Coach Lowe Receiving Excellent Grades

06-07 Basketball General Quotes of Note Sidney Lowe49

With Alabama coming to town tonight amidst rising hopes for Wolfpack hoops, The Fayetteville Observer ran a piece that offered mid-term grades for Head Coach Sidney Lowe.

The results were outstanding.

Link

RECRUITING: A

STRATEGIZING: B

MOTIVATING: B+

INTANGIBLES: A-

“The way I recruit is all about people skills,” Lowe said. “Certainly your university can bring a lot to the table and gets you in doors a lot of people can’t get into. But you’re dealing with a lot of people. You have to recruit the parents, you have to recruit the coaches, high school or AAU and in some cases you even have to recruit the girlfriend. It’s about allowing the kids to see the opportunity that’s there for them. And different kids have different dreams and goals.”

Perhaps more impressive has been the Wolfpack coach’s ability to identify favorable matchups and have his players execute accordingly each game.

Statistics can’t quite measure intelligence. But the Wolfpack is leading the ACC in field goal percentage (.507) and is second to No. 2 North Carolina in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.27), an indication that Lowe’s emphasis on smarts is getting through.

Perhaps the greatest measure of a leader is in others’ willingness to follow. And so far, Lowe’s contagious enthusiasm has invigorated the program.

“Coach Lowe has a Wolfpack history,” Grant said. “This is his alma mater. So this is not just a job for him; it’s his passion. He loves to be here. And because of that we understand he’s doing everything he can to lead us in the right direction.”

Said assistant coach Larry Harris: “Coach Lowe is a smart man who understands communication with young people. He deals with that very well. And his experience throughout his playing and coaching career is invaluable. You have the NBA piece where he can show kids that path. But shoot, you also have a point guard who won a national championship. So from a college standpoint, when he says, ‘Hey we can win a national championship here,’ he did it. So he should know.”

Note: The FAYOBS really deserves high praise for continued excellent coverage of NC State Basketball. A special thanks for the FAYOBS for their great work throughout 2006.

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06-07 Basketball General Quotes of Note Sidney Lowe

49 Responses to Coach Lowe Receiving Excellent Grades

  1. packbackr04 12/20/2006 at 2:15 PM #

    YOU ARE RIGHT, you definitely wont find this kind of objective observation from any of the triangle media. kudos to fayetnam observer and their writers. Sid is on the right track, tonight could be huge for us. not to say this is a must win, but it sure would be nice.

  2. primacyone 12/20/2006 at 2:17 PM #

    Love it all. The article. The thread. The team. The program. The future. It could be better than it ever has been.

    If I was grading I would have to bump the Strategizing grade up to an A. Come on, he has had to play with six guys. We had a shot that was two inches short on a set play that could have won the game with Virginia. Virginia got solid minutes out of 10 guys. We played with six.

  3. Evroccck 12/20/2006 at 2:32 PM #

    great read!

  4. packbackr04 12/20/2006 at 2:33 PM #

    one more thing on tonights game. i am excited, and i havent been excited to play a top 10 team in years, heck i cant even remember the last time we played a top 10 team. If nothing else we should have a shot tonight, Sid gives this team hope and a chance to win. for that, i am grateful.

  5. beowolf 12/20/2006 at 2:34 PM #

    Agreed; fantastic read from Fayetteville. I loved this:

    “Coach Lowe has a Wolfpack history,” Grant said. “This is his alma mater. So this is not just a job for him; it’s his passion. He loves to be here. And because of that we understand he’s doing everything he can to lead us in the right direction.”
    Said assistant coach Larry Harris: “Coach Lowe is a smart man who understands communication with young people. He deals with that very well. And his experience throughout his playing and coaching career is invaluable. You have the NBA piece where he can show kids that path. But shoot, you also have a point guard who won a national championship. So from a college standpoint, when he says, ‘Hey we can win a national championship here,’ he did it. So he should know.”

    Oh, and one more comment:

    Recruit the girlfriend?!?

  6. BoKnowsNCS71 12/20/2006 at 2:38 PM #

    Got my tickets to the game tonight and ready to watch the new Pack versus Alabama! I know I will be hoarse tomorrow.

  7. burnbarn 12/20/2006 at 2:39 PM #

    I was thinking about the perceptions of coaches in the league. At the top of course are Roy and K and to a lesser extent Gary Williams. They have been around a long time and are part of the history of this league. Everyone else is just getting started.
    Lowe comes in already a fixture in the history of the league. He commands the same respect of the other listed coaches and is not starting in 12th position in terms of fan, media, and historical perspective.

    When Sendek was here, he had a nice long tenure and he was becoming a similar fixture…a known quantity that everyone knew not unlike any other coach in the league.

    Lowe is not a noob. His stature allows him to stand above the others and be ready to compete with the upper tier teams immediately from a perception basis. Lowe has only been here 7-8 months.. it already seems like he was always here..just like Roy, K, Gary………

  8. smfrank 12/20/2006 at 2:40 PM #

    Has nothing to do with Lowe – but looking foward to seeing an extra player tonight

    http://www.pinellashoops.com/trevorvol3/

    There are also volumes 1 & 2 – I suggest you adjust the buffering, since sometimes its a bit rough.

