Barring the unlikely scenario in which NC State runs the table in the ACC tournament thus receiving an automatic bid to the Dance and then the remaining 67 teams in the NCAA field are all stricken with SpaceJam-itis in which all the players "skills" are stolen by cartoon monsters from outer space and NC State wins the national title; Sidney Lowe's tenure as the head coach of Wolfpack basketball will come to an end in the very near future.
This is sad for a few reasons. First off Sidney Lowe, whose name for years would bring about a smile on the lips of any NC State fan as they recalled his outstanding career as a player for the pack, eventually leading them to a national title in one of the greatest NCAA championship games in history, no longer brings about that smile. The hall of heroes has an empty seat. Sure, in time this will fade away (hopefully) and Lowe will be remembered for his on court contributions rather than his side court shortcomings.
Secondly, it's really not all Lowe's fault. Sure, heavy are the shoulders wearing the blazing red sports coat and as the British learned long ago that shade of red sure makes for a nice target but Lowe was never set up for success. Granted over the last 5 years State has the worst cumulative ACC record (22-49) and I am by NO means advocating his retention as coach but from day 1 Sid was in over his head. Former AD Lee Fowler bumbled the head coaching search on a level that one would find unbelievable had he not so foolishly allowed it to play out very publicly. When his run at Rick Barnes fell through Fowler made a pass at Calipari who began contract negotiations only to have Memphis raise his salary after it all became public. Then Fowler began courting Tubby Smith who was rumored to be thinking about skipping out of Lexington...which he soon did...all the way to Minnesota. Fowler finally had a deal worked out with WVU top dog John Beilein that ultimately crumbled due to buyout issues. All of this was playing out in the national sports media and Fowler was being revealed in grand fashion as the illiterate, mouth-breathing, joke of an AD he'd been all along. Finally he called a Hail Mary and brings in Sidney Lowe, a highly respected NBA assistant coach with absolutely NO college coaching experience. Fowler then proceeded to bungle the transition which included numerous hurdles; Lowe was beginning his tenure with only 6 scholarship players, the team was losing 4 of it's starters and 5 of it's top 7 players, there was only one point guard on the entire roster (E. Atsur) and he was entering his senior season, before he could begin a single day of work Sid had to finish the NBA season AND finish his college degree, and finally the announcement was made in the middle of the summer (remember the lengthy coaching search?) which is the recruiting doldrums and the team had eight scholarship spots to fill. "Uphill battle" doesn't really begin to properly illustrate the circumstances. I have no doubt that Debby Yow, the new AD now in place will handle things much better.
Another problem is that somehow the media has managed to canonize former head coach Herb Sendek (now coach of the ASU Sun Devils, 12-19 and dead last in the uber-weak PAC 10) During the nationally televised NCSU/UNC game Mike Patrick lamented how Sendek was forced out to make room for the more popular Lowe. As illustrated above, blatantly untrue. Sendek left of his own volition. While true many of the fan base were never behind Sendek at the time of his departure the AD was still behind him as well as a majority of the biggest boosters. Tim Brando (Fox Sports) recently trashed NC State fans for running off Sendek, submitting that State had only occasionally been good (which I will address momentarily) and the fan base should be happy with going to 5 straight NCAA tournaments even though they only made the sweet 16 once. If State is so unreasonable how is it that Boston College fired Al Skinner after:
BC went to 7 NCAA tournaments in 10 years (to Sendeks 5)
Skinner had 4 ranked teams in that span (Sendek:1)
Skinner posted an overall .600 winning percentage (Sendek .591)
Skinner was .500 in conference play (Sendek .450)
So where's the deification of Skinner? Where are the cries of unreasonable BC fans? Skinner who was posting better numbers at a school that has no basketball tradition to speak of (let alone multiple national championships) was FIRED and nary a word. In fact, if you take Sendek's first five years and Lowe's first five years they are eerily similar. Sendek was 84-74 (26-54 ACC) and Lowe was 83-71 (22-49 ACC). Of course Sendek's second 5 years were a dramatic improvement after he finished rebuilding (remember the rebuilding job Lowe walked into) but his numbers indicate he had plateaued.
