It seems likely that Mark Gottfried will be finished at NC State by the end of this year, according to ESPN:
Sauce
A bit of an interesting development to me considering his hot start at State
Gottfried, 53, was hired by athletic director Debbie Yow in 2011 and proceeded to go to the NCAA tournament in each of his first four seasons, including a pair of Sweet 16 appearances.
I remember thinking in his first couple of years that he would end up being one of the ACC's better coaches and stick around and really re-build NC State basketball. His program did quite an excellent job to land Dennis Smith Jr, who has been outstanding this year, but their team seems to be like our Erick Green-led team of 2012-13.
Any thoughts on how this will impact the ACC if he does get fired?
Comments
Doesn't matter who is coaching, they will go to the final four next year, just ask any NCSU fan.
I live in Raleigh, and this is all I hear about on Sports Radio. The NC State fans want him out.
About a month ago, the Pack lost to lowly BC on the road. After the game, Gottfried said that his team showed progress in the loss to BC. When a reporter told him that most NC State won't see this as progress, Gottfried said:
It was not a good look.
Mark Gottfrield doesn't give a shit
Pack fans are never happy. Never. I don't blame Gottfried for what he said, because NCSU beat writers are perpetually out for blood, and any weakness is a reason to delve into and dissect why any given coach needs to be fired.
They forced out Herb Sendek after he led them to consistent tournament success with Sweet 16 appearances and draft picks. They thought they could do better. They hired Sidney Lowe and things went to hell. So they hired Gottfried and led them to 4 straight tournament appearances including back to back Sweet 16s and top 10 recruiting classes. 2 years of average basketball, and they're ready to kick him to the curb. This after coming within a razor's edge of forcing out Doeren in football because he wasn't competing for a title in a division with FSU and Clemson after forcing out O'Brien for the same thing.
I don't care how much money they have, their Athletic Department is a cesspool set up for failure. The last few ADs they have had are nothing more than figureheads for the boosters who actually run the show, and these boosters expect National Titles in football and basketball, and anything less is a failure. Ever since that title in '83, its just gotten worse and worse to the point where I legitimately don't see why any coach worth his or her weight would want to come within 10 miles of these jobs.
Yep, closest anyone would come is 24 miles.
This is stupid. He's a hell of a coach who got the Pack to the Sweet 16 two out of four years as 8/11 seeds.
Would it have killed his team to lay an egg against us?
Perhaps this is the year that ltrepeter's long expected premonition comes true.
Gottfried --> Gottfired
2 seasons at ~.500, with those recruiting classes is a recipe for job loss.
So, he'll have been on the hot seat long enough that he got fried?
NC State wanting to fire their current coach
Must be a year that ends in a number in a sport that ends in 'ball'
The tennis coaches are relieved.
Fairly certain their wrestling coach is safe as well.
He should have gottfired years ago. He recruits multiple ESPN100 players every year; half of them transfer after playing a year or 2, the other half do not become dynamic players outside of Cat Barber. Yet NCSU still stays in the bottom half, usually bottom quarter, of the ACC every year. If Dennis Smith Jr. wasn't there this year, I doubt they win an ACC game this year.
It's not really comparable to our Eric Green 2012 team because he had no one to help him offensively. Dennis Smith Jr. has plenty of offense around him, just no coach who can figure out how to get those players to play as a team. NCSU will continue to be as good as their individual performances will allow.
Forreal, Abu and Anya both checked in on their draft status last season. Add Smith Jr into the mix and you should be beating boston college..
Poor Anya is playing like 10 min a game this season.
All that talent has had a few shows this season, they really blew the doors of the hokies at the PNC and a road win @Duke.
State is gonna lose a few big pieces, most notably a top 5 pick in this years draft. They'll be scraping the bottom of the ACC next season regardless of who's coaching.