    And speaking of girlfriends – I guaruntee you that Phillip’s girlfriend had to be “accepted” to NC State University

  9. yannes 12/20/2006 at 3:19 PM #

    Anyone that criticized the hire or questioned how well Lowe would do should start eating their crow now. The future is looking bright – if not this year, in the next few years.

  10. PurplePeopleEaters 12/20/2006 at 3:36 PM #

    Can’t wait to see my first live game of the year tonight (yeah, sadly enough).
    When was the last time a team this highly ranked came to the RBC out of conference? That just proves that lowe is the anti-sendek. I looked at our schedule when it came out and thought to myself “woah, we’re not playing complete cupcakes out of conference?”.

    We’ll see how well he fares come midseason in the midst of the conference schedule. That will be the true test of his in game ability but thus far with recruiting etc. he has done an amazing job.

  11. burnbarn 12/20/2006 at 3:45 PM #

    It is nice to have such a highly rated opponent, but we can thank Sendek for this one.

  12. PackGirl 12/20/2006 at 3:49 PM #

    He must have known he’d be leaving when he set up this year’s schedule.

  13. choppack1 12/20/2006 at 3:59 PM #

    I’m trying to figure out why he got a “B” in stategizing…

  14. RedTerror29 12/20/2006 at 4:03 PM #

    ^Maybe our struggles against the zone? That’s the only mark against Lowe I can think of…

  15. CarnifeX 12/20/2006 at 4:09 PM #

    Sendek would be pissy about having to play this ranked alabama team…”I didn’t know they were gonna be ranked, otherwise I would NEVER have scheduled them. wwwaaaahhhh”

    SFN: Deleted portion is over the line. Let’s have more civility than that. Thanks.

  16. ShootingGuard 12/20/2006 at 4:18 PM #

    “We’ll see how well he fares come midseason in the midst of the conference schedule. That will be the true test of his in game ability”

    Huh?? Lowe should not be appointed king yet, and, by the same token, there won’t be any “true test of his in game ability” this year either…

    I mean, when MacCauley and Costner pick up their 4th fouls vs Hansborough in the first 5 minutes of the UNC game, will his “in game ability” be judged by which football player or walk-on he chooses to send in at that moment??

  17. lush 12/20/2006 at 4:19 PM #

    anybody notice that virginia lost to utah and appalachain state! we sure missed out on a “w” there

  18. ShootingGuard 12/20/2006 at 4:24 PM #

    “anybody notice that virginia lost to utah and appalachain state! we sure missed out on a “w” there”

    We definitely missed out on a golden opportunity up at UVA, but, that said, UVA appears quite a bit tougher at home—just ask Arizona—plus ours was the first ever ACC game played in JPJ arena, so just a little different motivation on their part in our game vs far away in some tournament…We need to beat them in our house for sure though…

  19. redfred2 12/20/2006 at 4:26 PM #

    There are definitely no allowances for getting familiar with the players in those grades. Especially how they handle the pressure of games, either at home, or on the road.

    Motivation a “B”??? What the hell is that? If so, what was the grade last year, and the year before that,…??? And Strategies? Before now, that word would end in “Y”, instead of “IES”. Is there an “M” on this grading scale somewhere?

    I can’t figure any of that. But hey, my grading scale has always been off regarding NC State coaches. For instance, I have ALWAYS thought Jim Valvano was great for NC State, a great basketball coach, and great for the kids as well. I guess I’m just not critical enough.

  20. jbpackfan 12/20/2006 at 5:09 PM #

    Probably too early to give an A. It’s tough to grade a coach this early in the year, so the writer was probably being conservative.

  21. redfred2 12/20/2006 at 7:28 PM #

    Bama is shooting light out. Costner seems sluggish, lead boots on the defensive end. Fells has disappeared. McCauley is still doing his job despite tough Bama defense inside. Grant is playing well and seems to the only one who wants the ball on many trips down the floor. A couple of good steels by Horner. Ferguson is trying to work through the jitters.

    Again, Bama can’t miss, they are getting all the bounces and loose balls, but still we’re only down by a dozen at the half. Down 10 in rebounding and offensive rebounds are killing us again.

    All of that, and we’re still very much in the game!!!

  22. WolfPup35 12/20/2006 at 7:43 PM #

    Still in the game, need defensive stops, get these guys in foul trouble, BOX OUT, set picks for our shooters, fight through theirs.

    Anybody else noticing how much Alabama hooks out defenders inside?

    I thought that was illegal.

  23. redfred2 12/20/2006 at 8:07 PM #

    Oh well, it would have been great, but this is to be expected. I’d like see some aggressive play to finish this thing up. But, I’m calm anyway.

  24. foz 12/20/2006 at 8:15 PM #

    Continuing to play – all the way down the stretch.

  25. foz 12/20/2006 at 8:16 PM #

    Commentators very complimentary towards the Pack tonight. Knowledgble on Wolfpack history.

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