SFN Notes: Originally posted early Sunday Morning. Sorry that we couldn’t get this up prior to the ECU game like we had said that we would. Thanksgiving and family obligations have a way of impacting our best intentions. We will keep this entry at the top of the blog for most of Sunday and Monday, so please don’t ignore new entries that will be posted below this entry.
It was quite a week of rumor and innuendo for NC State Football. It publicly started on Monday when we shared that we were getting a lot of chatter and rumors that Chuck Amato had been fired. These rumors intensified by the way that NC State handled Monday’s football press conference.
StateFansNation choose to stay out of the chatter during the holiday week and allow things to play themselves out. After last night’s embarrassment it is pretty obvious what the ultimate result regarding Chuck will be. (Although we don’t think that the ECU had any impact on the decision). The only questions that probably remain are: (1) when will a press conference be announced? and (2) will the agreement with Amato be structured as a resignation or a firing?
Today we will offer you blend of what we have heard and with some educated speculation of what can deduce has been going on:
* There were some discussions and meetings of some top donors two or three weeks ago where mobilization on a potential buyout of Chuck Amato’s contract was discussed. Lee Fowler was not involved in the meetings nor was he aware of them at the time.
* The NC State Board of Trustees met (“BOT”) late last week before the Carolina game. The BOT expressed their displeasure regarding Chuck Amato and the direction of the football program to the administration – namely to Chancellor Oblinger.
* As with any coaching decision, Lee Fowler has been reluctant to make any kind of move on Coach Amato. (Shocker) You can go back to Fowler’s comments as recently as a few weeks ago for more on his stance.
* The BOT members basically told Fowler to put a sock in it. There has been some pretty strong rumors that Fowler’s act is finally wearing thin with the BOT and others around the University. Thank God.
* Fowler completely changed his stance on the football situation with his “no comment” on Monday that we broke down in this entry.
* The end result of the pre-Carolina-game discussions may have called for a firing of Coach Amato if the football team lost to UNC-CH and ECU. An embarassing loss to a miserable Carolina team probably changed the dynamic of waiting for the ECU game.
* Early this week, rumors developed that the BOT called an emergency meeting on Sunday after the Carolina game and decided to pull the trigger on the decision. Lee Fowler evidently met with Coach Amato at 8am on Monday morning – adding gas to the rumor that a decision had been made.
* Large donors to the Wolfpack Club received telephone calls during the week asking for financial support of a buyout. Amato’s contractual buyout should be close to a manageable $800k. We do not know the size of Marc Trestman’s buyout.
* As Thanksgiving week progressed, lips got tighter and there was no official indication that anything had been decided. The strategy of those close to the decision was to share that “things look bad for Chuck” but that no formal decision had been made.
* Additionally, nobody with ties to Coach Amato expressed that they had any indication of a firing. Assistant coaches went about their usual business and ultimately hosted recruits for the ECU game. We think that much of the week was spent working on specifics of the structure of Amato’s exit – ultimate financial package? resignation/firing? etc?
* The exact timing of the official decision is inconsequential. But, at this moment we have received no word from anyone with reason to expect Coach Amato to be retained at NC State. 850TheBuzz broke the following on their blog before/during the State-ECU football game:
For the last several days we’ve been hearing way too many rumors for the following not to be true. But, reports from press row indicated that NC State’s assistant coaches were informed prior to tonight’s game (Friday?) that Chuck Amato would not be retained. The outcome of tonight’s game — ultimately the Pack’s 7th straight loss to end the season — had no bearing on the decision.
* We expect that NC State will hold a press conference to announce the program will be searching for a new coach in the coming days. If the PC isn’t announced for today (Sunday) then it would not surprise us if it didn’t happen until Tuesday. Carolina is set to announce Butch Davis’ hire on Monday and NC State hosts Michigan in basketball on Monday night. A Tuesday announcement would be much more appropriate than a Monday announcement.
