick, just spitballing here, but maybe it’s not such a good idea to impugn the morals of our new coach without any basis?
Yow is WORSE than Fowlup. I have no idea how we will manage to find someone even worse than her, but I’m sure we will be committed to trying.
I know this is a difficult time, but come on now.
That said, no more bitching from me about the hire. He’s our guy and I’m behind him 100%. Welcome Coach Keatts!
I posted this 5 days ago. 100% on the money. I’m only surprised that it happened before getting a clear “no” from Archie. Even a quicker push on the easy button than I thought.
It will be Keatts.
Yow’s top priority will be avoiding another drawn-out disaster like 2011 and 2006. So she will press the easy button. Keatts wants the job and will campaign hard for it, sounds like he is already. He’ll have reasonable salary demands. Local and national media will praise the hire (said praise coming with an implicit or explicit “they finally figured out their place” message). It won’t be hard to sell most fans – coming off a huge year, turned around UNCW quickly, Pitino lineage, great recruiting ties. He will kill it in the first press conference.
If and when it doesn’t work out, Yow will be retired. She’ll have gone out on a high note and avoided controversy and embarrassment. Her successor will be left dealing with the fallout.
Just prepare yourselves. This is what will happen. Hell, maybe it even works out…though I doubt it will.
Keatts. It’s done. ESPN reports. http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0634496704694984650-4
bottom line is, if you don’t want Keatts, then we need Archie to lose, pronto. No, don’t give me this “karma” nonsense. Every indication is that he has not told us a firm “no.” No Joe Miller interviews with Giglio, for instance, like we had in 2011. If Yow’s waiting on a firm answer from Archie, we need that answer ASAP because Wade won’t be there for long.
If this is true and we don’t have a Marshall, Holtmann or Buzz Williams-surprise type hire lined up, then I hate to say it but the talking heads are right. Really quite astonishing we can’t find better coaches.
Either NCSU or Yow sucks. Its one or the other.
If we cannot hire a coach as good as the one VT hired then we might as well pack it in.Not a good comparison. Buzz to VT was very rare/fortuitous. Things were falling apart at Marquette.
Better comparison: Look at recent hires at Texas and Florida. Both very good jobs. Both went the mid-major/up and comer route.
David Glenn (I know, I know) reported yesterday that Wade absolutely was interested.
This may be a minority opinion, but if that’s true, interview him TODAY and if everything checks out, offer him the job. Not contingent on waiting for Godot (Archie). It’s not at all clear that Miller would do better here than Wade. And Teh Troll (Goodman) just reported that Wade was at the top of the list for multiple openings.
The rumor/theory making the rounds online is that Keatts is a “soft verbal.” Basically, we are going to take a run at Archie and he understands that. If it falls through, there’s an understanding in place with him.
BJD – I’m not sure there is anyone else besides Wade/Keatts at the Archie backup, particularly if Holtmann is out. I like Richard Pitino: same age as Wade but with years of experience in the P5 already, won this year at one of the worst P5 jobs, obviously not afraid of a challenge, great lineage/pedigree. And he’d surely leave Minnesota in a heartbeat, as long as he wouldn’t mind facing Pops 1-2x a year. But I haven’t seen that he’s a candidate.
Archie won’t be at the top of their list, but I’d be very surprised if he does not at least wait them out. I don’t see him jumping on our job next week if IU is still in play.
Meaning that Yow could get Shaka’d again if she waits on Archie in turn. I don’t think she’s willing to run that risk.
With Crean out, I’m really concerned now about the dominos falling such that we miss the “floor” (Keatts) and end up with a Moton type. Or – gasp – Crean himself.
I will say, the more I read about Keatts the better I feel about him. There’s a long post someone did on the Pack Pride premium boards analyzing his defense and making the case that he does have a sound scheme, it’s just hamstrung somewhat by having a 6-7 “big” as his “rim protector.”
I see his reasonable optimistic outcome as “Gott-like, but with players actually playing hard consistently and without so much on- and off-court drama.” Which would be better than anyone we’ve had post-V.
^I do hope you are right.
And a tiny part of my holds out some hope for Marshall. Win 30 games and get “rewarded” with a 10 seed? C’mon, Gregg. It’s time to leave the minor leagues.
It will be Keatts.
Yow’s top priority will be avoiding another drawn-out disaster like 2011 and 2006. So she will press the easy button. Keatts wants the job and will campaign hard for it, sounds like he is already. He’ll have reasonable salary demands. Local and national media will praise the hire (said praise coming with an implicit or explicit “they finally figured out their place” message). It won’t be hard to sell most fans – coming off a huge year, turned around UNCW quickly, Pitino lineage, great recruiting ties. He will kill it in the first press conference.
If and when it doesn’t work out, Yow will be retired. She’ll have gone out on a high note and avoided controversy and embarrassment. Her successor will be left dealing with the fallout.
Just prepare yourselves. This is what will happen. Hell, maybe it even works out…though I doubt it will.
