Fox Sports places Coach Lowe on hotseat (again)

09-10 Basketball Sidney Lowe114

I am sure that some coo-coo for coco puffs ‘hater’ of SFN will somehow blame us for this article, but please note that we are only linking to stories in the national press while generally stating the obvious. There is not much that we can do about the fact that a real world revolves out there whether some of you psychopaths wished that you could create your own reality and not have to deal with the real world.

Fox Sports came out with their listing of College Basketball “Coaches on the Hotseat” today and our own Sidney Lowe is listed as the coach on the #2 hottest seat in the country. (LOL! If only these morons knew how things worked in Raleigh.)

Sidney hotseat

This year’s list has a decided Atlantic Coast Conference & local flavor; and, the irony that Coach Lowe and Dereck Whittenburg occupy two of the top five spots on the list won’t be lost on any Wolfpacker. Included on the list are the following:

(1) Jerry Wainwright, DePaul
(2) Sidney Lowe, NC State

(5) Dereck Whittenburg, Fordham

The Rams coach has virtually nothing going for him these days. He lost his second-best player, Mike Moore, and his best player, Jio Fontan, is leaving despite the school’s flat-out refusal to release him. Fordham finished 12th in the A-10 two years ago and was 3-25 overall and 1-15 in league play last season.

(6) Matt Doherty (former UNC-CH player and Head Coach)

Things haven’t exactly worked out well since he was forced out of Chapel Hill. Doherty needs to win this season after a 46-74 mark in four seasons — including a 9-21 campaign and a last-place finish in C-USA last season.

(7) Pat Kennedy, Towson (former Florida State coach)
(9) Jeff Lebo, Auburn (former UNC-CH player)
(10) Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech
(11) Bobby Gonzalez, Seton Hall (former UVa assistant)

These lists rile my up sometimes; particularly lists that can be influenced by Jeff Goodman, who knows ACC Basketball so well that he said the following before last season.

Three ACC coaches — Maryland’s Gary Williams, N.C. State’s Sidney Lowe and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton — are feeling a little heat to win. My guess is at least one of them is history after the season. But which one?

Ahhh…how about none of them, Jeff?

Good old Goodman. The man who must run around with pictures of Herb Sendek in his wallet; because – in case you did not realize this – Herb Sendek coached at NC State. No really. You see, if you ever see anything written by Jeff Goodman related to NC State, then you will undoubtedly be reminded that Herb Sendek was once our coach. No kidding. If the guy knows anything else about NC State Basketball then I would be shocked, because – even before the 2009-2010 season Goodman still can’t get past 2006. In today’s article we get the following:

Sidney Lowe, N.C. State – It’s one of those “be careful what you wish for” deals. Wolfpack fans ran Herb Sendek out of Raleigh despite five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. Lowe is 51-46 in his three seasons without an NCAA tournament bid and this is a make or break year.

Come on folks. You can remember. Don’t you remember how those evil NC State fans just happened to ‘run off’ a coach who chose to leave with multiple years remaining on his contract? And, how much of a coincidence was it that the coach was returning only one scholarship player who had any college basketball experience? Isn’t it amazing that after six years of ‘pressure’ from those mean NC State fans that Coach Sendek just happened to coincidentally CHOOSE to leave prior to the one particular year he had nobody returning?

(This is where I have to link this entry that gets me so friggin angry that I cannot even bring myself to expand my comments. But, of course, does anyone doubt WHY or how NC State fans got the brand that we have with the stenographers, uh, I mean reporters in the media).

But, I digress. Sorry.

One thing that is nice about much of Jeff Goodman’s stuff is that he saves me a lot of time coming up with new work. Since all he does is regurgitate so much of the same information, it allows us to do the same. Check out my insightful comments from this entry last year.

SFN Note:
Allow me to remind you where Jeff Goodman stands on his opinions of NC State:

“Whether it’s Sidney Lowe, Rick Barnes or John Calipari, it doesn’t really matter. There’s no way N.C. State will be able to topple the powers-that-be on Tobacco Road.” — Jeff Goodman, MSNBC

I don’t know how it escapes so many people’s radar and conversations…but, Jeff Goodman was listed as an author at PackPride.com in the early years of the site. Sometimes he will blog some insightful information that you don’t get from some other national coverage – like last year’s preseason blog entry about Farnold Degand.

But, far too often Goodman goes the confrontational direction with WolfpackNation. It perplexes me how often he seeks to criticize NC State’s fans and try to drum up controversy in columns that he authors even in non-controversial times – like these absurd comments about Coach Lowe approaching a ‘hot seat’ in just his third season and with fantastic recruiting momentum building for the foreseeable future.

