It's that time of year: College coach carousel!

Who has won big at NC State without cheating? We were talking about it in the office yesterday and couldn't think of anyone.

And Wake is still a better job than NC State.

 

Wake seems in a bit of disarray since Gaudio's departure. State has them on talent and resources. Wake has been better in the last 10 years, but it may be a while before they're competitive in the ACC again.

 

I don't know if I'd argue Wake over NCSU. It depends on if you prefer a micromanaging AD or one who's probably about to get fired.

I'd put the NCSU gig in the VT-Clemson-FSU tier of the ACC, which is a step ahead of Meat's tier above.

I still can't believe that email got out, or that she even sent it in the first place. She basically says "I have no idea what I'm doing, the search is blowing up in my face, so please join me in hoping a savior walks through the door in the near future." They'll get a coach soon and talk about how great he is, and other schools will make sure to tell recruits about how coach after coach turned down the Pack.

Can N.C. State have a coaching search every year? This is delightful.

 

NC State is one of those places where the fanbase thinks they're capable of winning at a level that really isn't realistic anymore.

 

I know it's not going to happen, but Bruce Pearl would be a great fit at NC State.

 

I think it goes further back than that, to Prosser's death or even earlier. I hate to say this about a dead man (and by all accounts a very good one), but I'm not even sure he was the right guy.

 

At least with Gaudio they did have a couple of 20-win seasons and trips to the NCAAs. Now I'm not sure they'd win the Big South. And I always had the impression the margin of error at Wake Forest, which is markedly smaller than other ACC schools, was razor thin. Who knows what happens to that program if Tim Duncan doesn't play four years there?

Funny thing about Miami is they bring back a lot from this year's team, so they might be pretty decent for whatever coach they hire.

 

NC State is one of those jobs where at first glance it seems like a great job and then the more you think about it, the worse it gets. It's a case where past successes make it an even worse job because people think they can realistically do it again, and that's just not the case.

 

Never won without cheating and never won when both Duke and UNC are winning. I kinda doubt it's just coincidence that 83 and 74 happened during periods when Duke's program was down.

I can think of few jobs more thankless than NC State. You're absolutely buried underneath the looming shadows of Coach K and Roy Williams just down the road, combined with an alumni base deluded by what happened in 74 and 83, seasons that were actually extreme anamolies for the program, but try telling that to alums convinced it can easily happen again if it happened twice before.

I think I'd take the Mizzou job for about half the salary as the NC State job. You'll live longer in the end.

 

Wake also has some tradition, has been in a Final Four (albeit 50 years ago, but we're not talking about a school that has had just one run) and doesn't have only Duncan as its calling card (see Chris Paul).

And I don't recall them being hit with sanctions at any point. Unlike NC State.

Needless to say, Bzdelik was a horrible hire.

 

Makes you wonder what problems they had before Prosser that Odom, who coached probably the school's most consistent run ever, bolted for a job (South Carolina) that seems like a step down. The only logic I can think of is that Odom decided he was close to retirement and wanted to max out his final years.

 

TIFWIW, but the blog- and Twitter-verse is starting to buzz that Mark Gottfried will be N.C. State's new coach:

http://twitter.com/TheWolfpacker