* We have confirmed the News & Observer’s report that the Rick Barnes courtship continues. We got wind of this earlier today, but could not verify it. When the day passed without any public comments from Barnes and without an announcement that he had signed a new contract we felt better about it. At 4:50pm, we got the wink from someone we trust.
* Why not? Why not keep talking to him? If he hasn’t said no, then State has nothing to lose in the process as long as we spend time pursuing other coaches in parallel. If Barnes has actually said no to NC State, using the interim time before his finalized Texas contract is signed would be a genius ploy by Fowler & Company (did we just say that?) .
* Why not make the rest of the world think that the courtship continues? It builds the NC State brand in the marketplace while also providing us (a little) negotiating leverage with other coaches. If talks are seriously continuing between the parties, then NC State will finally have a drop-dead date for Barnes if the Pack identifies another top target during the conversations.
* Why not still be at the table if Barnes’ Texas contract ends up not being to his liking? I don’t know if you noticed, but that “evil NC State fanbase” reacted with amazing style, grace, and understanding when the reports broke last night that Barnes had said no to the Pack. Perhaps we aren’t nearly as crazy as previously reported?
John Calipari
* Although our sources aren’t as strong on this, we believe that those close to the NC State search have spent some of the last couple of days discussing the potential candidacy of John Calipari. We hope that some truth and reality replaced innuendo and inaccurate perception during the conversations, but we honestly have not heard anything on the topic.
* We are encouraged the same Caulton Tudor/News & Observer report that says:
John Calipari of Memphis and John Brady of Louisiana State likely will be contacted soon. And the Wolfpack still has interest in Jay Wright, but the Villanova coach is seen as a long shot at best.
Jay Wright
* We understand that Jay Wright has issued an ambiguous “I’m happy at Villanova statement”, and we hear that his wife is very attached to the area. What nobody truly knows is if his wife is attached enough to the area to forego a raise of $500,000 to $1,000,000 to come to a school that already has the practice facility and other tools that Wright has to wait for Villanova to attempt to build.
John Brady
John Brady’s LSU (and Louisiana-centric) Biography
Pack Pride is talking about the emergence of LSU Head Coach, Brady as a potential head coaching candidate as is the following blurb from CNNSI.com:
Though Texas coach Rick Barnes remained first on the wish list of N.C. State basketball fans Thursday, Louisiana State’s John Brady emerged as a possible person of interest. LSU sports information director Michael Bonnette said N.C. State has not contacted athletics director Skip Bertman for permission to talk to Brady. Brady told Bonnette he is on the road recruiting and trying to get LSU back to the Final Four. — Charlotte Observer
We may not love this piece from Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News, but we definitely agree with this perspective:
NC State probably can get LSU’s John Brady if it wants, but it’s hard to see how he would improve the coaching situation in any area. Brady is more quotable than Sendek but also prickly and difficult. Brady is a solid strategic coach, whereas most of their colleagues would deem Sendek to be gifted in this area. As recruiters, both have been extremely effective.
* John Brady has been at LSU for nine years and you have probably never heard his name until this year. As much as Billy Gillispie is Texas-centric, John Brady is equally Louisiana-centric and has no history of ACC connections.
* The irony behind the truth of NC State’s potential interest in John Brady and not John Calipari is sad. Part of the unfair knock against Calipari is an academic perception that is not accurate. Has anyone ever checked the admissions requirements of Louisiana State University athletes? If you think Calipari recruits marginal students (who graduate), then you haven’t met the average LSU basketball player.
* People like to hypothesize about “smoke screens” related to these coaching searchs all of the time. We don’t have any scoop on this, but we guess that this smells more like a smoke screen/plant than the average name floating. Brady has only been making (approx) $750,000 per year at LSU. Suddenly, NC State has running around college basketball with a $2.0 million warchest and Brady starts calling? Can you say leverage?
* ^That explains Brady’s side of the equation. NC State’s side of the equation would be throw attention in the opposite direction. Read this Technician piece. We honestly believe that there is no way that even Lee Fowler is this dumb as to let this slip during the one time that he has spoken in public during the search. This has got to be a plant of some kind.
* As luck would have it, one of StateFansNation’s contributors is a huge LSU fan. So, TigerFan weighed in on the topic of John Brady for us today.