* We hope that the BOT has learned its lesson from Lee Fowler’s basketball search debacle. The end result of getting lucky to land Sidney Lowe – whom Fowler was unwilling to pursue for four weeks prior to Lowe’s ultimate hiring – does not absolve Fowler from the month of embarrassment that he brought the University in April.
* After Bill Cowher (more on this in a moment), the names of Paul Johnson, Jimbo Fisher, Norm Chow and Mike Sherman have been on the initial lists around Raleigh that seem to be evolving.
* Newland, NC-native, Paul Johnson seems to be the favorite potential candidate amongst your average ‘I am a fan who thinks that I have come up with a great name because it is the only coach with whom I am familiar’.
* The ferocity with which some Johnson’s supporters express their opinion scares us. Many of these people seem soldon Johnson way too early in the process and appear to have closed minds about other coaches (which we are sure that they know nothing about). SFN thinks that Johnson should be a candidate for the job and should be analyzed thoroughly. BUT, we are emphatic on our position that a true process needs to be run and all candidates analyzed fairly. Johnson should NOT be annointed a ‘front-runner’ by anyone before the program gets into the meat of the search (if a true search is ever needed).
* Ironically, Jimbo Fisher was Chuck Amato’s #1 offensive coordinator candidate to replace Noel Mazzone two years ago. Fisher received a large raise to remain at LSU. Amato ultimately could not lure any of his top candidates to State due to his increasingly negative reputation with assistant coaches throughout the country and had to settle for Marc Trestman, who also had reputation of being both strange and difficult with which to work.
* Former Green Bay Packers Head Coach, Mike Sherman is obviously the oddball in this initial group of candidates. (pictured below) Like all things NC State, it all about your personal connections and not necessarily talent. (See Les Robinson’s relationship with Lee Fowler as exhibit #2,000) Sherman evidently owns a vacation house near a key Wolfpack Club member and has expressed interest in the job if it were to ever come open. It is interesting that “wolfchicEE” on Pack Pride’s Message Boards has been sharing Sherman’s name for over a week. Nobody just originates a name like Mike Sherman out of nowhere. WolfchicEE lives in Charlotte, as does the key Wolfpack Club member who knows Sherman.
* We are going to with-hold any comments regarding Cowher at this moment (and we caution any of you to refrain from wasting your time typing comments like “why would he be interested?”, etc, etc on this blog). We will explain more at a time to be determined.
* NC State badly needs to hire a coaching consultant to lead this process, not just participate in the process. The best $35,000 UNC has spent in the last 10 years was hiring Chuck Neinas to lead their search. Need A Coach? Call this guy!
* We think that an initial list (after Cowher, of course) of Paul Johnson, Jimbo Fisher and Norm Chow is an attractive original list. But, we hope that the University is very careful to go through a quick but comprehensive process to appropriately vet all potential coaches who may be interested. This is the value that Neinas brings to the table. Who knows what coach out there may be interested in the opportunity? What if a Mike Price is looking to get back into a major conference? What if a big name is starting to feel unfair heat in their current job and would be open to re-setting their clock in a new environment?
* Lee Fowler is NOT the person with the capabilities to juggle ^this kind of intense and critical work. The man “knows basketball” and couldn’t get a coaching search done in over a month. (Perhaps he should have spent less time at his Lake Gaston home on the weekends during the search?) The man literally lost 25 pounds during the basketball search because he was ill-prepared to deal with the stress that comes with the job. How in the hell can anyone expect Mr. “I Know Basketball” to get up to speed quick enough on dozens of football candidates that he hasn’t been following for years because he never expected to have to fire a coach during his tenure at NC State?
* SFN strongly endorses the retention of current assistant coaches Curt Cignetti, Todd Stroud and Dwayne Dixon for the transition period as well as strong candidates for retention for any coach that ultimately is hired.
* Let’s leave you with a little bit of a lightened mood. You cannot miss this classic entry!
* If you need to contact us, our email is [email protected]