Part of Anya's playing time issue's are his fault for adding 40-50 pounds during the off-season. The other part of that blame goes to Gottfried for not knowing his player gained so much weight. It's a coach's responsibility to keep track of the players in the off-season (I think they are even supposed to be present during some of the off-season workouts) and Gottfriend stated that he didn't know Anya gained so much weight until the beginning of the season.
Speaking of fatties, anyone see number 25 for Pitt last night? Dude made Anya look light. Pitt's website lists him at 300 lbs but that kid has to be pushing 4 bills.
And they stated on the telecast he has lost over 100 lbs since his JUCO days.
I'm sorry but he is a horrendous in game x's and o's coach. The dude is an incredible recruiter but consistently does less with more. If I am an NC State fan I am ecstatic that the administration is moving on from him, but have to be cautiously optimistic that they can make the right hire.
I remember thinking "Why is a Gottfried coached team looking good? That won't last too long. He's awful."
It really is amazing how bad they are....now and traditionally. They have all the resources to be UVA in hoops. But they keep making stupid coaching hires. Just as a reminder, since Valvano, they have gone Les Robinson --> Herb Sendek --> Sydney Lowe --> Mark Gottfried.
OMG, try harder when hiring a coach.
I sat near Gottfried at a couple of NCHSAA playoff games a couple of years back. He wears A LOT of cologne.
Leonard Law #209 - Beware the dude that wears a lot of cologne.
Cologne rhymes with alone.
I'm totally stealing this from you.
You can easily argue that Gottfired and his staff are the best recruiters in the ACC and possibly all of the NCAA. That said, I agree with many of the above that they fail to further develop that talent consistently. Too often his teams seem to fail to come together. I am not sure if its work ethic, overall team direction, or just strategy but he seems to struggle to be able to put together teams that feature more than one top end player. Point above on Cat Barber and now Dennis Smith Jr., Gottfired seems to allow his teams to slip into star player does it all or bust.
As you can see below, in the last three seasons, "The Man" role has gone from TJ Warren to Cat Barber to Dennis Smith Jr. but outside of those three, who will have played a total of 6 total seasons for Gottfired, you will see a multitude of high profile transfers, and many that have stayed that seem like squandered talent. His classes at NC State have been 11th, 10th, 18th, 61st, and 4th. Four Top 20 classes and yet his results started out strong in terms of overall seasons but in terms of the ACC have steadily declined year on year. The best ACC finish for his team is 4th and those were years before the bigger expansion of the ACC. 4th, 4th, 7th, 6th, 13th and currently sitting tied with Pittsburgh for 13th again at 3-10. He has however led them to four NCAA tournament appearances in six years, including two Sweet 16 runs. I think the majority of the pressure though comes from the disconnect between his recruiting classes and the team performance in the ACC schedule. The major downfall for him is not being able to utilize all his pieces and reverting to a Malcolm Delaney like team environment most seasons.
Look at his recruiting classes since coming to NC State,
Year - Composition (Rankings per class) Ranking of Class
2012 - Two five stars and a four star (14, 23, 47) 11th
Rodney Purvis - Played one year and then transferred to UConn
TJ Warren - Played two seasons, second season became "the Man 2014-2015" as many Gottfired teams seem to have, averaged 24.9 PPG, 7.1 RPG but still NC State was only 9-9 in ACC play
Tyler Lewis - Played two seasons, transferred to Butler
2013 - Three Four Stars, Two Three Stars (25, 67, 82, 10, 289) 10th
Cat Barber - Played three years, became "the Man 2015-2016" his third season, 23.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.5 APG
Beejay Anya - has never really developed talent wise in the four years at NC State, almost went pro last season. Biggest criticism here is that the coaching staff never was able to get his weight under control to really produce as a post player.
Kyle Washington - played two seasons at NC State with middling results, transferred to Cincinnati and in first season has seen his key stats jump nearly 100% over previous NC State results. 13.6 PPG, 7.1 RPG in 24 MPG vs 6.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG in 18 MPG.
