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. bradleyb123 06/04/2009 at 9:41 AM #

    ^ “If Sid does not make the NCAA Tournament this year he will be on the hot seat next year…Period…That’s the reality of his situation, cut and dry, debate all you want.”

    I think so, too. But I just don’t think he’s on the hot seat this year. He can use this year to boost his standing (or hurt his standing) NEXT year. But I think the only way Sid loses his job this year is to have a complete and total meltdown of a season, even worse than the last two seasons. I just don’t see that happening.

    The only other way Sid could be fired is if it’s true that he did something that the general public is not aware of, that landed him on probation with the university, as someone has mentioned. If that’s the case, I’d say all bets are off. But based on basketball stuff only, I don’t see Sid being on the hot seat THIS year. Maybe next year, but not this year.

  2. VaWolf82 06/04/2009 at 9:49 AM #

    …I guess you failed to notice the improved play by _______ as the season went on. In theory, they will develop a little more, and they are both a year older in 2009. I believe we might be OK with them…

    I’ve lost count of the number of times something like this has been said for some bad situation on BB and FB over the last several years. Other than Russell Wilson, I can’t think of one that has worked out as “predicted”. Which of course doesn’t “predict” anything about State’s PG play next year. But hopefully it explains my reluctance to expect dramatic improvements “just because”.

  3. Thinkpack17 06/04/2009 at 9:59 AM #

    ^I don’t think it’s the case “just because”. I think our PG situation will be better because everyone else’s will have gotten much worse. Well except maybe Clemson, Duke, Virginia and Gtech. Pretty solid logic.

  4. Tampa-Pack 06/04/2009 at 10:07 AM #

    ^ Woo-hoo, so what your saying is the talent that we put on the floor this year might have us finishing in about the middle of the conference because a lot of teams lost a lot of great talent. Great! Does that same logic also mean that when the rest of the conference reloads, we can return to our 10th place finish?

  5. Thinkpack17 06/04/2009 at 10:16 AM #

    ^If Javi doesn’t learn anything this year and Sid can’t get our Freshman to make the typical jump you see from freshman to sophmore year at “well coached” ACC schools…yes…that is exactly what will happen.

    I haven’t posted in a while and in the spirit of full disclosure I would like to remind people that I am one of the ones who look for a bump next year. I’m a “next year optimist”.

  6. VaWolf82 06/04/2009 at 11:00 AM #

    I think our PG situation will be better because everyone else’s will have gotten much worse.

    I never realized that the “Mind of LF” was actually a contagious disease.

  7. Thinkpack17 06/04/2009 at 11:18 AM #

    VaWolf82,

    Save the snarky insults. They are just obscure enough to hide blatant douche-baggery, but they aren’t needed. I’ve always been respectful, so relax. I’m simply stating facts. You’ve said yourself our PG situation is the same…the rest of the league’s is worse. It’s fact.

  8. VaWolf82 06/04/2009 at 12:21 PM #

    It’s fact.

    Nope, you’re stating opinions/projections as fact in an attempt to support your WTNY outlook. It’s a fact that several teams are losing PGs. It’s just your opinion that State’s PGs will be better than the other team’s replacements.

  9. packalum44 06/04/2009 at 12:36 PM #

    PG Situation:

    Javi and Farnold were not, are not, and will never be ACC caliber point guards. Non-ACC caliber defined: player SHOULD not be playing significant minutes in the ACC. They were, are, and will be the worst PGs in the league, bar none. They could not, can not, and will never be able to perform the most basic duty of a point guard, which is dribble the round leather ball up the court without turning it over. This does not take a NCAA head coach to notice this talent deficiency.

    Mays is the only PG who played last year who has the talent to EVENTUALLY be an ACC caliber 1-guard. As mentioned above, this entails dribbling the round leather ball up the court without it bouncing off your foot while under pressure. Will it be his sophomore year? We’ll see. I do know that he SHOULD have played significantly more minutes last year, especially down the stretch as he would have been better prepared. I also know that there are 11 more coaches in the ACC who would give any player, including our PG, a better chance to DEVELOP in a timely and effective fashion.

