The NC State Surprise

Flashback to the spring of 2011 after North Carolina State fired basketball coach Sidney Lowe.

Lowe was Wolfpack in thought, word and deed. He played on Jim Valvano’s national championship team. He bled red and white. But he couldn’t win enough games. Lowe had two meager NIT appearances to show for his efforts.

The NC State basketball program was frankly in a world of hurt. Then things actually became worst. No one wanted the job. A school with a rich basketball tradition including two national championships kept getting turned down like a guy seeking a prom date.

Finally, the Wolfpack found somebody. Mark Gottfried, a former head coach at Alabama, and two-year ESPN commentator accepted the assignment.

Gottfried was a surprising hire and one that didn’t exactly excite the NC State fan base or the college basketball world.

But about 12 months later, the Wolfpack is in the Sweet 16. They were one of the last teams to get into the NCAA field and they have caught fire..

Gottfried has performed magic with mostly Lowe’s players. His rah, rah speeches are getting television time. Apparently they are working. NC State has already sent a No. 6 and No. 3 seed home. The Wolfpack aims for No. 2 Kansas Friday night.

Funny how things work out. Miracles do happen. Ask Gottfried. Ask N.C State.

Here’s a team not satisfied with only being invited to dance. The Wolfpack want to dance all night long.

A Curious Hire

North Carolina State finally landed itself a basketball coach yesterday and it was just plain strange.

I have nothing against Mark Gottfried the new coach. I have heard and read he is a good guy. Gottfied had success at Alabama before resigning in the middle of the season. He has been working for ESPN the last two years.

The fact that the Pack hired a coach who had been out of the game for two years tells you something about how low this job has sunk. Virginia Commonwealth’s Shaka Smart turned it down and apparently a host of others.

In another strange twist, athletic director Deb Yow sent an email out to Pack fans the night before Gottfried was hired. She said coaches she talked to about the position said it would take a major revamp job and that fans need to be patient about the search.

Then to top off the strangest of all twists, Yow attacked Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams for in Yow’s words “sabotaging the search.” This happened at Gottfied’s press conference. Yow is a former Maryland athletic director and the two didn’t get along in College Park. Apparently, Yow thought Williams wasn’t saying nice things to potential NC State coaching candidates. Williams, of course, denied this through the Maryland sports information office.

I am wondering if after the sideshow, Gottfried really wants this job. The marriage has gotten off to a rocky start and we haven’t even had time for the honeymoon.