Mark Gottfried, if in fact he is the next coach at State, will have success. He's a relatively young coach at 47, so provided he can survive at State till Roy and K retire, he can have State positioned to be one of the premier programs in the ACC in a few years.

Gottfried got Ala-freaking-bama to #1 in the nation for 2 weeks, took them to an Elite Eight, and 5 straight NCAA Tournaments. Let that sink in. Alabama is a football school with crappy facilities and a crappy tradition. That Elite Eight (which he lost to eventual champion UCONN) was the first and only one in the Crimson Tide's history. The #1 ranking was the first time the Tide had been ranked #1 in school history also. He led Alabama to the SEC Regular Season Conference Championship in the 2001-02 season, and finished first in the SEC West for a second time in the 2004-05 season. He was named SEC COY in 2002.

Gottfried helped UCLA win the national championship in 1995 as an assistant coach. He took Murray State to the NCAA tournament in the last two of his three years there. He won the OVC regular season championship in 1996, 1997, and 1998, and won the OVC tournament in 1997 and 1998.

Now some may point to his two year absence from coaching as a negative, but Lavin's absence from coaching sure didn't hurt him, in fact it seemed to give him renewed energy this year at St. John's. Also Gottfried's time at ESPN has probably expanded his connections in the basketball world which may help him recruit easier. If Sidney Lowe can bring in a Top 5 class, then a seasoned college coach like Gottfried should be able to have recruiting success at State too.

One look at the Alabama and NC State jobs and you should be able to see why State should be easier to recruit and win at. The only thing the Alabama job has over NC State is stress level. As long as Saban keeps winning Anthony Grant is relatively safe.

There are many reasons why Gottfried may not succeed at State, but if I had to put money on it, I'd say he's far more likely to succeed than fail here.

[Edited on April 5, 2011 at 3:49 PM. Reason : ,]

4/5/2011 3:42:09 PM

Why did he leave Alabama?

4/5/2011 3:44:07 PM

Brass Monkey DOING WHAT HE DO

4/5/2011 3:44:25 PM

mark gottfried if in fact is

4/5/2011 3:44:36 PM

agree 1000%

4/5/2011 3:44:47 PM

who is Why Gottfried?

4/5/2011 3:45:03 PM

if he was so great for Bama's program why did they force him to resign?

4/5/2011 4:01:49 PM

I hear Gilbert Gottfried is looking for work.

4/5/2011 4:03:14 PM

brass monkey... you're forgetting the worst part about Alabama...


its in Alabama...

4/5/2011 4:04:00 PM

i'm on board

4/5/2011 4:06:10 PM

he's the most accomplished coach we've had since valvano. good hire.

4/5/2011 4:09:05 PM

Quote :

"but Lavin's absence from coaching sure didn't hurt him"

I'm not bashing Gottfried or passing judgement, but I think that Lavin having the best assistants in the business and 9 seniors on the roster helped him overcome that absence.

4/5/2011 4:10:37 PM

Someone prove to me that he isn't better than every other ACC coach right now save K and Roy and possibly Brad Brownell or Leonard Hamilton.

4/5/2011 4:10:43 PM

Quote :

"Someone prove to me that he isn't better than every other ACC coach right now save K and Roy and possibly Brad Brownell or Leonard Hamilton."

can't do it. good hire.

4/5/2011 4:11:40 PM

Quote :

"Someone prove to me that he isn't better than every other ACC coach right now save K and Roy and possibly Brad Brownell or Leonard Hamilton. "

good post

4/5/2011 4:13:27 PM

if someone says gary williams then they should be suspended

4/5/2011 4:14:12 PM

Quote :

"i'm on board"

[Edited on April 5, 2011 at 4:14 PM. Reason : image]

4/5/2011 4:14:33 PM

Tony Bennett

4/5/2011 4:14:42 PM

Quote :

""i'm on board""

4/5/2011 4:15:50 PM

Leonard Hamiltons teams are anemic. He recruits black ass athletes. They play sticky defense because they are fast and can jump high enough to recover. Hence why they beat Duke, Notre Dame, ext. but x and o wise I wouldn't put Hamilton up there that high even.

4/5/2011 4:15:53 PM

Quote :

"He recruits black ass athletes."

hahahah

4/5/2011 4:16:28 PM

Quote :

"Tony Bennett"

nah

4/5/2011 4:17:06 PM

and this, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between Lee Fowl-up and Debbie Yow

4/5/2011 4:18:06 PM

Quote :

"and this, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between Lee Fowl-up and Debbie Yow"

great point.

