WRAL: Barnes Staying at Texas (Updated 9:45pm)

General NCS Basketball75

NC State has been Beamerized.

WRAL-TV is reporting that Rick Barnes has spurned NC State’s offers and will remain the head basketball coach at the University of Texas.

Dave Glenn’s Blog has an update on Thursday with quotes in it.

“We’re working very hard, and we want to do it as quick as possible,” said Herman Rooker, a Raleigh resident who served on the Wolfpack Club board for eight years. “I think this process will tell us a lot about Lee Fowler.”

Little Ricky from Hickory will now ride off into the sunset as a Big 12 retiree. With the ride will come some increased expectations from Texas fans that will come with his increased pay check that should be announced soon.

True to form, nobody at Texas really seems to care very much. The news is all over the NC State internet community, but hasn’t even made the front page of InsideTexas.com as of yet. The only threads on the Texas message boards regarding the news were orginated by NC State fans.

SFN’s Take:
We tried hard. We missed. It’s time to move on. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. NC State put its best foot forward with a hard sell on a candidate that fit the job perfectly. We should be very proud of the effort expended; we won’t know how proud we should be of the execution of the process/search until this is all completed. Lee Fowler still has to make a believer out of us.

In the end, State waited a few years too late to make the move on Barnes, just as they have missed opportunities for names like Bruce Pearl, Bill Self, John Calipari, and Thad Matta in recent years. Had NC State been more proactive in the management of its basketball program some five years ago when Herb Sendek should have been fired, we wouldn’t be in this situation now.

As we shared with you earlier today, John Calipari’s representatives have not been provided the human courtesy of a returned phone call from Lee Fowler despite multiple attempts at reaching out to the NC State search process.

If NC State has spoken to as many as ten potential candidates as reported earlier today, then how the hell is John Calipari NOT one of them?

If the next logical step is not John Calipari…and Jay Wright is not interested in leaving Villanova as reported…then where does Lee Fowler go next?

That question means that Fowler’s NC State coaching search moves from the “obvious stage” to the “thinking stage.” That is what scares the hell out of the majority of NC State fans. God help us.

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General NCS Basketball

75 Responses to WRAL: Barnes Staying at Texas (Updated 9:45pm)

  1. JoeDog 04/06/2006 at 9:17 PM #

    The SEC looked a lot stronger than they were. College basketball, as a whole, was down this year. When many of your typical National power programs have mediocre, at best, seasons, it makes the other guys look great. KY, Kansas, GT, Wake Forest, and the entire Big Ten were all basically flops this year. Heck, that was the main reason the Heels looked so good in an extremely weak talent year.
    John Brady….. forget it. As someone posted earlier, he recruited well in-state for a couple of years and got some lucky talent without having to recruit much Nationally. He can’t get away with that at NC State. He has too many other MAJOR colleges across the state. So don’t think the SEC was super powerful this year. They had one well rounded team in Florida and a bunch of bruisers at LSU. Other than that, the conference sucked!

  2. BJD95 04/06/2006 at 9:17 PM #

    I am very, very dejected.

  3. dan 04/06/2006 at 9:21 PM #

    “It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. ”

    Huh?

  4. BleedRed 04/06/2006 at 9:22 PM #

    “I don’t see how they ended up losing out so early in their conference tournament.”
    Said above about LSU. They lost in the SEC Semis to Florida. Not too shabby a loss. That said, I don’t think Brady can recruit nationally. I’d rather get a mid Major hot shot.
    I also don’t believe that Calimari can coach as well as some think. He has always had a lot of talent at Memphis (fantastic recruiter), but he has missed the Big Dance most years. This year was the exception rather than the rule.

  5. db321 04/06/2006 at 9:23 PM #

    I heard that Haith has impressed…don’t know if that means he is at the top of the non-big name list or not.

  6. site admin 04/06/2006 at 9:27 PM #

    ““It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. “

    It SHOULDN’T be that big of a deal.

    We have a fantastic job opportunity that is willing to pay over $2.0 million per year that has attracted unsolicited phone calls from John Calipari and Tubby Smith.