I know that part of the source of this is his huge love and respect for Herb Sendek, but it doesn’t make the unprofessional behavior justifiable. How was this guy ever an author for an NC State website when he continuously proves that so many of his views about NC State are so grossly disconnected from reality?

See how easy that is? Fits PERFECTLY! Thanks, Jeff!

I am not arguing the fact that the time for Coach Lowe to produce on the court has arrived. But, Coach Lowe’s seat is not so unbearably hot that only an NCAA Tournament appearance can save his job. Many fans will argue with me; but, if this season’s particularly young team shows major progress in fundamentals and defense while earning at least an NIT berth then I believe that the recruitment of Ryan Harrow (and who knows who else) will be enough to provide Coach Lowe a fifth season of opportunity.

Today I prefer to focus on the dynamics of this list and not focus on setting standards for Coach Lowe. With that said, another version of the list – this one by choosing one coach per conference – can be seen by clicking here.

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09-10 Basketball Sidney Lowe

114 Responses to Fox Sports places Coach Lowe on hotseat (again)

  1. tvp1 06/02/2009 at 11:00 AM #

    Getting back to the point of the column, I’m not sure that Lowe’s seat is as hot as this column speculates. However, based on some conversations I heard this past weekend, I think Lowe is at the “shit or get off the pot” point with at least some influential people. What exact level of success he needs to meet is probably not clear to anyone right now.

  2. bradleyb123 06/02/2009 at 11:09 AM #

    I disagree with the assertion that Sid is in the hot seat. In the hot seat with who? Certainly not the administration! There are fans that would say he’s on the hot seat, and for them, he has been there since he arrived in Raleigh. But their opinions will not affect Sid’s job status. Sid has two more years MINIMUM, unless the team has some kind of meltdown and wins just 10 games or something.

    I think the powers that be knew when we hired Sid that he would be getting on-the-job training, and that the rebuilding job would be a five year ordeal at a minimum. The way I see it, Sid is still on schedule.

    And with the recruits we have, I believe we have a decent shot at making the NCAAT anyway. Sid’s in a good situation even if he IS in some kind of hot seat.

  3. BJD95 06/02/2009 at 11:26 AM #

    As tvp notes, it’s not the administration. The major donors are the folks with whom Lowe is on the hot seat. Ask Chuck Amato if their opinion matters.

    If we went winless this season, Fowler would still be in Lowe’s corner (since he doesn’t have a child on the team). Everybody knows that.

  4. Greywolf 06/02/2009 at 11:41 AM #

    “The fan base has made it’s opinion with respect to him (about 85% of us view his performance as poor).”

    While not disagreeing with this, I have a question. Where did the fan base make its opinion known? (SFN is not the fan base. Not this site nor any site for that matter is “the fan base.” A more accurate portrayal of the fan base would be the WPC.)

  5. CStanley 06/02/2009 at 11:44 AM #

    I was listening to the Ovies-Gold idiotic conversation this morning. Wow, quite a stretch by Gold.

    Was so glad they took the “James” call. A level headed NC State fan who forced Gold to back track on his comments. I think he spoke for the vast majority of Pack fans who want to see Lowe succeed but are fed up with the lack of results (and leadership).

    Gold used to be decent. Now, all that duo does in the mornings is use internet/blog fodder to generate a “show”. 80% of what Ovies says comes from message boards & blogs. That station has jumped the shark for quite some time.

  6. Greywolf 06/02/2009 at 12:00 PM #

    Here is a slightly different look at the basketball program. While it doesn’t analyze recruiting and post season success, it is an attempt to look from the administration POV.

    The university administration and the athletic department administration seems to be frequently viewed as separate from the basketball program. This may be totally correct but from all that I have read and heard from those two admins, the three of them worked together to create a plan for success with a time-line and milestones.
    Expecting the admins to use any criteria other than the time-line and milestones THEY created is mental masterbation. Ignoring that timeline and those milestones is to ignore reality.

    Berating HWSNBN for leaving the NCSU bb program in the state it was in (as he should be) in one breath and judging SL’s record in that very program in the next breath calls to question our sanity. Oh wait, it is the lunatic fringe doing this. Of course it’s insane.

    Perhaps my construction background has me allow for time to build a foundation when judging whether or not a construction (or re-construction) project is on time or not. Even then progress can only be judged against milestones and time-line. Rebuilding on a solid foundation is not the same and should not be measured the same way as the rebuilding process that includes building a foundation, which is the program SL found when he got here.

