Link to David Glenn’s first coaching de-brief and our comments
Link to some of our information related to Larry Brown (May 14th)
Link to the second installment of David Glenn’s coaching de-brief posted today
Rick Barnes
The Barnes chapter will be told in more detail at some point in the future, when the parties involved can speak freely without jeopardizing their duties in their current jobs, but several sources close to the coach said that at one point — and only one point — in his discussions with the Wolfpack he was leaning toward making the jump. That point came just as his “final no” to NCSU appeared in most newspaper reports.
“I talked with (Barnes) every day for a week, at least once a day,” one source said. “All along, he said great things about N.C. State, but he just couldn’t get past the idea of leaving behind all the great things he has at Texas. On that last day, though, they made him an even better offer than the one he thought was their ‘final’ offer. It was so amazing, so creative, and there was so much passion behind it, for one day he said he didn’t know what he was going to do. He stayed, obviously, but they pushed him to the edge.”
The Barnes ship has sailed and we are all looking forward to our future with Sidney Lowe…so there is not much use in re-hashing a lot of stuff. But, I have been personally criticized (in 2006) by idiots on message boards for comments that I made in 2000-2005 that stated the following: “Every day that Lee Fowler retains Herb Sendek, he is effectively choosing Herb Sendek over Rick Barnes.”
If the intimate nature of the NC State-Rick Barnes courtship in 2006 didn’t underscore my point in the last five years, then Glenn’s comments help do so. This is why schools should hire fantastic leaders for leadership positions and not cowardly, mono-dimensional reactive thinkers who spend more time looking for excuses and rationalizations than looking for innovative and proactive ways to improve. One can only scratch their head in wonder on where Rick Barnes would be coaching today had Lee Fowler and NC State not allowed him so damn long to build “all the great things he has at Texas”.
Again, it doesn’t matter any more.
Mike Montgomery
One item of the search which SFN never disclosed more was regarding the topic of Mike Montgomery. Glenn is handcuffed by what his sources tell him on some topics, and the Montgomery topic is one of them.
The Wolfpack never did get “close” with any other candidates, including Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, Golden State Warriors coach Mike Montgomery, Kentucky coach Tubby Smith and Villanova coach Jay Wright, although all of those men (and many others) were contacted about the vacancy in some fashion. …
You may want to go back to our April 20th coaching update for a moment. (Taking a look at April 19th wouldn’t hurt either)
What we were unable to share with you at the time (and did not learn more about until days later), was that Mike Montgomery and NC State were MUCH closer than anyone in the media ever learned. Montgomery gets paid $2.5 million a year and has 2 years remaining on an original 4-year/$10 million deal with the Golden State Warriors. Therefore, the Warriors would owe MM at least $5 million to fire him. Some rumors claim there is additional money embedded in the contract for a potential buyout, and therefore would create a larger number.
It was a foregone conclusion to most in the NBA during this season that Montgomery was going to be relieved of his duties as the Warriors Head Coach until the last week of the season when General Manager Chris Mullin publicly proclaimed Monty’s job was safe. He can’t simply quit and walk away from over $5 million of a lump sum payment that he will receive when/if he is fired.
The NBA is different than college. NBA coaches don’t recruit; their off-season duties are spent working with the front office on the draft, but the front-office can easily conduct a draft without a coach. ZERO incentive existed for the Warriors to fire Montgomery at the end of the season with the NC State job (and others) on the horizon. If the Warriors organization had the slightest thought that Montgomery would take another job then they had NO REASON to fire him and pay him a large buyout. Why not fire him during the summer? Why not give him 15 games to start next season and see how he does? If you are the Warriors, why fire a guy at the end of the season who MAY take another job and save you $5+ million?
Montgomery and NC State are linked by his personal relationship with Les Robinson. Since the relationship and communication flowed exclusively through these two parties, there was really no chance for a media leak. I even remember quotes by Robinson in the media downplaying MM; similar to his wife’s comments to WTVD-11.
Some morons on the message boards took these comments at 100% face value and used them to criticize some Wolfpackers who were logically discussing Montgomery as a potential candidate based on some of these public comments. What the hell were they supposed to say? “Yes, Monty is very interested in the job but we can’t talk about it in public for fear that the Warriors will find out and not pay us our big paycheck?”
If you go back and review the timeline of the coaching search, you start to get a better feel for just how close State/Les and Montgomery were –
* The Calipari rejection happened on Tuesday, April 11th. (Link)
* The “Beilein/Lavin” situation tanked on Wednesday, April 26th. (Link)
So, what was happening in the middle of those TWO FULL WEEKS? Think about it!? There was NOTHING about Steve Lavin OR John Beilein that precluded either one of them from being the “next step” after Calipari on April 11th. So why did their courtship not come to a crescendo until April 26th?
What DID exist to impede their candidacy earlier was a hope that the Golden State Warriors would fire Mike Montgomery around April 20th. That hope did not materialize as planned/hoped and the search went in other directions. Why else would I have written MULTIPLE entries at the time supporting Lee Fowler and urging fans NOT TO CRITICIZE like this one on April 19th.
More to Come
We still have a little more commentary to come on the search and on Coach Lowe. We’ll take advantage of the slow nature of the next month to wrap it all up.