YOU Write the Story – How did UCLA and UNC-CH do it?

AD & Department Fans NC State Administration NCS Basketball You Write The Story144

Lavin released

As many of you already experience and recognize, we feel this blog has some of the most insightful readers and commentors of any fan blog on the internet. It is a regular experience to read an entry on our blog and learn a lot more from the resulting conversation in the comments section than you learn from the original author.

With this said, I thought that it would be interesting to introduce a new excercise whereby we engage all of the talent that we have at the blog and ask for you to take a more active role in what ultimately is posted as entries here. (I will be traveling and won’t be around much this week so it is a good time to give this a try).

Here is what we are going to do — I am going to provide a topic and ask our readers to provide comments on this topic. We hope that the comments will be diverse and will include links, statistics, editorial comments and maybe even some personal experiences. Some of you may choose to take a stab at writing an entire article; others may choose just to provide some key statistics and records. We hope to ultimately copy and paste the information and commentary and create an important entry for the blog that we can add to our archives for future use. (Don’t hesitate to run some key word searches on SFN while making use of our archives!)

The topic today is brought to us by two members of this year’s Final Four – UCLA and UNC-CH. Today, the Bruins and the Tarheels are coached by Ben Howland and Roy Williams, respectively. But, just a few years ago both institutions had different faces leading the charge. (In fact, Carolina went through a seven year stretch where they employed four different basketball coaches and ALL FOUR of them reached the Final Four).

Since this is an NC State blog, let’s tie NC State to this by asking the question – over the last 15 years, how has the manner in which NC State’s “leadership” has managed our Basketball program compare to the decisions and moves that UCLA (Steve Lavin) and UNC (Matt Doherty and Bill Guthridge) have chosen. Particularly, how does Lee Fowler’s decisions to retain Herb Sendek from 2000-2006 compare to UCLA and UNC’s decisions?

To get you started, allow us to turn your attention to this old SFN entry that we found with a five second search of our database. In addition to some great editorial comments in the discussion section that would be relevant to this, the following summary for Steve Lavin’s career at UCLA was provided.

Lavin’s quick record: 7 Seasons; 6 NCAA Bids; 5 Sweet 16’s; 1 Elite Eight

Lastly, if you weren’t online much this weekend then we ask that you play around a little and do some reading. For example, we’ve got a couple of “bytes” entries that received a lot of attention on Saturday and on Friday.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

AD & Department Fans NC State Administration NCS Basketball You Write The Story

144 Responses to YOU Write the Story – How did UCLA and UNC-CH do it?

  1. Texpack 04/01/2008 at 9:56 AM #

    I thought I was pretty clear in saying that one could be legitimately skeptical about Sidney Lowe’s ability to produce the level of results I expect from the basketball program. He certainly hasn’t done it so far. I think most would agree that until the proper expectations are set, the results won’t be there. I believe that Sidney has the proper expectations because he was a part of the program when it was achieving at or near the appropriate level. I don’t think the program has had that since V was run off.

  2. blackdom 04/01/2008 at 10:00 AM #

    Has he shown those proper expectations Texpack? I have played with or against many talented players who had no concept about xs and os? I don’t understand the logic? How did Sid get this by osmosis?

  3. Noah 04/01/2008 at 10:09 AM #

    “One of the things that Sidney Lowe has that we have not had in our basketball program since V was run off, is the appropriate personal reference point for what the results should be from NC State basketball.”

    You could make the same argument for me being the head coach.

    Regarding O’Brien, I’d say the turnaround is well underway. He took over a team that won three games and was basically expected to win about three more. He had major injury issues and still won five games, including a win over our two biggest football rivals. He followed that up with a top-25 recruiting class.

    What more did you realistically expect?

  4. wufpup76 04/01/2008 at 10:14 AM #

    “Many of you are saying who? Exactly. Avie Lester …”

    I liked Avie Lester 🙂

    Besides having a cool first name, Avie played in the age of the unitard and also when we experimented w/ having a hint of blue in the uniforms … Fun times indeed

  5. ktoh 04/01/2008 at 10:19 AM #

    Very good Noah :Hell why not me as coach than

  6. Mr.wolfpack90 04/01/2008 at 11:00 AM #

    The ucla and unc connecton of success is basketball is this one thing and one thing only. Both have been able to bring in great players while not being implicated in a recruting scandal of anykind.
    If you look around the country at the top basketball schools:
    Indiana
    kentucky
    florida
    unc
    ucla
    duke
    kansas
    Kansas,indiana,kentucky and florida have had major violations in their history at one time or another.
    Yet,duke,unc and ucla have had never been convicted of any major violations at their schools which leads to this point.
    Does the media that cover:duke,unc and ucla love these schools to the point of unethical blindness?
    In the north carolina area,for the past 30-40 yrs not one trace of scandal for unc?
    I find this so hard to believe!