    By all accounts, Lorenzo is the most talented scoring 2-guard NC State will have since who???? Monroe? Sad I know. He will likely be the best ball handler NC State has and therefore will play significant minutes at the 1.

    Whoever the 1-guard is and however good they are (or improved meaning they are still the worst PG in ACC but not by as wide a margin) is not my biggest concern. Sorry to be a cynic (realist) but I don’t have the luxury of viewing the world through rose colored glasses.

  10. Thinkpack17 06/04/2009 at 12:50 PM #

    “It’s just your opinion that State’s PGs will be better than the other team’s replacements.”

    Please tell me where I said that. I never said that. Javi may get roasted next year… but I will tell you Drew II won’t roast him like Lawson did. Douglas’s replacement won’t roast us like Douglas did. Ty Rice’s replacement won’t roast us like Ty did. I said we will be better off than last year because these players will be gone. If you want to pick a fight to show how much of a FDBKIAFF you are then you should go to one of the other, far-more opinionated optimists.

  11. VaWolf82 06/04/2009 at 1:13 PM #

    Please tell me where I said that

    Unless you intended this as sarcasm….

    I think our PG situation will be better because everyone else’s will have gotten much worse. Well except maybe Clemson, Duke, Virginia and Gtech. Pretty solid logic.

    I had to LOL at your next spin:
    Javi may get roasted next year… but I will tell you Drew II won’t roast him like Lawson did….

    If State’s PGs get roasted next year, State will still lose. It won’t really matter whether the roasting was “worse” or not.

    ———–
    If you want to pick a fight to show how much of a FDBKIAFF you are then you should go to one of the other, far-more opinionated optimists.

    Chill out. I’m not picking on anyone for being an optimist…Just pointing out that opinions are not facts…and that opinions will vary.

  12. PackerInRussia 06/04/2009 at 1:28 PM #

    It doesn’t matter how hot Lowe’s seat is. Fowler will be standing right next to him with a cold glass of lemonade and a cool, wet rag to wipe away the sweat.

    Looks like Doherty’s “destination job” isn’t working out. I guess he wasn’t their “destination coach.”

  13. bradleyb123 06/04/2009 at 1:34 PM #

    ^ “But hopefully it explains my reluctance to expect dramatic improvements “just because”.”

    I didn’t say there would be dramatic improvement. If there’s any improvement at all from the end of last year, I’ll be pleased with it. If there’s not, I’ll be happy if Javi and Mays simply play like they played down the stretch last year. If they do that, we’ll be just fine.

    Basically, nobody knows how we’ll be this year. We can probably agree on that. With five guys gone and six new guys replacing them, how can anyone of us pretend to know how we will be this year (good or bad) ? We don’t. What we DO know is that Sid produced the 11th ranked recruiting class. Considering his position and State’s performance over the last three years, I’d say I’m pretty pleased with that. Of course, they can fall flat on their faces. Sometimes highly-rated classes do that. But we DO have some highly-rated guys coming in, and one of the best PG’s in the nation in 2010. And given that many expect the ACC to be down overall only helps us that much more. It’s good news that we could have an “easy year” while our guys get their first year of experience.

    I just don’t get all the negativity toward Sid, even when he does something good (like this recruiting haul). None of us are happy about the last three years. But good lord, what more can the man do at this point to please you people? I suppose he could have pulled in the top ranked recruiting class, but then the negative nancies would be on here talking about how sometimes highly-rated classes flop (that has already been done on this thread). The point is, you will FIND things to complain about, even when he does something right.

    I sure hope recruits and their families are not on these blogs. I keep wishing everyone would just sit tight and see what happens, and complain when the time is right and justified to complain. Complaining now is useless and serves no purpose whatsoever.

