There is a current article on ESPN.com under colleges that is written by an ESPN writer that shares nine things that new NC State coach Sidney Lowe must do in order to be successful in the ACC. This article, however, is only entirely viewable through ESPN Insider. Can anybody with ESPN Insider post the article? Thanks!

[Edited on May 10, 2006 at 3:26 PM. Reason : Sidney Lowe]

5/10/2006 3:25:34 PM

THAT'S ILLEGAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111

5/10/2006 3:30:39 PM

link the article

5/10/2006 3:31:45 PM

just break the article into two posts, and it'll be ok

5/10/2006 3:33:38 PM

Quote :

"Pretty soon, the $102 per diem, five-star hotels and luxury team charters will be a thing of Sidney Lowe's NBA past. So will the guys who are paid to warm up his car in the dead of winter when he returns from a road trip. It's back to school in more ways than one for the former NC State star who's returning to his alma mater to be a college head coach for the first time. I admired Lowe as a college player and kept up with him some as an NBA player and coach. He has a tough job ahead of him -- and a steep learning curve, as well. I am not going to cast judgment on whether or not Lowe will get the job done because I have learned that there is no rhyme or reason why some guys win and some lose in this business. That said, I've been undefeated for the last four seasons in the broadcast booth, so I thought I could provide a checklist of things Lowe can to do to help him get off to a good start at NC State. A recommended to-do list 1. Re-recruit the current players Recruiting new talent will be the lifeblood of the program and Lowe has to make up ground with a lot of high school prospects. But the most important people to recruit right now are the guys who already are at NC State. He must spend a lot of time getting to know the current team and win the players over -- like a stepfather must in a blended family. Don't take them for granted. If they like him, they'll play hard and sell the program to recruits. It wouldn't hurt to convince Cedric Simmons to come back for another year of seasoning before moving on to the NBA. He's more advanced defensively than offensively and likely will not help an NBA team much next season. Lowe's NBA background could help the 6-foot-9 junior raise his stock with another season of college under his belt. 2. Don't worry about the coaching Despite a less-than-stellar 79-218 NBA head coaching record, Lowe has great coaching bloodlines. After playing for the legendary Morgan Wooten at DeMatha High School, he played for two national championship coaches at NC State, Norman Sloan and Jim Valvano. And in the NBA, he learned a lot by playing for the underrated Bill Musselman and working as an assistant under guys such as Mike Fratello and Flip Saunders. He has 15 years of NBA coaching experience. That means 100 games a season and about 200 possessions a game. That's the equivalent of 45 college seasons. Lowe has seen it all in basketball. He had a hand in guarding some of the best players in the world, so he'll know how to defend the pick-and-roll in the ACC. While Coach K and Uncle Roy are great coaches, they won't surprise Lowe with anything he hasn't seen. As for his dismal NBA coaching record, remember that Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Lon Krueger, Tim Floyd and others all struggled in the NBA because they coached bad teams. In this regard, Lowe is in good company, with his stints as head coach of the nascent Vancouver Grizzlies and the pre-Kevin Garnett Minnesota Timberwolves. Where Krzyzewski and Williams bury people in the ACC is with their ability to recruit the cream of the crop in high school basketball. Just remember that Gary Williams and Paul Hewitt didn't get dumb the past two years, even if the talent level of their teams dropped. As my colleague at ESPN, former Notre Dame football coach Bob Davie, likes to say, "It's not the X's and the O's, it's the Jimmies and the Joes." 3. Do most of the recruiting himself Lowe will be able to sell NC State's tradition and the ACC, but that obviously won't be enough to overcome North Carolina's and Duke's advantages. The NBA appeal will only go so far, too. Most of the top-50 players believe that Williams and Krzyzewski can get them to the NBA quicker than Lowe can. All a recruit has to do is be able to count how many Duke and Carolina guys are in the league. Lowe must make up ground by being as visible as possible and recruiting like an assistant coach. He will have to develop relationships with players, parents, AAU and high school coaches as quickly as possible. No recruits will remember him from the 1983 national championship team because he didn't shoot the air ball (sorry, Dereck Whittenburg). One thing he should have learned from his varied basketball experiences in college, the CBA and the NBA is to eliminate as many "high maintenance" guys as possible from his team. Two of those knuckleheads take up 70 percent of a coach's time, limit the time he can spend coaching his good guys and they keep a coach up all night, as well. When a guy gets in off-the-court trouble in the NBA, the team fines him and the media calls the agent. In college, they blame the coach for not watching over him 24/7. If a player's a knucklehead, he'd better be a Rasheed Wallace-type talent. Lowe should find guys like he and Whittenburg were: talented but tough and well-coached "team" guys. As I recall, neither one was a top-25 recruit, but they knew how to play. In college, the most talented team doesn't always win. Just look at UConn and George Mason. Remember, the Patriots' entire starting five all came from Lowe's backyard, the Washington, D.C., area. "

5/10/2006 3:36:04 PM

Quote :