4/5/2011 4:21:10 PM

Gottfried recruited at least fourteen 4* and 5* players at Alabama

4/5/2011 4:27:13 PM

He does seem pretty angry in his pictures, I'm tired of mild-mannered coaches who won't throw a chair or two when Duke/UNC starts getting all of the calls.

Refs are people too, and you can get in their heads if you know how to work it right. At minimum set a precedent that he's not going to roll over and take it.

4/5/2011 4:36:00 PM

4/5/2011 4:43:22 PM

Someone find that sorostitute he banged on the golf course.

4/5/2011 4:44:03 PM

I just want to go on record saying:

Quote :

"i'm on board"

4/5/2011 4:46:09 PM

4/5/2011 4:46:43 PM

What is "success" here? Tourney every year? Three out of five years? Multiple Sweet 16s?

Seems like everyone here has a different definition of success

4/5/2011 4:46:50 PM

The media hates us.

So we hired the media.

4/5/2011 4:47:04 PM

^ haha good point. Doubt you'll see anyone from ESPN bash his hiring.

4/5/2011 4:48:33 PM

Should have done this weeks ago, now it just looks stupid.


Whatever though. Same shit as with Lowe...he's the coach, if he can keep our players and recruits he's off to a good start, and he deserves a chance. There isn't shit we can do about it so I'm just hoping for the best.

4/5/2011 4:50:12 PM

Well the media will love us....

until it's time to get rid of him

then they will go crucify us

4/5/2011 4:51:09 PM

If we can keep Harris and Uchebo then this hire is already one ten steps ahead of the Fowlup.

4/5/2011 4:52:11 PM

Quote :

"Well the media will love us.... until it's time to get rid of him then they will go crucify us"

This would be different than our usual treatment?

4/5/2011 4:53:21 PM

^ wait til we try to get rid of one of their own. it will be much worse.

4/5/2011 4:54:30 PM

go wolfpack

4/5/2011 5:12:44 PM

Quote :

"What is "success" here? Tourney every year? Three out of five years? Multiple Sweet 16s? Seems like everyone here has a different definition of success"

My idea of success is making the tournament every year (obviously a pass is given if NC State shit like injuries happens and we make the NIT instead), deep runs every few years, and a conference championship every 5 years (regular season or tournament I'm not too picky right now). Given the level of facilities, fan support, recruiting ability, and money pumped into our program this should be attainable. Key word being should. Tony Kornheiser said yesterday that Shaka Smart was stupid to have turned down our offer, and that NC State is a place that you can have a legitimate shot at winning a national championship. He went on to say that he thought Smart just caught lightning in a bottle with the run and we'd have to see if he could sustain any success at VCU.

4/5/2011 5:17:33 PM

Hopefully he turns out like Steve Lavin and not Rick Majerus

4/5/2011 5:19:59 PM

Quote :

"if someone says gary williams then they should be suspended"

as a guy who had gary #3 for a long time he's clearly nearing retirement age. he hasnt recruited worth shit since the NC and even his coaching was poor this year

yow might win this battle. imo gottfried's number 1 game to circle isn't duke or unc...it's maryland

4/5/2011 5:26:51 PM

because it is so easy to improve on what weve had the past umpteen years.

4/5/2011 5:28:37 PM

I doubt it's a Majerus case since

1. He's only been out for a couple years, not a decade or more
2. Rick Majerus always has the extra issue of being woefully out of shape physically and that takes a toll as well
3. His experience is in the Pac 10 and SEC, not the Mountain West (before BYU, SDSU, and UNLV got a lot better).

[Edited on April 5, 2011 at 5:30 PM. Reason : v]

4/5/2011 5:30:29 PM

the interesting thing about him being out two years and leaving Alabama after having built them up ought to mean he's hungry as hell. We essentially got a veteran coach with a mid-major attitude of conquering the world.

4/5/2011 6:03:32 PM

hes hungry for some young ass

he'd be an Xs and Os guy if he kept his eyes outta the stands

4/5/2011 6:05:04 PM

His teams were rolling at Bama before the Ronald Steele injury/situation. Love the hire.

Way better than rolling the dice with a mid-major.

4/5/2011 7:34:54 PM

packboozie is just relieved they hired a white coach.

4/5/2011 8:02:35 PM

^this

4/5/2011 9:53:51 PM

Quote :

"packboozie is just relieved they hired a white coach."

4/5/2011 9:55:53 PM