    BTW In construction some superintendents are really good at getting the building out of the ground, while others are really good at getting one dried in. Still others are considered to be “Finish” superintendents — guys who know how to get the building completed.

    Continuing that analogy some coaches may be really good recuiters (foundation builders), while others may be great at Xs and Os. Still others are better at skills development. A head coach better know his weaknesses and strengths and hire assistants who complement his talents. Only time will tell whether SL can and has hired the right assistants. With some it looks like he has and some are mysteries to me. Well, maybe one. Do we really need 2 former point guards from different eras?

    Unfortunately too many HCs hire assistants that compliment them, not complement them.

    No matter what the talents of his assistants, the HC has to run the game. This is an area that is suspect with Sid. Perhaps with the experience of 3 years past, he has garnered enough ability to do an acceptable job. Roy seems to have overcome his short-comings in this area.

    The job of rebuilding the program should not be cut short due to the W/L record Sid puts up. Give him the time and space to do that before sending him packing. Like it or not, building a successful program will, however, make it even more diffucult to replace him if he doesn’t want to go.

  7. VaWolf82 06/02/2009 at 12:01 PM #

    There are fans that would say he’s on the hot seat…But their opinions will not affect Sid’s job status. Sid has two more years MINIMUM

    Why is your opinion of Sid’s job security more accurate than others?

    As BJD pointed out, job security for a coach depends on alot more than just the AD. I don’t pretend to know what the big boys are thinking, but there is plenty of historical evidence to show that there are definite limits on their patience with FB and BB coaches that continually post losing records.

  8. Greywolf 06/02/2009 at 12:12 PM #

    “Was so glad they took the “James” call. A level headed NC State fan who forced Gold to back track on his comments. I think he spoke for the vast majority of Pack fans who want to see Lowe succeed but are fed up with the lack of results (and leadership).”

    Don’t know about the leadership part but to be “fed up with lack of results shows either a lack of knowledge about the condition of the bb program when Sid took it over OR a lack of maturity. Wanting a miracle and being “fed up” when it doesn’t happen are not congruous IMNSHO and are the kind of expectations and reactions associated with those of children.

  9. Clarksa 06/02/2009 at 12:18 PM #

    “3) Local sports talk radio likes to stir up shit for ratings. Sadly, that is just how the business model operates. Save yourself the blood pressure elevation and don’t listen to it. It’s never, ever going to get any better.”

    Its the same thing for these stupid columnists on web pages…They are just trying to generate hits on their website…I shouldn’t have to remind you guys here to…

    IGNORE HIM!
    – Don’t waste time refuting his silliness.
    – Don’t waste time getting mad.
    – DON’T GO TO HIS WEB PAGE.
    – Just ignore him. He probably won’t go away….but does it (or Doyel/Goodman) really matter?

    Don’t feed the troll…

  10. BJD95 06/02/2009 at 12:20 PM #

    The AD’s office and general university administration has no plan or expectation for success. They just kind of hope for it.

  11. PackMan97 06/02/2009 at 1:28 PM #

    No one *wants* to lose in order to get rid of someone. Even in the darkest day tight compartment, the folks that were unhappy with Herb would have turned right around and started praising him if he started winning ACC titles and going to Final Fours. The problem lies in “wanting someone to lose” is the person that wishes that has lost all faith in the coach to succeed. In that environment it’s entirely rational to feel that if a coach is gonna suck and underachieve, can’t they do it a bit quicker so they’ll get fired.

    It’s the same with Lowe/Fowler. The “crap or get off the pot” comment is spot on…except it’s “win or leave”. All we want is to win, anything that brings that day to us quicker is desireable. I’d love to have TOB playing in BCS bowls and Lowe cutting down nets. Heck, if Fowler is standing there next to them, so what? We are winning all will be good and Fowler will be doing his job.

  12. bradleyb123 06/02/2009 at 1:40 PM #

    ^ “Why is your opinion of Sid’s job security more accurate than others?”

    Because most of the “others” only look at his win-loss record, and/or his record against the Big Four. (I’m not talking about the others on this blog, just “the others” in general). I used to be against Sidney until I started looking more closely at what he has done. I realized he was willing to change things that aren’t working. I realized that he has developed some of his players. I realized that Herb’s leftovers (our so-called “best players”) were not made for the uptempo style that Sid wants to run here. But mostly, I realize that three years is not enough, especially when a coach inherited a program in as bad a shape as State’s was in when he took over (and not just personnel-wise, but reputation-wise). I also look at what Sid did on the recruiting trail this year, even if it took him three years to get to this point. For a coach to recruit the way Sidney has, given the lack of success on the court, tells me we may just have a recruiting juggernaut in Sidney.

