Dave Glenn is doing a phenomenal job covering the NC State coaching search. A phenomenal job. In fact, he deserves a free plug and hyper-link to his blog and the ACC Area Sports Journal. Additionally, this link to 850 The Buzz is relevant to this entry.
Dave Glenn appeared on 850 AM “The Buzz” this morning. He said the following:
* Barnes has been offered huge money, but it’s all been done through back channels. Fowler has not met directly with Barnes yet. Fowler will only meet directly with Barnes if he knows what his answer is. Texas is trying to rework his contract and will do so.
* Barnes has not told State “no” as of this morning.
* Our offer to Barnes is structured similarly to Pitino’s and Tubby’s contracts. It includes retention bonuses, meaning if you are still here at Year X, you get a huge pot of money at that time. That is how our package is being “styled.” He thinks our “pot” in Year X is $5 million. It would make him one of the top 3-5 paid basketball coaches in the country.
* Glenn thinks we are handling this the right way and have really tugged on his heart strings through back channels. But he still thinks that unless Texas screws it up, he will stay at Texas in the end. He admits that is purely a guess on his part, though.
* He says his sources are Barnes’ proteges, Texas officials, ACC officials, and WPC contacts.
* He is adamant that Fowler had not met face-to-face with Barnes yet.
* Glenn says we have contacted as many as 10 other candidates behind the scenes, but no names.
* Glenn’s source at Texas told him they thought Texas would have had a press conference by now and is surprised at Rick’s level of interest in our job. Lawyers are involved, it is so complicated. Barnes want to see everything in writing.
The following are some comments that we feel comfortable sharing in light of Glenn’s public comments:
* Lee Fowler has NOT met with Rick Barnes in person; Lee Fowler has spoken to Barnes on the phone, as have many with NC State connections.
* Eddie Biedenbach was one of the first Wolfpackers to connect with Barnes. This was both appropriate and the right move as Biedenbach gave Rick Barnes his first college job in the early 1980s at Davidson. Barnes has always held Biedenback in very high regard.
* Lee Fowler is NOT TALKING to almost anyone about his role and his thoughts on the search. This is a very good thing.
* We feel comfortable in sharing that Chris Corchiani also reached out to Rick Barnes (and he may not have been the only other former Wolfpack player). We think that exhibiting this kind interest from old-guard NC State greats is a positive step in emphasizing the fanbase’s unity and the commitment that the entire program has to its future and to Barnes’ ability to unite us all.
* Chris Wright’s mother has indicated to NC State that there is a great chance that her son would remain committed if “certain” coaches were hired at State. Barnes was one of those coaches.
* Glenn’s comments regarding the financial package serve to help explain where some of the wild rumors related to the money State was offering Barnes. The rumors were close on dollar figures, but (of course) wrong on structural issues.
* That back-end, retention structure serves many positive purposes and few negative ones. Not the least of which allows State to present similar/identical “annual compensation” numbers to potential other candidates without bruising their egos by offering them less money.
* Additionally, sources told NBADraft.net yesterday that PJ Tucker will declare to enter the NBA draft a year early just one day after word spread that LaMarcus Aldridge was hiring an agent.
* We have also heard from some folks in Texas’ administration and booster organization that are very nervous behind the scenes about the potential that they could lose Barnes to State.
* Glenn says that State has spoken with at least 10 potential candidates through various channels. It is unclear if Glenn means that State has initiated contact with those candidates or if State has spoken with 10 potential candidates in part because they chose to reach out to us. As we shared with you in a previous entry, this job has created huge buzz amongst many more (prominent) coaches than Lee Fowler ever imagined.
* Representatives for John Calipari expressed interest in the position early in the week. But, there is reason to believe that Calipari’s ego may not allow him to be “second choice”. We hope that State has been prudent in any potentail conversations with Calipari to position the search as having no #1 choice in our initial “gauge interest phase”.
* We have heard that Jay Wright is not a candidate based largely on his wife’s love of Villanova and the area. We have no insight into the impact that an offer of over $1 million dollars would impact those feelings.
* You get to a point where the fear of being “Beamerized” by Barnes makes the pressure on the situation almost unbearable. We hope that State is running parallel conversations with the likes of John Calipari and Billy Gillispie so that hypothetical agreements are in place so the trigger can be pulled very quickly in the event that Barnes is a no go.
Dominos?
* At some point, the pace of this courtship is could have negative implications on Barnes (and NC State). For example, Frank Haith has been mentioned as a top candidate for the Oklahoma job. But, if Barnes leaves for NC State many believe Haith would be the natural replacement (since he was on Barnes’ staff before getting the Miami job 2 years ago). Additionally, Haith has been rumored as NC State’s ultimate “fallback” coach. If Barnes doesn’t take the State job, Haith’s potential to land the job increases.
* Additionally, John Calipari’s name has been mentioned in Oklahoma. He is also a favorite of many Wolfpackers. If Barnes says no to State at the same time that Calipari says yes to Oklahoma, the dominos don’t fall well for NC State.
* IMHO, a doomsday scenario exists where Barnes says no to State, while OU hires Paul Hewitt from GT (a rumor out there) and GT hires John Calipari. Suddenly, the stakes in the ACC are raised even higher. I don’t place a high likelihood on this scenario (especially since Hewitt has a great recruiting class coming in next year).
* The plane tracking has been useless so far. Someone tracked one of Murphy’s planes from Rose Hill to Augusta National this morning, could he be at the Masters Golf Tournament?