Desmond Lee - JC signee - Played a significant role his first season at NC State and then was relegated to the bench the next season. Went from 24 MPG to 7.8 MPG
Lennard Freeman - Played three seasons, been a starter/6th man for most of his time, although limited production. Missed this season due to a couple surgeries on left leg, not sure if he returns next year
2014 - Three Four Stars (44, 60, 71) 18th
Abdul Malik Abu - Freshman year was a steady role player, last two seasons has been a starter, explored draft last year. Steady producer but never rose to role of "the Man"
Caleb Martin - Played two seasons for Wolfpack, one as role player, one as starter. Clashed with coaching philosophy, transferred to Nevada, sitting out transfer season
Cody Martin - Played two seasons for Wolfpack, one as role player, one as starter. Clashed with coaching philosophy, transferred to Nevada, sitting out transfer season
2015 - 1 Four Star, 1 Three Star (40, 176) 61st
Maverick Rowan - In second season at NC State, been a starter both seasons, relatively strong production, missed significant time this season in OOC with injury
Shaun Kirk - Been a minor role player in two seasons at NC State
2016 - 2 Five Stars, 2 Four Stars, 1 Three Star (7, 26, 57, 59, 199) 4th
Dennis Smith Jr - Been "the Man 2016-2017"
Omer Yurtseven - Missed first nine games due to eligibility issues, been solid rebounder/defender but scoring is still an issue since he is on floor for starter minutes. Still a freshmen though as a big man.
Ted Kapita - Missed first several games due to eligibility issue, been a role player behind other bigs this season
Markell Johnson - Another freshman that is almost at starter minutes but production wise seems more of a role player
Darius Hicks - Deep on the bench this season
One other complaint currently against him is that this season he has failed to deliver a top recruiting class while he should have three or four open scholarships. Currently only has one three star signed for next year.
I could see us partially benefitting by having him out of the ACC/regional picture from a recruiting standpoint, either from scooping up any solid transfers after he's gone or by landing the recruits that he normally would have gotten. Thoughts?
Depends on who they hire to replace him.
Archie Miller...
Will they have anyone worth picking up as a transfer? Smith will go pro and other players will graduate. Tech should be at full scholarships next year and I don't know who would transfer off this team.
Recruiting wise, it's not really regional anymore so I don't think it has an effect one way or the other
Dont count on having anyone transfer in from NC State if he leaves. The ACC internal transfer rules are pretty steep hills to overcome. As already mentioned, Smith is expected to be one and done so your next best target would be Maverick Rowan in terms of top talent but if the next class is as weak as this one, Rowan becomes "the Man 2017-2018" so may not look to transfer even with a new coaching staff.
It is a bit unrelated to this thread discussion, but on the topic of coaches on the hot seat, what is the deal with Shaka at Texas? Was this a rebuilding year for them? I can't imagine 10-16 being acceptable for what they are paying him.
I don't want to open that can of worms yet, but that position being open would be worrisome to VT fans.
Given Texas' budget, I don't think a coach without tourney wins would be a candidate.
I like Shaka, and I think prior to his hire, he made them aware that it takes SOME time to install the HAVOC system. I'm sure he's getting some leeway.
If the man did any less with more talent, his name would be Bryan Stinespring. *rim shot*
The NCAA tournament appearances aren't enough to smooth over the anger in the Wolfpack fanbase. The lack of ACC success is what's driving them nuts. Despite the talent, they've seen Miami, UVA, FSU, and Notre Dame win ACC titles. For a program like State, that drives them absolutely nuts. Whether their expectations are reasonable or not is another discussion, but that's where their angst stems from.
Good tangent post.. How about the slap in the face fact that Stiney won a national championship before any Hokies.
Sure, it was in d2 and he is making a public school teacher's salary to do so, but c'mon.
It's comparable to that streak of basketball transfers that made the tournament as soon as they left VT.