    And some people are just ticked off because we haven’t beaten Carolina in a while? And they want to rip him out just when he’s (finally) getting going?

    I’m sorry, but I do value my opinion over people that haven’t considered those things. Too many just care about wins. If you have, and you have reached a different conclusion, I respect that, although I disagree.

    The time for Sidney to produce is in the next two years, based on his recruiting alone, never mind the other positives I mentioned about him. Some may view him as being on the hot seat, but I say he isn’t. Not yet. And he shouldn’t be. Not yet.

  13. Alpha Wolf 06/02/2009 at 1:43 PM #

    “[Adam Gold] said something about NC State fans are too internet savvy and that people who are happy about their sports teams don’t start blogs.”

    ‘Sure, right. I guess that paints all of the UNC blogs as unhappy campers by extension.

  14. Alpha Wolf 06/02/2009 at 1:55 PM #

    As tvp notes, it’s not the administration. The major donors are the folks with whom Lowe is on the hot seat. Ask Chuck Amato if their opinion matters. — BJD

    Repeated for those who might have missed it.

    It matter less what we (fans) think, what writers think, or even what makes common sense. All that matters is what THEY think, because in effect the folks that write the seven-figure checks “own” the basketball team.

  15. harrisek 06/02/2009 at 2:23 PM #

    In their haste to bash NC State fans, the national media totally whiffed on the fact that Herb Sendek is extremely thin-skinned for a coach in a major conference. He couldn’t handle fan criticism, so he bolts. Says more about the coach than the fans.

  16. bradleyb123 06/02/2009 at 2:33 PM #

    ^ “It matter less what we (fans) think, what writers think, or even what makes common sense. All that matters is what THEY think, because in effect the folks that write the seven-figure checks “own” the basketball team.”

    That’s the truth. Their opinions are the only ones that really matter. If they wanted Sid gone, he’d be gone. At some point, Sid has to win. That’s true for most every coach in the nation. But that group of big-time donors sure put up with a lot of losing on Herb’s part. With the current recruiting class, I just find it VERY hard to believe that Sid is on the hot seat. If we lose a lot this year, I think NEXT year he will certainly be on the hot seat. I just can’t imagine them holding the fire to Sid THIS year, with the recruiting momentum that we have right now. I hope they’re smarter than the average joe fan that just wants wins and wants them NOW.

  17. VaWolf82 06/02/2009 at 2:52 PM #

    I’m sorry, but I do value my opinion over people that haven’t considered those things.

    Unless your last name is Fowler, Oblinger, Murphy, Vaughn, etc, then your opinion on what should be considered is of no more value than those that say Sid needs to win this year or be fired. I’m not taking sides in this argument (mostly because I don’t feel like arguing opinions), but it just struck me as funny that you proclaimed that other opinions were WRONG and that your’s was RIGHT.

    I just can’t imagine

    A line of argument based on your imagination is also not convincing.

  18. ryebread 06/02/2009 at 3:06 PM #

    Quoted from above with Grey:
    “The fan base has made it’s opinion with respect to him (about 85% of us view his performance as poor).”

    While not disagreeing with this, I have a question. Where did the fan base make its opinion known? (SFN is not the fan base. Not this site nor any site for that matter is “the fan base.” A more accurate portrayal of the fan base would be the WPC.)

    —————————————–

    Grey: I don’t think there’s any one “voice of the fan base” that any fan base has. There are many individual voices — the internet being one segment. In that segment, Fowler’s disapproval rating is probably closer to 99%.

    I’m basing my opinion though on interacting with segments of the fan base beyond the internet — specifically be interacting with other common fans that attend the games. From my informal straw poll, I’d say fan dissatisfaction with LF as the steward of the overall athletics program is probably 90%.

    Now, admittedly, I don’t have purvey into the minds of the big money donors. I actually think LF’s approval rating with them is probably much closer to 50-60% positive or he wouldn’t still be here.

    My guess on the administration is that they’re probably about 80% pro-LF. He runs things on the cheap and doesn’t rock the boat. That’s what I think they want. They won’t do anything unless forced by the big money donors to the point where they can’t ignore the screaming from the little guys.

    When I put that all together, I figure about 85% of the fan base wants LF gone. The problem (if you’re like me and think that LF is an albatross to athletic success at NC State) is that the most influential people make up the 15%.

    My only hope is that LF leaves on his own accord. If the administration has it’s way, we’ll see another 10 glorious years of Lee.