    It SHOULDN’T be that big of a deal because Lee Fowler shouldn’t have any problem wrapping this up quickly with a candidate like Calipari so interested.

  7. scott 04/06/2006 at 9:28 PM #

    I think it’s a major f**k up if Fowler doesn’t go after Calipari. I realize Calipari might not stay as long as Barnes would have, but he would give the program a much-needed infusion of excitement & national stature, not to mention winning a lot of games. I think everybody else..Brady, Gillispie, Haith, Marshall, etc. are second best, but of those I’d take Gillispie first.

  8. JimmyVguy 04/06/2006 at 9:33 PM #

    Why get Haith??? If we’re gonna steal a young, up-and-coming coach it should be Georgia Tech’s Paul Hewitt.
    I’ve been told Lorenzo Romar isn’t an option, but he wouldn’t be bad. Rick Majerus is too old. If it gets to the point where we have to hire a coach from a mid-major then my vote is for Greg Marshall.

  9. SaccoV 04/06/2006 at 9:33 PM #

    South Carolina winning the NIT isn’t something the SEC is raving about, especially considering it’s their second CONSECUTIVE NIT win. According the RPI (given my own calculations from collegeRPI.com) the ACC (who even I now would admit to being considerably down) scored .57028 average, where the SEC scored a .57064. Though better than our league, not nearly a substantial difference between our league and theirs this season.

  10. beowolf 04/06/2006 at 9:37 PM #

    Well, I wish Rick the best of luck in Texas. He had to do what he thought best. Now I just have to hope we don’t fuck up the rest of the search.

    I’m having to take out a loan on hope, though.

  11. Iamgumbydammit 04/06/2006 at 9:46 PM #

    Lee claimed a few years ago that he would have been a great coach. Maybe he’ll appoint himself to the job, and our painful journey into hell will be complete.

  12. Migjen Bakalli 04/06/2006 at 9:47 PM #

    Definitely like Greg Marshall…..if we have to go that route.

  13. '81packer 04/06/2006 at 9:48 PM #

    I posted sometime earlier today that this “search” felt alot like Christmas….wonder…..excitment……anticipation(etc.)!!!

    From the reports we are NOT getting “exactly what we wanted”

    Just hope “Santa F” doesn’t get us a bag of switches

  14. PackisBack 04/06/2006 at 9:49 PM #

    DON’T BELIEVE IT ANYTHING unitl Fowler gives his speech this weekend. Media has been wrong before, I really won’t believe any of this stuff until we hear something official from The NC State University. We’ll get more official information once the man leading the search talks.

  15. Iamgumbydammit 04/06/2006 at 9:56 PM #

    ’81 Packer posted about it feeling like Christmas – too me it is like watching a drunk redneck right after he says, “Hey y’all, watch this!” I can’t help but have the dire feeling of foreboding that Lee is going to absolutely f*** this up.

  16. db321 04/06/2006 at 9:57 PM #

    “It shouldn’t be that big of a deal”

    Jeff, I think you are trying to respond on the wrong aritlce. The point is if Calipari is truly interested, then it shouldn’t be a deal breaker that Lee hasn’t returned his phone call yet. If it is, then Calipari is a pussy. More likely, Calipari would gladly take a call back a week from now considering the money State is offering.

    And, before you you jump to any conclusions, I want Calipari and am pissed Fowler isn’t calling him back. However, the few sources I have are telling me that the administration doesn’t want Calipari. Go figure.

  17. Cardiac95 04/06/2006 at 10:01 PM #

    From Glen’s weblog…..

    “According to various sources, among the other coaches who have received preliminary, “unofficial” (meaning through an intermediary) contact about the N.C. State coaching vacancy are Smith, Nate McMillan of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, John Calipari of Memphis, Jay Wright of Villanova, John Brady of Louisiana State, Mike Montgomery (formerly of Stanford) of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, Frank Haith of Miami, Sean Miller of Xavier, Jim Larranaga of George Mason and Gregg Marshall of Winthrop.”

    Jeff….Glen’s blog mentions that Calipari has been contacted through unofficail channels. How does that fit with your previous entry?

