Lots of things to run down in today’s coaching update. As with all of our updates, we think it best if you start by refreshing yourself with our preceeding entries on the topic.
* Paul Johnson was interviewed yesterday and his candidacy is being discussed by ESPN today. Johnson must have reason to believe that he is #2 on the list behind Cowher because his agent previously commented that he would only speak to schools where he would be #1 or #2 on their list. We wonder if that would remain true if Alabama calls him sixth?
* In addition to the Bill Cowher-play last week, the primary reason that so little news regarding the search has surfaced to this point is because the search is just now getting started. This information is very frustrating, but is consistent with The Sporting News’ report last week that NC State/Lee Fowler “wasn’t prepared to can Amato, which means the search has gotten off to a scrambling start.”
* We find the slow start to the search particularly sickening in light of the fact that Lee Fowler spent significant time giving media interviews last week to multiple outlets. We commented on a few of Fowler’s interviews on SFN and were surprised at how he was choosing to spend his time at the beginning stages of the search.
* Evidently, “Coach Fowler” has failed to impress A LOT of high ranking Wolfpackers (again) with his lack of preparation and sense of urgency regarding the search. Key calls go unreturned. Progress is slow. The search is just starting to move despite what some people try to say. At least more people are starting to talk about Uncle Jed’s shortcomings. It seems that some have finally awoken to Fowler’s preference to put the department on autopilot, collect his precious paycheck, and not be bothered with a whole lot of work.
* During the basketball search, Fowler’s penchant for spending time at his Lake Gaston house didn’t sit well with a lot of people. Neither did the fact that he didn’t understand that it was a bad thing that he lost 25 pounds in a month because he wasn’t mentally fit to deal with the common stress of executing a common component of any Athletics Director’s job.
* There is a small committee of only two individuals aiding Lee Fowler in the search for NC State’s next coach. We will not share the names and request that others do not as well. We are disappointed that Fowler’s ‘team’ would be so limited in scope and wish that he would have considered the addition of one or two other folks. SFN’s opinion of the two-man committee mixed – one of the members is a FANTASTIC CHOICE of whom we have a very high opinion; the other member does little to impress.
* One member of WolfpackNation that SHOULD have been selected to help with the search but was omitted is Dr. Jerry Punch. Is there ANY Wolfpacker out there with more connections and a more intimate contact inside of college football than Dr. Punch? Of course not. The connections and the observations/opinions that Dr. Punch could have added to the search would have been invaluable.
* Not much mention of ‘consultants’ and ‘head hunters’ right now.
* Dave Glenn has a coaching update on his blog that focuses on Paul Johnson and Jimbo Fisher. Not much update there other than they seem to be the first two candidates getting official interviews. Just because these gentlemen have their interviews scheduled first does not mean that they are necessarily ‘leading candidates’.
* Fisher has the strong support of some Wolfpackers for whom we have tremendous respect and therefore enhances the attractiveness of his candidacy in our eyes. Deeper digging into college football circles support these conclusions.
* Dave Glenn reported when the Carolina job was open that Jimbo Fisher and Bo Pelini presented themselves as a package deal to the Tarheel brass. We are starting to hear some chatter that may be the case with the Wolfpack as well. With Pelini on board, the potential strength of a Fisher-led staff in Raleigh could be incredible and would be hard to ignore.
Sixth-year LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher and first-year defensive coordinator Bo Pelini have been recognized by Rivals.com as two of the nation’s top five coordinators on both sides of the ball. Pelini, who joined the Tigers after a stint at Oklahoma, is ranked as the nation’s second-best defensive coordinator by Rivals.com, while Fisher is listed as the fourth-best offensive coordinator. Other defensive coaches on the list include Bud Foster (Virginia Tech), Gene Chizik (Texas), Mickey Andrews (Florida State), Reggie Herring (Arkansas) and Tom Bradley (Penn State). Other offensive coordinators in the Rivals.com top five include Terry Malone (Michigan), Chris Peterson (Boise State), Norries Wilson (Connecticut) and Paul Petrino (Louisville).
* By contrast, Johnson’s staff at Navy is underwhelming (to say the least). He would have to upgrade at NC State to help mitigate a lot of the potential risks if State were to hire him.
* The Tennessean is reporting that NC State has contacted Norm Chow but has not yet arranged an interview. We love Norm Chow as a coordinator, but there is a reason that he has never been a college head coach. We hope that Chow gets the Stanford job, but some people’s whose opinion that we value would not touch Chow with a ten foot pole for the Head job at State.