  14. Thinkpack17 06/04/2009 at 1:39 PM #

    “I think our PG situation will be better because everyone else’s will have gotten much worse. Well except maybe Clemson, Duke, Virginia and Gtech. Pretty solid logic.”

    No it wasn’t sarcasm…you may need to read it a bit closer though. I didn’t say that our PG situation will be better THAN anyone’s. I was stating that everyone in the league will probably be stuck with a lesser PG than they had the year before. But Clemson, Duke, Virginia and Gtech may be in a better spot. Got it?

    “If State’s PGs get roasted next year, State will still lose. It won’t really matter whether the roasting was “worse” or not.”

    Absolute rubbish opinion if I’ve ever heard one. If we hold Calathas to an All-SEC night rather than an all world night we win that game. You could say the same for @ BC, @ Davidson and Maryland at home.

    “Chill out. I’m not picking on anyone for being an optimist…Just pointing out that opinions are not facts…and that opinions will vary.”

    I am always very chill. But when people start to compare me to Lee Fowler I get unchill…just for future discussions. Don’t insult me and we will be the bestest of friends.

  15. NCSU4ever 06/04/2009 at 2:03 PM #

    Many of the problems of the last 3 seasons can be directly attributed to the coaching, “chemistry issues” the season Hickson played, failure to recruit a better class in 2008, bizzare substitutions last season, Brandon Costners lack of motivation. This season things are looking up on the recruiting front we have a solid class this year and probaly will again in ’10 as well. Firing Lowe now or next season would be a major set back to recruiting over the next few seasons, let’s just hope Lowe can improve as much in the other areas of coaching as well as he has in recruiting. With LF at the helm what chance would we really have of getting a substantially better coach anyway.

  16. VaWolf82 06/04/2009 at 2:51 PM #

    But when people start to compare me to Lee Fowler I get unchill

    LF used the exact same logic after the 2005 basketball season. When you use lines from LF, expect to get compared to him.

  17. Thinkpack17 06/04/2009 at 4:24 PM #

    Pretty unfair.

  18. bradleyb123 06/04/2009 at 4:31 PM #

    ^ “This season things are looking up on the recruiting front we have a solid class this year and probably will again in ‘10 as well. Firing Lowe now or next season would be a major set back to recruiting over the next few seasons”

    This is exactly what I’ve been saying since the getgo on this blog. This is also a big part of why I don’t think Sid is on the hot seat this year. Maybe next year. It would take a collapse of epic proportions for Sid to get fired this year. Just look at what it took to get Amato fired. Had we not lost 7 straight games his final season as coach, he might still be here even now. Historically-speaking, it takes a LOT for an NC State coach to get on the hot seat.

  19. bradleyb123 06/04/2009 at 4:35 PM #

    Question for those of you that think Sid needs to go:

    If Sid was just hired at the end of the 2008-9 season, and brought in these recruits, would you be happy with him right now?

    I believe the anti-Sid contingent is so upset about the last three years, they don’t care one iota what he does going forward. He had three bad years, so he can do nothing right any more. Why not give him a chance with this class and see what he can do?

  20. bradleyb123 06/04/2009 at 4:40 PM #

    It may look like I’m trying to completely discard the last three years of Sid’s “job performance”. I’m really not. I question some of his substitutions this year. But I also know I was not sitting on that bench. We don’t know what was going on, or why he substituted strangely at times. I’ll be watching for that this year.

    I’m just willing to give him the benefit of the doubt now that he has all these new recruits coming in. No one can blame anything on Herb any more. The only excuse Sid will have this year is that these kids are freshmen. I’m just willing to wipe the slate clean and judge Sid from scratch with his own recruits, because I want him to succeed. Another coaching change would be another huge setback, and I don’t see the need to risk that given the great recruiting he is doing now. And it only seems to be getting better and better. I can only imagine how good his recruiting will be once this team adds some success to its resume.

  21. VaWolf82 06/04/2009 at 5:19 PM #

    I believe the anti-Sid contingent is so upset about the last three years, they don’t care one iota what he does going forward.