    My guess is that we sent out an initial feeler to which the Calipari contingent said, “Hell yes…sign us up…..we want it……yes….yes….yes!” And then as you’ve described, we’ve sat on that up to this point. Anywhere close?

  18. Iamgumbydammit 04/06/2006 at 10:03 PM #

    From Glenn’s blog

    “Coach Fowler operates as he sees necessary,” said Butch Wilson of Burlington, a member of the Wolfpack Club board of directors and a former university trustee.

    COACH?!?!?Fowler? Jethro couldn’t coach the weenie line at Snoopy’s.

    Getting rid of Herb was only 50% of the job.

  19. db321 04/06/2006 at 10:05 PM #

    ^ Dave is saying Calipari has received preliminary contact,

    SFN – premliminary, unofficial contact. Shit, we could call Broughton High School and speak with the coach and it would count as preliminary, unofficial contact. Lee Fowler is running the search. Lee Fowler has connected with other coaches. Lee Fowler has not connected with Cal’s people. Period.

  20. packfan 04/06/2006 at 10:16 PM #

    Could it be possible that Fowler wants to talk through an intermediary and that’s why we haven’t called him personally? Perhaps we have sent feelers out?

  21. RAW 04/06/2006 at 10:20 PM #

    I’m not that upset about Barnes. I was afraid that his State teams would more closely resemble his teams at Clemson rather than Texas.

    Back to my first choice…Tubby!

  22. scott 04/07/2006 at 2:48 AM #

    Steve Lavin would be a fine choice, too. I still think he’s got a lot of potential despite his difficulties at UCLA. Like Calipari, I think he would bring instant excitement & high visibility to the program & could probably keep a recruit like Chris Wright.

  23. site admin 04/07/2006 at 6:05 AM #

    Some of you need some reading comprehension.

    We said that Calipari’s people have talked to highly-placed NC State people, just as Glenn’s comments said.

    THAT IS THE POINT! Cal’s people have been trying to get positioned for the job through unofficial contact and don’t feel like they are being successful.

    The point is that Fowler is running the show and he has not taken the time to get connected to Cal, but he has taken the time to get connected to some other coaches.

    Shit, we could call a coach and that would fit Glenn (and our) comments of “unofficial” contact.

  24. Uncle Pack 04/07/2006 at 9:25 AM #

    Gregg Doyle has ripped NCSU fans.
    http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/9361047

  25. TigerFan 04/07/2006 at 9:55 AM #

    I like John Brady, and he has been a good fit at LSU, but many of my fellow LSU fans have been trying to get him fired for the last 4 years – including this year. In nine years, Brady’s teams have finished over 0.500 in the conference only 3 times, including two years in a row.

    Link

    Further, Brady went 8-8 with what should have been his best team (4 senior multi-year starters in 2003). The criticisms this year revolve around the theory that Brady’s team was an embarrassment in the national semi-finals, and he was just lucky that Glen Davis, Tyrus Thomas, Tas Mitchell, and Garrett Temple essentially grew up together in Baton Rouge.

    On the plus side, he took over a program on probation reeling from the Lester Earl scandal. Despite the probation, he was able to put together a very good season in his third year with a sweet sixteen team led by Stromile Swift. However, prior to this year, that was the only Brady team to win a game in the NCAA tournament.

    Otherwise, Brady’s teams have mostly underachieved, and he rarely has good guard play. Despite the victory over Duke this year, his style of play wouldn’t fit very well in the ACC. He’s just not the guy to take a team to the top of a basketball conference.

    The bottom line is that he’s not the guy you want. I’m not even sure he’s the guy we want at LSU, but in my opinion, he is a better fit for a basketball second (or third) school. Further, he grew up less than two hours from Baton Rouge, and his wife grew up in New Orleans; so if he left it would be for the dollars. Brady’s has put together two good seasons for us, and the outlook for next year is good even if Thomas jumps for the NBA, which he shouldn’t unless he’s a guaranteed lottery pick.

    By the way, in response to comments about the LSU in the SEC tournament, Tyrus Thomas was out with an ankle injury, which certainly didn’t help things.

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