N.C. State’s Fowler Backs Lowe, Says Chemistry an Issue (Updated 8:50 pm)

Audio of the interview.

“Winning is good, losing is bad,” Fowler said Wednesday morning in an interview on 99.9 FM The Fan. “We’ve been very frustrated this year. You have high expectations, and I think the fans did, and we have not lived up to them. That’s the huge frustration.”Lee Fowler

Fowler said some Wolfpack players have been “probably a little more interested” in their own playing time and performances than in team objectives.

“Chemistry seemed to be a bit squirrelly through the year,” Fowler said.He added, “And so it’s just been a battle throughout the year.”

But Fowler was encouraged by Saturday’s Duke game and is confident Coach Sidney Lowe can get the job done. Fowler brought in Lowe because Lowe knows what it takes to win a championship. “I understand that it’s all about winning and that’s what we live in everyday, and when you don’t win, it’s tough,” Fowler said. “But we also feel like we have the things in place to win in the future.”

UPDATE: Some helpful answers to questions posed in the comments:

Q: Can you elaborate on saying that Oblinger wants to get rid of Fowler? I really hope that’s true, but I always had the opposite impression, that current NC State leadership, Oblinger included, is less than committed to athletic excellence.

A: Your impression is 100% correct. The poster in question was pointing out how little desire Oblinger has to get rid of Jed.

Q: Why exactly is he going on radio now? Is this because he is feeling heat from the fanbase and needs to project the cause of a failure season on something other than him?

A: The compulsive need to hear himself speak (and have as many people as possible also hear him). He’s had that from the minute he got here.

Q: Did he give the interview from his house on Lake Gaston?

A: He usually makes it to the office on Wednesdays. Mondays and Fridays are a different story, perhaps.

Q: Will there ever be any accountability with his [Fowler’s] regime?

A: Are you kidding me? This is NC State. You can’t get in trouble for anything other than stepping on the toes of the Faculty Senate. Hell, if Chuck Amato hadn’t been offensively rude to a number of big donors and BOT members, we wouldn’t have even gotten rid of him!

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07-08 Basketball AD & Department NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe

144 Responses to N.C. State’s Fowler Backs Lowe, Says Chemistry an Issue (Updated 8:50 pm)

  1. Sweet jumper 03/06/2008 at 10:27 AM #

    If Wall, Brown and Favor or some significant combination of these 5star players do not sign with State, I hope that the coaches will ask for feedback, so we can know the reason(s). For our AD to talk about lack of team chemistry to the media is inexcuseable. That is bad advertisement by our leader. The coach has never talked about chemistry issues to the media–maybe behind closed doors but not in public. I hope the recruits do not listen to Jed and do not read the internet posts, but I doubt it.

    Sports Illustrated ran an article this week about how fans have gotten out of hand this season using Love’s return to Oregon, Gordon’s return to Illinois, Memphis’s treatment at UAB and Henderson’s return to Chapel Hill as examples. Of course, we were mentioned in a sidebox concerning the treatment of Dominique Wilkins’s family after he signed with UGa at the last minute in 1979.

  2. choppack1 03/06/2008 at 10:42 AM #

    Sweet Jumper – I noticed that they didn’t mention the “Go Back to the Ghetto” comment.

    Also, I read the Wilkins stuff, and I really thought it was bush-league to put it in there. These were cases of vandalism and a repo’d car – nothing that occurred in Reynold’s or at NC State.

  3. wufpup76 03/06/2008 at 11:03 AM #

    “Fowler would have done more good not saying anything at all. In his inestimable expertise in public relations, he’s once again done more damage by saying anything when saying nothing would have been the perfect statement.”

    Amen

  4. Sweet jumper 03/06/2008 at 11:13 AM #

    choppack1–I also was wondering about the “ghetto” blast not being in the article.

    The Wilkins comments were bush league. I don’t know how they can equate some rogue fan behavior in little Washington with organized student section rudeness and disrespect during games.

    I recently read Norm Sloan’s book. His 1979 recruiting class was shaping up to be Wilkins, Sidney Green, Bailey, Lowe and Whitt. Wow, talk about a highly rated class!

  5. Sweet jumper 03/06/2008 at 11:17 AM #

    The Wilkins comments were probably written by a graduate of a university with a school of journalism. I took lessons from Coach K’s injury report comments a couple of weeks ago!

  6. Fenrir 03/06/2008 at 11:20 AM #

    it was “hard to believe” and “nonsense” when i posted that the players hated each other and were pissed about lost playing time but there it is right from the ad himself. chemistry is probably a better wor than hate.

  7. choppack1 03/06/2008 at 11:36 AM #

    Fenrir – I don’t think it’s hard to believe at all.