    It would be interesting to see how many quotes you could find to support this position. I don’t think that many (or possibly any) of the posters here fit this description.

    The large majority of the posts about Sidney’s future focus on what State needs to accomplish next year. That doesn’t sound like fans that don’t care about what happens going forward.

  22. packalum44 06/04/2009 at 5:23 PM #

    I am happy we have a good class. I hope it turns out well. However, guess who landed the 10th ranked recruiting class? Sean Miller. He did it in less than a month.

    Sid will get his year with this recruiting class and if God lifts his curse on NC State athletics which would involve (A) Sid will get a lobotomy and have a brain transplant and become a good coach or (B) We’ll get a new coach who will take the players on the team and win with them. Folks, we’ve had talent the past two seasons. Other teams would have KILLED to have Costner/McCauley and Fells to a lesser extent. We lost several games we should have won. Period. Last chance coach. No BS excuses. No more optimistic fantasies.

    Win or move it on up here to DC with me where I’ll happily support Lowe as an assistant for another cursed team, the Wizards. There is a market for Lowe as an assistant coach where GMs and head coaches actually offer him jobs. There is no market for him as a head coach as no one has called him to offer him another head coaching position. Fowler won’t fire him b/c it signifies his horrible hiring failure in the first place among many other reasons.

  23. Thinkpack17 06/04/2009 at 5:37 PM #

    Let’s try this…maybe it won’t get deleted.

    “LF used the exact same logic after the 2005 basketball season. When you use lines from LF, expect to get compared to him.”

    He was bound to get one right. Lee Fowler has walked into the Angus Barn and been quoted as saying “I’ll have the Prime Rib.” I myself have been also quoted as saying “I’ll have the Prime Rib.” And it was in the exact same establishment! Oh no!

    Anyone who thinks ACC PG play will be worse next year than it was this year has a “Mind of LF”? Oh NO! On top of that I can no longer eat prime rib! Oh no!

    Respectfully yours,

    Disgusted.

  24. bradleyb123 06/05/2009 at 10:05 AM #

    “I am happy we have a good class. I hope it turns out well. However, guess who landed the 10th ranked recruiting class? Sean Miller. He did it in less than a month.”

    I didn’t say Sid wasn’t behind. It took him three years. But he did it with two straight seasons of less than 16 wins. Sid had no recruiting contacts when he came here. He was behind the curve from the start.

    packalum44, I cringe when I read posts like yours and sincerely hope no potential recruits or their families and friends are reading these blogs. Be negative if you must. I just wish you would keep it to yourself until being negative publicly is actually warranted and will serve a purpose. Tell me, what BENEFIT (any at all) does it do to be down on Sid right now? I want to know. I would love to hear it. I’ve named a negative result from your posts (possibly hurting recruiting). Can you name a single positive about being negative on here?

    Some people feel big when they take opposing viewpoints. I think that is the case here. I think it makes them feel cool and intellectual or something. And when a coach eventually fails, they get to say “told ya so”.

    Why not save the complaining for February, 2010? If at that time you still want Sidney gone, get on these blogs and blast away. Write letters to the editor of the N&O. Write your congressman. What’s the point in doing it NOW? We ARE still recruiting for 2010 you know. And Sid is NOT going anywhere now, for sure.

  25. Thinkpack17 06/05/2009 at 10:52 AM #

    PackAlum,

    “Whoever the 1-guard is and however good they are (or improved meaning they are still the worst PG in ACC but not by as wide a margin) is not my biggest concern.”

    And you also say there is a good chance Lo Brown logs minutes at the 1. So without ever seeing this kid play a minute of college ball you are saying that he will surely be the worst PG in the league. I think I am reading that correctly.

    Now I’m not big on bashing college kids playing ball to get an education, and I’m definately not going to bash one of our kids, I can see where there may be a place for it. But for the sake of Pete, please let the poor kid miss a shot or log a turnover in a State uniform before you call him the worst in the league. Come on.

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