The only championships I ever won at D2 were in "Expelling all of the contents of your intestines" (awarded for both time spent and mass expelled).
Also, JMU is FCS, not Division II.
Whatever it is, it aint D1.
Seems comparable to the NBA renaming the D-League to the NBA Gatorade League and hoping it'll stick. Give it some fancy name and brand, but its still a step down the ladder.
I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize the G-League!
the G-League.... is that where you go to learn about the G-Spot?
Bunk always gets a leg from me
If we're going to talk about irrelevant accomplishments, my rec soccer team won its tournament when I was in elementary school. That was pretty sweet.
Doesn't mean we were ready to challenge Real Madrid for the UCL title
Hey so did mine. And after having a winless regular season too
The FCS playoffs was some legitimately entertaining football this year. And without the added sponsorship pressure you could actually watch the game without being bombarded by commercials every 5 minutes.
I am so glad to be from a fan base that has never hoped/cheered for our team to lose so that it would get our coach fired. I have seen this many times from NCSU basketball and football fans, as well as UNC football fans. NCSU has had a lot to complain about, because they have a strong donor base and their AD's and coaches have not delivered on numerous occasions. But coming from UNC fans, well, I find it downright pathetic.
I wouldn't say I ever actively rooted against our team, but I was content with a couple of terrible seasons if it meant Johnson being shown the door. He was an abysmal coach and from what I heard around squires when he was hired he was also a pretty crappy individual.
I never interacted with him in any meaningful capacity, but I did meet him on three or four occasions during my time at Virginia Tech, and I actually thought he was very nice. He might not be the most successful coach to ever field a team at VT, and perhaps others know more than I do, but I liked the man when I met him.
I will say that I never actually had the chance to meet him. I worked in squires around the time that he was hired and a few of the women who worked in event services office were married to guys working in the athletic department. I heard from them that he wasn't very well liked by rank and file people in the athletic offices.
My understanding was that he had made some underhanded moves both to get himself in good with the higher ups and to undermine Greenburg's standing. A couple of them also mentioned that his move to Clemson was essentially a power play to force Weaver's hand.
Now this is all at best a second hand source and likely somewhat exaggerated gossip, but given how everything ended with Seth I was inclined to believe it.
Interesting, seems like a odd play because that position was just set up for failure. He would have been better off getting his feet wet as a head coach for a mid-major then getting thrown to the wolves in the ACC. I don't know if he will ever be a head coach again now.
I hear ya. But overall, State and UNC fans rooting against there team in those situations were in the majority. And my feeling is that, even in the final days of Greenburg or Johnson, if you were a VT fan rooting for VT to lose, then you were in the minority.
I could never root for the Hokies to lose, no matter how much I might dislike our coach. It just goes to show that some fan bases are more concerned about winning than they are being true fans of their team, program, and student athletes.
youre kidding right?
well, so for the bowl game against Rutgers I got exactly what I hoped for. I wanted VT to win. But I wanted the offense to be so abysmally terrible that Frank would be left with no choice but to make some change to the offensive staff. And that's what happened. So I wasn't rooting against the TEAM, per se. Still rooted for them to win. Just wanted to win by Defense and hoped the offense would look like a pee-wee team. And they delivered.
That game and the Wake Forest game are two I really, really wish I could forget
In my best Sarah Palin voice:
"How'd that change/hopey/Scot Loeffler stuff work out for ya?"
I get the SL hate. But he improved the situation we were in. Don't get Ford or Hodges without him. Fuente/Cornelson are far superior teachers of the game but they also came into a much more serviceable roster than Loeffler did. And that's thanks to him. If anything, Loeffler proved that Stinespring wasn't fit to be a coordinator.
Fortunately, we don't have to wade thru our feelings and tertiary components to determine an Offensive Coordinators effectiveness. There is plenty of data that pretty clearly defines success and failure for that position.