    I don’t think you’ll find any losing team that doesn’t have chemistry issues.

    What I find hard to believe is that players like McCauley and Costner are/were dogging it because they were jealous of Hickson.

    Like I said when you made those comments, it’s up to Lowe to persuade and motivate these guys to perform. I also mentioned that if the players believed that they had been misled or if they had outperformed a certain star in practice, that could contribute to this too.

  8. Fenrir 03/06/2008 at 11:48 AM #

    have you seen anything this year that leads you to believe lowe and his coaching staff have done anything to motivate their player to perform? i’ve not!! i’ve seen a team that has put out half ass effort and continued to improve only in shittieness of play. a team that lack fundamentals on all levels of the game. so what makes you thing that a staff that cannot teach fundamentals could quell an upheaval amongst the players?

  9. BoKnowsNCS71 03/06/2008 at 11:48 AM #

    Chemistry was my worst subject at state. Wonder what Sid’s grades were? For that matter, what were Lee’s grades at his alma mater?

    Seriously, I kind of see it as the Professor’s job to handle the chemicals. If some don’t go well together, you find compounds that work — or you eliminate them from the mix.

    Bottom line — Roy W and DOH both has the same chemicals some time back and one of them got the chemistry fixed. Granted we don’t have the same 5 star chemicals but you get the drift.

  10. mkcarte2 03/06/2008 at 11:50 AM #

    Hey guys we still got an outside shot at making the College Basketball Invitational http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3110361

  11. MattN 03/06/2008 at 12:13 PM #

    Why is it when Duke or UNC have chemistry problems, they win “only” 23 games and go from a 1-2 seed to a 4-5 seed?

  12. Sam92 03/06/2008 at 12:17 PM #

    lee fowler is a lousy AD . . .

    . . . but supporting Sid at this time is the right thing to do. it’s only fair that he have another year to turn things around.

    if next year is like this one, it will prove that sid just can’t get it done.

  13. GAWolf 03/06/2008 at 12:30 PM #

    Sam: Haven’t you seen Super Size Me? Even with bad chemistry a bunch of McDonald’s still makes you fat. If we could cherry pick from the best recruits in the nation, we could overcome “adversity” much better too.

  14. GAWolf 03/06/2008 at 12:34 PM #

    Sam: That’s sort of like firing TOB after next year if Daniel Evans is our QB and he throws three times more interceptions than touch downs and we fail to make it to a bowl. Sid doesn’t have a player who can get it over half court regularly that also has any decent amount of experience and won’t next year. TOB doesn’t have a guy who can throw it ten yards down field with any accuracy that also has experience and he won’t next year.

    It’s just a tough time to be a Pack sports fan. I hated the wait till next year attitude with Herb and Amato but considering the time we gave them, the new guys at least deserve 4 seasons to fix the problems of the previous regime.

  15. WolftownVA81 03/06/2008 at 12:34 PM #

    I’m going to email LF and ask him what he was trying accomplish in that interview. I’m currious if I’ll get a response.

  16. Rochester 03/06/2008 at 12:51 PM #

    Why is it when Duke or UNC have chemistry problems, they win “only” 23 games and go from a 1-2 seed to a 4-5 seed?

    If you can take joy in nothing else, reflect back upon the year UNC went 8-20. Truly bad coaching can make a difference, which is why we should be concerned. If Lowe turns into the next Doh, we need to pull the plug before we’re looking up at NJIT.

  17. Sam92 03/06/2008 at 12:58 PM #

    gawolf, actually 4 years would also be fair, and gracious. i just don’t have any confidence whatsoever that sid will get it done

    and i don’t think sid is fixing the problems of the previous regime — i also supported firing Herb, but not because the program was bad, only because it never excelled after 10 years or so.

    Sid has actually taken the program lower than Herb had it – and that’s not because of any problems herb left him with; herb’s program was actually pretty decent, just never excellent.

    and basketball is not like football – the players are ready younger and often stay for only a couple of years –> it doesn’t take as long for a new coach to get his program molded in basketball, thus, in my opinion, end of the third season is a fair time to judge a new bball coach

    i doubt very much that we’ll fire sid at the end of next season even if it’s as bad as this one – but i do think it would be fair if we did.

  18. inhoc... 03/06/2008 at 12:58 PM #

    hey look! we arent dead last in the ACC anymore! we get to share the honor this week…

  19. inhoc... 03/06/2008 at 1:05 PM #

    so who should we pull for in the GT BC game. i`m guessing we want bc to loose, but would it be good to also stay tied with tech?