  19. Dr. BadgerPack 06/02/2009 at 3:51 PM #

    The single most important thing to Lowe right now is keeping Harrow in the mix. He may turn out to be the best recruiter for State in the immediate future (no offense to the coaching staff).

    Winning, however, certainly won’t hurt. It would be nice if the fifth year wasn’t a big question mark, and this can be assured only through immediate on-court success. We have Florida on our homecourt this season, and this game will probably illustrate exactly how the season will go (I anticipate, through numbers and athletism, that we will finally be able to dominate lesser competition). This is a must-win game, as difficult as that is to say in early June.

  20. newt 06/02/2009 at 3:52 PM #

    Here’s an eye-opening observation – when hired, Lowe passed the NCAA compliance test on June 19th. Think about the recruiting that has occured since the season ended until now and chew on that. He started coaching NC State on June 19th.

  21. bradleyb123 06/02/2009 at 4:15 PM #

    Yes, VaWolf. My opinion is worth more than people that have put no more thought into this than Lowe’s win-loss total. Plus, I’m smarter than most people on the planet. Stick with me on most issues, because I’m pretty much ALWAYS right. 🙂

  22. bradleyb123 06/02/2009 at 4:22 PM #

    But seriously, I think the powers that be hired Sidney knowing it would be AT LEAST this long before he had his uptempo system in place. That’s why I don’t believe he is on the hot seat THIS year. (I mean, he could really do a horrible job, lose every game on the schedule, and get canned…) But it’s only his fourth year, and I’ve read things that lead me to believe Lowe would get the full number of years on his contract.

    I just don’t think he’s on the hot seat yet. And looking at this logically, if Sid pulled in these same recruits in his first year, would we EXPECT him to win 25 games, make it to the dance, etc., with them? No, but I think we would expect more and more each year that followed, possibly with the second year. So why wouldn’t they give him the same year or two NOW? Sid was a little late getting to this point, granted. But he’s here now. He has his recruits, and a pretty darn impressive list of them. It boggles the mind to think the big money donors would say he HAS to win and win NOW when most of the team are true freshmen. It defies logic, I’m sorry.

  23. VaWolf82 06/02/2009 at 4:48 PM #

    It defies logic,

    The validity of a logical conclusion depends on having all of the pertinent facts that relate to a particular situation. In your logical evaluation, you appear to be ignoring some pretty strong hints that the dissatisfaction with Sidney among the big donors extends beyond wins, losses, and recruiting. IF these hints are correct, then you lack some key pieces of information that others are using to draw their conclusions. (and the conclusions that the big money donors reach matter a lot more than your’s or mine.)

    I think the powers that be

    Your guesses on the state of mind of others do nothing to support your line of argument. In fact, there is nothing to say that the PTB still have the same state of mind that they had when Sid was hired.

    I just don’t think he’s on the hot seat yet.

    So you think that Sidney’s job is secure even if State wins only five ACC games again this year (which is his average to date)? I’m not nearly so sure.

  24. bradleyb123 06/02/2009 at 5:08 PM #

    ^ “So you think that Sidney’s job is secure even if State wins only five ACC games again this year (which is his average to date)? I’m not nearly so sure.”

    I don’t know that there is a simple answer to that question. I think it depends on HOW we lose those games. I think it also depends on our overall record, if we make it into the postseason, etc.

    I didn’t say Sid couldn’t coach his way out of a job this year. He can. I don’t know exactly what it would take, though. So I guess I have to backtrack a little and concede that his seat is a little warm, but not hot. Like I said, I think if we make some progress this year (at SOME point, we have to eventually, or we’ll have to let Sid go), then Sid will be OK. I just don’t think the powers that be are sitting there saying WIN OR BE GONE! But I do think Sid will be evaluated at the end of this year as to how well he did as a coach (beyond the W-L record). If things are unacceptably bad, then he could be gone.

    I get the feeling that for some people here, no matter what Sidney does this year (short of something HUGE!) will be good enough. It is my opinion that that is not the case with the people that matter. I think they will evaluate Sidney at the end of the season. Logically, we all want progress, do we not? We all want solid recruits. Surely that includes the important people pulling the strings. It wouldn’t take a dream season for Sid to show solid progress and good recruits.

  25. bradleyb123 06/02/2009 at 5:10 PM #

    But I can’t pretend to know what those people want. I’ve read that when Sid was hired, those people knew what they were getting, and fully expected more than 4 years for Sid to get something going. I’m basing my opinion on that, too. If Sid shows some good progress this year, it would seem to follow what I think their expectations were for Sid.

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