I have iTunes set up on my computer to download podcasts of which I am interested. One of my favorite podcasts is 850 The Buzz / 620 The Bull’s daily dose of the best interviews and conversations on their stations in a given day. These podcasts usually run anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour in length.
I don’t know if I need to do something to change my settings or make some other adjustment…but, I have not received a podcast download from 850 since July 25th. Does anyone our there have any insight or similar experiences?
One thing that I therefore missed was David Glenn’s interview of NC State Head Football Coach, Chuck Amato on Saturday. Glenn discusses the interview in this blog entry that is worth checking out. At the beginning of the interview, Coach answered a direct question from DG as follows:
“We have been to five bowls in six years, and our record is 4-1…The other four schools have been to five bowls combined in that same time frame, and their record is 1-4. That’s a fact. The most number of wins at the other four schools in the last six years is 30, and that’s an average of five a year. We’ve won 46, and that’s two shy of eight (victories) a year. I could go on and on. …
“Somebody told me down in Jacksonville, Fla., that I am the fourth-ranked coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference history in the number of wins after six years. Where we came from, and where we’re at? You write the story! I mean, some people won’t. You write the story. Write the things that are going on. Obviously, we know what we’re doing in recruiting. (Sometimes) we’re recruiting too good, because we have an underclassman (Mario Williams) go out and be the No. 1 player picked in America. It goes on and on and on and on.
I know that Coach Amato comes across as a little defensively aggressive in most of his interviews; and, I know that it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. It certainly doesn’t provide Coach any favors with media coverage when things aren’t going his way. However, I can understand Coach’s general frustration and don’t blame him for his mood with the media as of late.
After all…the media’s inaccuracies and inability focus on the truth are starting to have a negative impact on the NC State program as it is various members of the media – at a level that is infinitely more intense than Wolfpack fans – that have insisted on writing articles about Coach Amato being “on the hotseat” while simultaneously (inaccurately) criticizing Amato for foolish reasons.
Think about this for a moment.
There is little to no doubt that John Bunting will be fired as UNC-CH’s football coach after this season if he turns in a performance that is just an average year for him. How much publicity is this topic getting? While Chuck Amato has succeeded in becoming one of the most successful football coaches in NC State history and has succeeded in elevating our program far above all other programs in the area, the media has decided to swarm like (uneducated) vultures on CTC’s job security.
The result? UNC-CH is experiencing one of the best recruiting classes in their history while NC State is experiencing our second slight downturn in a row from the standards of CTC’s first four recruiting classes.
Reality check…NC State’s program has quickly become an NFL factory while UNC’s has experienced more player turnover and attrition than is close to explicable. The success that Chuck Amato has generated at NC State dwarfs the overall success of what John Bunting has generated at Carolina in only one fewer season.
Yet, the media makes a huge deal of our successful coach being on “the hotseat” while Carolina’s unsuccessful coach gets NO public pressure or scrutiny and thereby allowing him to mislead recruits into thinking that his job is safe. Wouldn’t you be a little ticked at the idiocy and blatant disregard for reality?
850 Interview
A poster on Pack Pride’s message board shared a fantastic summary of Glenn’s entire interview with Amato. The following is that report:
“DG started with a state of the program question at year 7. Coach replied with the facts:
When he came here the program was being compared to the other programs in the state of NC so where are we today. State is the only team to go to 5 bowls in the last 6 years, the other 4 teams have been to 5 bowls collectively. We are 4-1, those 4 are 1-4. We have 46 wins in 6 years or almost 8 wins/season average. The other 4 have 30 wins collectively. He remarked he hears about other stats from other people, but does not pay much attention to them. We have only been beaten badly twice in 6 years, but have beaten the perennial power in the league, FSU, 3 of 5. Our best game last year was against VT, but mistakes made the difference. He is proud he brought high expectations to the program and DG responded that is what makes it fun. Are we where Coach wants us to be, no, but we are getting there.
He never referenced UNC@CH by name or inference.
He repeated the story of how we could have competed for a NC the year we had the #1 defense in the country if that could have been Rivers redshirt senior season.
Are we a team that can compete nationally or a team with holes? We are team with holes. Four years ago the staff thought they would be very good this year because of the strength of the senior class (Mario, Tank, Tulloch) and a solid defensive backfield with only Hudson gone along with a highly recruited redshirt Jr at QB (Stone) and talent across the line, but as always every thing changes. So we will see how the kids fill the holes.
He is excited about the OL. There was chemistry formed in the spring. Don’t forget Holt played most of the game at VT 2 years ago at RT and we won.
Defensively, Willie Young is good and has good speed off the edge, but he has not played a college game yet. Is he Manny, no Manny was the best athlete he ever coached including Deion, but don’t forget the first time Manny played with his hand on the ground was his Jr year. Ray Brooks played great 2 seasons ago, but is rusty so we’ll see how he does. Again referenced how Young and others are similar to Mario and Manny during their first seasons in size and skills.
LB question with reference to Ray Michael playing and the holes to fill. Talked alot about Lowery and how Lowery had gotten a lot of PT the last 2 seasons as Hoyte was usually hurt the tail end of both seasons.
There were some comments about the running backs and playing freshmen, but I must have gottend distracted because I don’t remember his commments much other than how it took them 6 games last year to get smart enough to play Andre.
DG talked about how the common story on the recruiting trail is how family oriented the State program is. The recruits think is is cool they can call him Chuck. He commented the reference to family is what it is all about as players and coaches learned to work together. He is very proud of this family reputation he had built into the program. He has assigned seats for players during meetings with Seniors in front going to Freshmen in the back. Although this helps with attendance record keeping, it is also to help the players get to know each other daily. The coaches eat in the dining hall with the players to create a bond.
Jokingly he said you don’t call Coach Bowden by “Bobby”, but you do call Coach Paterno by “Joe”. Paterno is also Italian. He has told the players his Mom calls him Charles, but it is okay for them to call him Chuck in private, but if in public in front of others, they should call him Coach because people may view calling him Chuck as disrespectful.
DG finished with the question about his attire for the coming season. Coach said he will wear what people give him and doesn’t think much about it and why don’t the media comment on how other coaches dress on the sideline. However, he commented how it is about marketing. He has had people come up to him and say I know you from somewhere. So Coach will put on the shades and they respond, “oh yeah you the coach of NC STATE”. I took it he knows the comments about the shades and the shoes, but he views it as good PR and market recognition.”