  7. Rochester 04/01/2008 at 11:03 AM #

    Next time we undergo a coaching search, will the Greg D(ickhead)oyels of the world say, “Who do State fans think they are? Why should they expect to compete with their neighbors UNC, Duke and Davidson?”

    As to the proper reference point, I’m not sure you need to have played for a national champion to recognize that that should be the goal. Though it may help buy credibility with others, at least until you prove you can’t coach.

  8. BillyVest 04/01/2008 at 11:36 AM #

    One example please why Sid is the man for the job? Based on what? Seriously I wished he succeded but the proof is out on the floor?

    I’ll just chime in on this, though it wasn’t addressed to me. I think there’s no downside to giving Sidney Lowe a couple of more years. He showed some signs of good in-game management, in the ACC tourney last year, and in the 3 halves he coached against Carolina, in the 2006-2007 season. Whatever damage the botched coaching search for Herb’s replacement has wrought has already been done. A year or two won’t make a difference at this point.

    The real concern should be to make sure Lee has his finger on the trigger that if by year four NCSU basketball isn’t where we want it to be, he can replace Sid with a good head coach, and not have to go through the post-Sendek mess.

    I somehow doubt Lee has a clue about who would replace Sid if he doesn’t work out and that’s what is troubling about our athletics department, more so than just the lack of performance on the court.

  9. redfred2 04/01/2008 at 11:45 AM #

    Speaking of leaders vs managers, giving just one person with VISION, a position above all of these hum drum managers and the facilities that are already in place in Raleigh, would make all of the difference in the world. It’s pretty apparent that James Oblinger is not that person.

  10. Texpack 04/01/2008 at 12:01 PM #

    ^ Noah You absolutely could make that argument for you as head coach. I don’t think, however, you could make that argument for HWSNBN, or for any of the AD’s we’ve had since Valvano as an AD. THAT was my point. For me, that is a requirement to be the head BBall coach at State, but by no means is it the only requirement.

    I also agree that you need not be an alum to understand this. I certainly didn’t want to start a Sidney Lowe discussion as this thread was intended, in my mind anyway, to examine the management philosophy that prompted UNC-CH and UCLA to make far more “drastic” moves than our administration would ever make.

  11. kyjelly 04/01/2008 at 12:08 PM #

    ^I am afraid it will always have to be about ,Lee or Sid here I beleive they are responsible for a great deal of discussions here.

  12. Rick 04/01/2008 at 12:21 PM #

    “I am afraid it will always have to be about ,Lee or Sid here I beleive they are responsible for a great deal of discussions here.”

    When you consider that NCSU was in last place in basketball and LF bungled the bball coaching search, then it is entirely natural for a board dedicated to NCSU athletics would talk about it a fair amount.

  13. Wulfpack 04/01/2008 at 3:32 PM #

    Okie State just fired Sean Sutton after two years of NIT seasons. Not saying it is right, but some schools take action. Immediate action.

  14. john of sparta 04/01/2008 at 3:59 PM #

    incoming freshman class was in the 5th grade during 9/11.
    what, i mean WHAT to they know about Pack Pride?
    (during 5th grade…i only remember Elizabeth)

  15. Rochester 04/01/2008 at 5:12 PM #

    Sutton went 7-9 in conference and that wasn’t good enough. If he’d gone 4-12 they might have tarred and feathered him.

  16. Ed89 04/01/2008 at 6:55 PM #

    Wasn’t John Wall considering Okie State??? Man, I hope he commits to us soon.

  17. cowdog 04/01/2008 at 6:56 PM #

    For cryin’ out LOUD….what the fuh can we we show any recruit these times? Bricks and Hillx street?
    Hell, we can’t even make RBC righty ’cause there is absolutely nothin’ to do around the confines.
    City of Raleigh has as much to do with State as anyone.

  18. Wulfpack 04/03/2008 at 7:45 AM #

    Great article on just how hard it is to maintain a winning program, with GT and Maryland as case sudies:

    http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney08/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=3293539

  19. Mr.wolfpack90 04/04/2008 at 7:02 AM #

    Did anyone read the usa today article about memphis st trip to the
    final four in 1985? They had an assistant coach named lee fowley under dana kirk. It is a tragic story of violations,death,drug abuse and conviction of crimes by the head coach whom lee fowler was an assistant.
    Is this a cautionary tale or what?
    Would this kind of thing hurt someones resume?
    How did lee fowler get to be the ad at nc state?
    If i had this on my resume i would not be able to work at mcdonald’s.

1 … 4 5 6

Leave a Reply