* Another parallel to the basketball search is Lee Fowler‘s deep desire to insulate himself from as much risk as possible associated with the hire. In basketball, Fowler was hellbent to hire a ‘name that will make a splash’ as opposed to necessarily finding the best fit available. While Fowler was trying to hire Lon Kruger, John Beilein, and Steve Lavin he should have been prepared to pursue a different set of names that were better fits. In fact, many at NC State were pushing current coach Sidney Lowe as soon as John Calipari was off the board about nine days into the month-long search, but Fowler was steadfastly against the idea until so many names had (thankfully) run their course.
* This time around, Fowler seems hellbent on hiring someone with head coaching experience at the expense of potentially pursuing other options. This would create a crutch for him to forever use if the hire is a bust. Fans, facilities and other factors should be ready to be blamed if this kind of coach is unsuscessful in Raleigh because ‘obviously’ the coach CAN succeed based on the success of their last job.
* Chancellor Oblinger’s comments in a recent interview support this presumption:
“What am I looking for in a football coach? I am looking for integrity,” Oblinger said. “I’m looking for commitment to the student-athlete. I’m looking for commitment to graduation rates and … I’m looking for a proven record of performance.”
* Although we would prefer a coach with previous head coaching exeperience, it would not be a mandatory prerequisite if we were making the selection. People tend to forget that NO COACH starts as a head coach and EVERY great coach today was an assistant before they get a head job. Someone recognized these assistant’s abilities and potential and had to make the astute decision to elevate the coach to a head job.
* The following is quick list of current coaches are in their FIRST job as a college head coach after being elevated by an Athletics Director who knew what the hell they were doing:
Bob Stoops (assistant at Floriday), Mark Richt (assistant at Florida State), Bobby Petrino (assistant at Auburn), Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Lloyd Carr (Michigan), Tom O’Brien (assistant at UVA), Jeff Tedford (assistant at Oregon), Greg Schiano (assistant at Miami), Mike Leach (assistant at Oklahoma) Bret Bielema (assistant at Wisconsin), Joe Paterno, Charlie Weiss, Bill Callahan and Pete Carroll. Even Carolina’s new coach, Butch Davis was the offensive coordinator at Miami before becoming such a (supposedly) great coach at “The U”.
* We have heard that Chancellor Oblinger is in Europe this week on a pre-scheduled vacation. Therefore, we would be very surprised if anything really broke until he returned. No further comment on this from us.
* WRAL-TV ran a story yesterday mentioning Arkansas coach, Houston Nutt. We truly believe that there has been some kind of interest passed along by Nutt through some channel. In addition to Reggie Herring’s presence in Fayetteville, don’t forget that Joe Pate coached at Arkansas and still has lots of ties down there.
* Arkansas’ fans dislike of Nutt is the kind of example of truly dangerous and crazy fans that Lee Fowler labels NC State fans. I wonder if Frank Broyles calls them all crazy in public? Fowler would last five minutes at an SEC school. Perhaps that is why Tennessee and Georgia both passed over Fowler without much of a sniff a few years ago when he made himself a candidate for both of those jobs.
* A nice Paul Johnson read linked here.
* There is a growing likelihood that other open jobs could potentially have an impact on NC State’s search. The longer that this drags out, the higher the risk that State could get lost in the shuffle of other jobs that may open based on a potential domino effect.
* SFN told you last week that Tom O’Brien would express an interest in the job. He has. O’Brien sees the writing on the wall in a pro sports town with little fan support and facility support for his program. What he has done at Boston College deserves significant praise. O’Brien was an assistant coach at UVA prior to taking over at BC.
* Other names that have been vaguely mentioned but that we would like to see more on are: Glen Mason from Minnesota, Steve Kragthorpe from Tulsa and Skip Holtz from East Carolina. (Update: Pack Pride has a feature on Kragthorpe since we wrote this).
* Some of the names ‘floated’ by the NC State pay websites are just absurd. Just because someone comments about NC State doesn’t mean that they should be mentioned regarding the job (ala Jerry Glanville). Sometimes the need to feed the beast is greater than common sense discretion.
* Message boards suck 365 days out of the year. But, they hit their lowest point during coaching transitions at schools. Wow. We literally lose IQ points just by clicking. SFN works hard to give all folks a fair forum without sacrificing too much quality, but we aren’t immune to stupidity.