"4. Hire a great staff This is critical and Lowe is on his way toward this goal. AP Photo After managing UNO through Katrina, Towe will now head back to Raleigh. Bear Bryant once said you should "surround yourself with people who your success means something to." Lowe needs to concentrate on coaching the team and recruiting good players. Find guys that have a relentless work ethic, vast experience and are loyal. A coach is only as good as the staff he hires. Monte Towe, who might have been as good a point guard as Lowe at NC State, brings college head coaching experience that will come in handy. He has run a college program at New Orleans and should have a vast high school and juco recruiting network. In addition, his experience dealing with Hurricane Katrina will be important, because I have always said that the No. 1 job description of a college basketball coach is "crisis management coordinator." Bringing Larry Harris back from his brief stay at Arizona State (where he followed former Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek) will help with continuity, as well. Coaching is all about handling adversity. In the ACC, Lowe will have more than his fair share of it. 5. Don't listen to the boosters Ninety-eight percent of them don't know basketball, but they think they do. Lowe will have to do a lot of Wolfpack Club outings and play the role of favorite son. He'll tell some funny stories about Jimmy V and Lorenzo Charles and talk about hopes for the program. The minute he loses four ACC games in a row, though, they'll question whether he was the right guy for the job. My advice is to kill the boosters with kindness, but don't expend a lot of energy trying to please them -- unless they donate a lot of money. Instead, a coach has to coach the way he wants. If Lowe wins enough, he'll be a hero. If he doesn't, well, you know what will happen. 6. Spend time with the NCAA manual I know Lowe has been working on finishing his college degree and helping Flip Saunders find ways to defend LeBron James, so he feels like a freshman cramming for final exams all over again. However, he needs to study his NCAA manual. He'll have to pass the mandated NCAA Recruiting Test or be home in Raleigh during all of July's recruiting period. That won't be a good thing. 7. Don't overschedule NC State is in a rebuilding mode. The Wolfpack will play Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Otherwise, Lowe should schedule as many home wins as possible. Again, he shouldn't listen to the boosters. No one will care at the end of the season. He'll hear people talk about the RPI. Don't worry about that. The ACC will take care of the team's RPI. Once NC State improves, Lowe can grow his schedule with his team. 8. Be cordial with the local media, but don't expect a lovefest Their job and Lowe's job, by nature, are adversarial. That will never change. Lowe should be himself and be cordial, but never bend over backward to help them. They will attempt to convince him to open his practices. Bad idea. They really don't want to be at every practice, especially when the weather is nice. He will need to learn the art of saying things without really saying anything, but don't ever lie. Reporters have memories like elephants. Give them enough to do their job but don't expect to win them over. There will be a lot of negative stories simply because of the sheer volume of attention the ACC gets. If he doesn't have thick skin, he shouldn't read them. By the way, it's good policy to stay away from the Internet. Nothing good will come from reading every post -- good or bad -- about the Pack. Culling the truth from what is fiction will be impossible. A coach has to have one of his assistants monitor what the fans are saying, because every now and then there will be something he'll need to know. It will usually involve one of his two knuckleheads. 9. Don't ever say "Princeton Offense" No matter what Lowe does offensively, don't call it the Princeton Offense. He can run it, just don't call it "Princeton," even though the average fan wouldn't know the difference between it and the West Coast offense. It ran the last guy out of town after five straight NCAA appearances. Coaching NC State is a tough job, but it's not an impossible job and Lowe certainly will be well received by the Wolfpack faithful. If I could summarize my advice in a nutshell it is this: Expect adversity and make it your friend. Lowe coached in the NBA, so he should know what I mean. "

5/10/2006 3:36:47 PM

Quote :

"The ACC will take care of the team's RPI."

while i'm glad to see that someone still believes this, i have to point out that we only got 4 teams in the NCAA this year, so the statement might not hold water...

5/10/2006 3:45:27 PM

yes but Ga Tech and Maryland(?) should at least make it this year

if we can stay ~consistent thats 6

[Edited on May 10, 2006 at 3:46 PM. Reason : not to mention FSU]

5/10/2006 3:46:44 PM

wow

someone got money for writing that?

get in good with the current players, recruit, dont listen to outside people, dont schedule teams that are too tough, get players that are good but arent assholes


i mean

who are the ad geniuses who came up with this one?

5/10/2006 3:47:28 PM

who wrote this? Lavin?

5/10/2006 3:48:46 PM

Fran

5/10/2006 3:49:58 PM

Quote :

"By the way, it's good policy to stay away from the Internet."

Preach.

5/10/2006 3:52:00 PM

Quote :

"yes but Ga Tech and Maryland(?) should at least make it this year"

Tech yes. They will be very good with everyone back and a top recruiting class.

Maryland no. They lost Dik Caner-Medley, Garrison, McCray, maybe even Strawberry and Ibekwe. I look at FSU as a contender if Alexander Johnson and Al Thornton come back. UVA is on the way up too. Clemson is steadily getting better.

5/10/2006 4:31:03 PM