  20. choppack1 03/06/2008 at 1:16 PM #

    “That’s sort of like firing TOB after next year if Daniel Evans is our QB and he throws three times more interceptions than touch downs and we fail to make it to a bowl. Sid doesn’t have a player who can get it over half court regularly that also has any decent amount of experience and won’t next year. TOB doesn’t have a guy who can throw it ten yards down field with any accuracy that also has experience and he won’t next year.”

    I can see why you’d think that, but I don’t really think that’s a valid comparison.

    First: the results for both coach’s 1st year results are in: TOB’s team had a better overall record and conference record than his predecessor. Sid’s team did not.

    Secondly: TOB has a proven track record – and it’s successful. We all know Sid’s track record.

    Thirdly: TOB doesn’t have any QBs that he recruited on our roster yet and it takes much longer to develop football players. It’s rare for a true freshman QB to come in and be effective, much less good. In basketball, freshmen come in and contribute all the time – even PGs. Stitt is doing it this year for Clemson, Smith and Vasquez did it last year for UMd. Also, we have 3 guys recruited by this staff on our roster to play the point.

    If there was no evidence that TOB would be a winner, he had a crappy record, w/no signs of progress and we were doing worse than we were under the previous regime – I think the university would be totally justified in firing him after his third – and I think it would be justified firing him after his second. (As stated, TOB is a proven commodity as a college HC, his team improved over his predecessory.)

  21. WendellPackster 03/06/2008 at 1:18 PM #

    Without Fowler is good. With Fowler is bad. Beat it, Jed, you ugly ass drunk lookin fucker! I really wish he read this blog.

  22. roandaddy 03/06/2008 at 2:06 PM #

    Here is my quick hit on TOB vs Sid:
    TOB has stated and is making the case of building a program. Sure you lose some games and it ain’t fun, but you see the light coming and more importantly you see PROGRESS. Recruiting needs vs stars, etc
    Sid is doing sort of the opposite.. find a bunch of ranking stars and give them early playing time for quick success. I think the problem, like you often see in the NBA is.. individuals are great, but you need a “team”. (see: USA vs world in recent Olympics)
    All that said.. basketball is different.. kids leave after one year and you have to build fast or loose it. Then again… look at all the Cinderella Teams in the tourny who have played together for four years. Thoughts..

  23. statered 03/06/2008 at 2:17 PM #

    “Sid has actually taken the program lower than Herb had it – and that’s not because of any problems herb left him with; herb’s program was actually pretty decent, just never excellent.”

    That’s actaully flat out wrong. We had five or six scholarship guys last year. Two had playing experience. It does not get worse than that other than coming off probation with 5 guys.

    The only thing Sid could do to solve the chemistry problems is evict the players causing them. Because he only had 5/6 players initially he couldn’t. You don’t have much leverage if you remove the worst possible outcome.

    Quite frankly I would not mind seeing players who sabotage the program because of hurt feelings about playing time leave. It is antithetical to the very concept of “team.”

    Sid’s downfall thus far is that he probably has been too much of a nice guy.

  24. Rochester 03/06/2008 at 2:38 PM #

    Until someone has proof that players have been shaving points or purposely losing games, let’s be careful with the word “sabotage.” I find it hard to believe that anyone on the team would purposely make an effort to lose games out of spite.

    As for ego or personality conflicts, anyone in any kind of team setting, be it sports or an office workplace, will run into these from time to time. A good leader will work through these and/or get rid of the individuals who are not team players before this causes a cancer that interferes with the team achieving its goals. A good manager will also recognize that there are some individuals who respond well to a kick in the pants, while others respond better to an arm around the shoulder and a shot of encouragement.

    Until we recruit robots, our staff will need to learn how each of the 13 young men on the roster respond to different types of motivation. If someone doesn’t respond to any motivational techniques and becomes a disruptive force, a coach can always kick him off the team.

  25. choppack1 03/06/2008 at 2:41 PM #

    statered – I think you’re right that Sidney didn’t inherit “chickensalad” – but he didn’t inherit “chickenshit” either.

    I can only speak for myself. The reason I’m wondering if Sid isn’t the right guy is because in most conference games we’ve had – our effort has sucked.We don’t do the little things that good teams do to win games and we don’t leave it all out on the floor.

    I saw it last year, but was impressed w/ how he handled the last part of the year. I was very impressed w/ how we played a first round NIT game when we had every reason just to relax and rest on our laurels.

    I thought to myself – Sid has definitely learned something this year – and look out!

    Unfortunately, effort and fundamentals are still a problem in year 2. What’s worse, 4 of our returning players have taken a step back in their development. These aren’t encouraging signs (especially when you couple these factors w/ Sid’s lousy NBA head coaching record.)

    Next year, I’ll be looking for guys showing up in shape, guys who are boxing out and guys who are playing hard. If we don’t do the first and the last one, I think the season will be so awful, we’ll have to make a change.

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