I guess I was wrong. I guess there are Hokies that actually root for our team to lose. Shame.
WRAL: Gottfried Out at NCSU after the season
And so the carousel begins....
Strange to see a school essentially announce that their coach will be let go at a specific future date. Obviously there are countless examples where it's fairly obvious that the coach will be let go, but I've never heard of the AD making public comments confirming it.
These last few weeks are now an audition for his next opportunity.
I can only hope that NC State goes on a nice long run to end the season to make everything even that much more awkward.
Headlines:
"Coach still fired after leading his team to the ACC Championship runner up and the Sweet 16"
"Coach out after winning only 24 games"
"Miracle not enough to save Gottfired"
If there was ever a time when I wanted NC State to make a Final 4 run it is now.
I feel this way basically any time a school says they'll fire the coach before the season ends.
Gott fired
I see what you did there LOL
"Mark and I met today to discuss the future direction of our program," said Director of Athletics Debbie Yow. "While it has long been my practice to evaluate the body of work at season's end, in reviewing the overall direction of our program, we believe
a change inleadership is necessary moving forward. Our focus now remains on supporting our student-athletes and staff over the final weeks of our season."FTFY Debbie Yow
As much as I would hate to see it happen, would not be surprised if Kevin Keatts from UNCW makes the short list of candidates. No #sauces, but would be a smart hire for State, plus he was an asst. under Pitino and turned the Dub into legit contenders in the CAA in a short amount of time.
Not sure what other candidates are out there. Anyone?
Its going to depend on what Yow is looking for. Is she looking for potential Hall of Fame hire to match wits with ACC powers or the young up and comer. I think she will go after someone established, possibly a lower tier D1 program on the rise.
I could see her going after Joe Dooley at Florida Gulf Coast. He has previous ties to South Carolina, East Carolina, and spent ten years under Bill Self at Kansas before taking over FGCU. At FGCU, he has over 20 or more wins in all four seasons with one regular season and one conference tournament championship, and with a trip to the NCAA tournament last year and currently in first place again in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
A young up and comer could be Nick McDevitt from UNC Asheville but I just dont see Yow going that way.
A slightly middle of the road pick could be someone like Jeff Jones at Old Dominion. He has really done some solid work, with two 25+ win seasons in his first three, and already at 15 wins this year.
Yow is tough to know though since Gottfried is the only Men's basketball coach she has ever hired. Many of the more experienced coaches may shy away after her regular public battles with Gary Williams while she was at Maryland. Williams has a long reach in the coaching community.
I'd throw all the money at Archie Miller.
New York Post: Mark Gottfried drops the veil: Why NC State firing isn't fair
Good luck with that coaching search, Wolfpack
No career in real estate for you! Location, location, location!
Looks like the Pack have found their guy
Sources: NC State reaches agreement with Kevin Keatts from UNC Wilmington
Interesting hire, and not one I was expecting them to go. I thought they would reach for an established name, but they went the direction of hot up and coming name.
Good hire I think, wish he would've stayed out of the ACC
Not sure how many established names even entertain playing under Debbie Yow as an AD. This is twice that she has botched things with a mens basketball coach between State and UMD with Gary Williams. It will be interesting to see how Keatts does.
Time will tell, but I think Yow may have stumbled into a home run hire.
Keatts inherited a UNCW program that hadn't had a winning season since 2008 and promptly turned them around to 18 wins in his first year, 25 in his second, and 29 this year.
On top of that, he completely changed the booster culture around UNCW basketball. His ability to reach out to the fanbase and especially donors who could make a significant impact has been huge for that program - from getting additional funds to charter more flights, to locker room renovations and other financial needs, he was able to connect and curry favor with the people who could help the program. That's an overlooked aspect of the job and one that's going to be very important at NC State with regards to the fan culture surrounding that program.
Didn't she also oversee the head coach in waiting fiasco with franklin/friedgen?