And finally there's this issue that State fans are delusional to believe their program can compete with Duke, UNC and other top programs in the nation. As Tim Brando implied "NC State has occasionally been good" or as Gary Parrish recently wrote on CBS sports.com "NC State Must Realize It's The Ugly Duckling"
Contrary to the assertions of the aforementioned sports writers (supposed experts in their fields) State has far more than occasional success.
Up until the arrival of Everett Case in 1946 State was just an average basketball program. It had only won a conference title once-beating Duke in 1929. Case's arrival changed the basketball landscape of the conference (The entire state and a large portion of the Southeast really but that's another blog) immediately. From 1946 to the resignation of Jim Valvano in 1990 NC State maintained a level of excellence that no one could argue isn't top tier. In that span:
UNC: Two national titles, 11 conference championships; 952-316 (450-110 conference), 49-20 NCAA
Duke: No national titles, eight conference champions; 859-414 (368-235 conference), 35-11 NCAA
N.C. State: Two national titles, 16 conference championships; 890-376 (370-225 conference), 25-14 NCAACase won nine conference titles in his first 10 seasons – a run that neither Mike Krzyzewski nor Dean Smith ever matched. And it's not if all that success was under Case. While it's true that their greatest period of dominance came during the 40's and 50's NC State grabbed three ACC titles and a national championship in the 70's and grabbed two ACC titles and a national championship in the 80's.
The dip in the 60's is due to self-imposed sanctions after the 1961 point shaving scandal. It's worth pointing out that NCSU recovered much more quickly than UNC from the penalties, managing to still post a .500 record in the ACC for the decade. In fact...
-1950s – 107-29 (first in the Southern/ACC by a wide margin)
-1960s – 70-70 (fourth in the ACC)
-1970s – 75-49 (second in the ACC)
-1980s – 74-66 (tied for third in the ACC)
Also worth noting; Jim Valvano, who was hired one week after Coach K, had a winning record against Duke during his ten year run going 14-9 and that NC State and Duke had EXACTLY the same ACC record during that decade.
I would be derelict in my duties not to acknowledge there's been a huge drop off thanks to sanctions imposed beginning in 1991 that NC State didn't recover from all through the 90's....when the other two top programs in the league were reaching cosmic levels thanks to the soaring popularity of the sport, the 24 hour sports access offered by ESPN and other cable networks, the internet and monumentally increased revenues from myriad sources. If you compare the tobacco road big 3 from 1991-2010
-N.C. State: no championships; 330-292 (120-198 ACC), 6-6 NCAA
-North Carolina:3 NCAA championships, 6 ACC champs; 510-176 (189-109 ACC), 52-14 NCAA
-Duke: four NCAA championships, 10 ACC championships; 568-176 (235-83 ACC), 55-13 NCAA
What I'm getting at is that up until 1990 NC State was competing, for the most part, neck and neck with UNC and Duke. As far as championships you had to go back to the 1920s before UNC could match State’s trophy case.
For fans who remember the glory days it's been a tough couple decades which makes it all the more insulting when someone refers to the team as an afterthought, an also ran of little or no importance. It's a proud school with a grand tradition that doesn't deserve to have a barely .500 conference winning coach held high over their head as the former measure of success that they should have thanked their lucky stars for and will be lucky to ever reach again.
In the coming days a new coach will be announced for NC State. The internet is already abuzz with the rumor mill pumping overtime with holiday pay. And no matter who they name, spirits will be high as well as expectations. As Andy Katz recently wrote it's one of the best jobs in the nation if it opens up, with outstanding facilities and one of the most passionate fan-bases in the nation. (Passionate fans with no real success to be passionate about for 20 years. Remember the empty stands during the two year Matt Dougherty debacle in Chapel Hill) No, NC State fans expectations won't be high because they think they deserve it or they feel entitled. Their expectations are high not because they've forgotten their place but because they remember it.
And oh yeah, Hey Sid, Thanks.
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