Dave Glenn addresses Billy Donovan rumor(10 am updated)

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Dave Glenn’s twitter feed:

From DG – “Sources at Florida and N.C. State not only deny the Billy Donovan-NCSU rumor, they mock the ridiculous, illogical, completely baseless and fundamentally insane nature of the whole thing.”

————————————————————————————
It was a wild day on the Internet this afternoon as apparently erroneous rumors broke that Billy Donovan was in Raleigh visiting/interviewing for the NC State basketball position. The rumors picked up steam shortly before 5:00 pm and then reached fever pitch with this report on twitter:

979ESPNRadio 97.9 ESPN Radio

Reliable source within ESPN tells us Billy Donovan is in Raleigh interviewing for N.C. State Job. Wow.

Additionally, Mike Lederer reported:

Breaking News: Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan is currently in Raleigh, North Carolina interviewing for the vacant N.C. State head coaching position sources say.

Two sources have confirmed that Donovan is in fact in Raleigh and has likely already spoken with Athletic Director Debbie Yow.

Here is a link to Mike’s background. We have no clue if he is credible or not.

This was quickly shot down by Dave Telep of ESPN with this series of tweets(read from the bottom up):

DaveTelep Dave Telep
Billy Donovan was in Crescent Beach, Fla., most of the day today. If you pass him driving home on HWY 301, shoot him a wave!
3 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

DaveTelep Dave Telep
Regarding Donovan: two titles in Fla, helped build a church, he’s rich, well paid. Come on people, use your brains a little here.
3 hours ago

DaveTelep Dave Telep
I’m not home in Raleighwood but I know this much: Billy Donovan isn’t in Raleighwood either. He’s most definitely not a candidate at NCSU

So where does the search stand? J.P. Giglio gave us some updates tonight as well(read from the bottom up):

jpgiglio Joe Giglio
Those aren’t the only two options, just where the search is at …. both coaches still have games left
22 minutes ago Favorite Undo Retweet Reply

jpgiglio Joe Giglio
Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall, as he has been all along, and VCU’s Shaka Smart, are the main targets
27 minutes ago

jpgiglio Joe Giglio
Debbie Yow is scheduled to go to the Final Four
29 minutes ago

jpgiglio Joe Giglio
N.C. State search unlikely to end this week

At this point, it appears all big name candidates are off the board and the focus has turned to up and comers and other mid-majors. Gregg Marshall is a name that is familiar to a lot of NC State fans from his success at Winthrop and his flirtation with our job 5 years ago. So it isn’t a surprise that he would be on Yow’s list after doing a very respectable rebuilding job at Wichita St. If you weren’t watching, then Wichita St. pounded Washington St. by 30+ points tonight in the NIT semi-finals.

When Marshall’s name comes up, immediately it will draw comments about personality issues. Regardless, he has built two programs from the ground up, been to the NCAA tournament 7 times, and is making a great run in this year’s NIT. Essentially, he has done nothing but win at a high level his entire career.

There has been a trend in recent years with successful mid-majors turning down major conference opportunities. Brad Stevens stayed at Butler after the run to the finals last year. Chris Mack turned down a $2 million per year, 8 year deal from Tennessee to stay at Xavier(NCAA issues at UT might have been a concern) this weekend. Richmond’s Chris Mooney turned down Georgia Tech although it has been speculated that it may not have even been an increase in pay.

So would Marshall take our job? Opinions vary:

TheBigLead Jason Mcintyre
As of today, i heard Marshall isnt an option at NCSU. okl or stays RT @GottliebShow: My guess is NC State gets Shaka, Marshall the back-up

Fortunately for NC State, another mid-major has emerged with VCU’s amazing run to the Final Four led by Shaka Smart. Smart is charismatic, intelligent, has a chip on his shoulder, has pedigree having worked for Oliver Purnell and Billy Donovan, recruiting experience throughout NC State’s geographic region, national recruiting experience at Florida, and a style of play that will attract players and sell lots of tickets.

In terms of fit for our job, the only thing he lacks is a long track record. However, his potential and room for growth appears almost unlimited. I have said for years that the easiest way for NC State to hire an elite coach is to hire them before they establish themselves at an Arizona(Miller) or a Texas(Barnes) when hiring them away is near impossible. He is a much more attractive candidate than Sean Miller was five years ago. Miller had only been at Xavier for 2 years and his results were average relative to Thad Matta, Skip Prosser and Pete Gillen previously. Should we have hired Sean Miller?

From Smart’s perspective, the NC State job appears to be right in his sweet spot. He and his wife reside in Richmond, so Raleigh is similar enough where the move makes sense(despite three moves recently to Clemson, to Gainesville and then to Richmond). At Clemson, he recruited NC, SC, and GA. At Florida, he recruited Florida and nationally. At VCU, he surely has built connections in Richmond, Tidewater, and the DC metro area. With the buzz from the Final Four run, he should be able to keep the roster and recruiting class together to give himself a chance to win immediately.

Essentially, it is a match made in heaven from both sides and the timing is perfect. He is the hottest young coach in the country, we have a job that suits him, and we have the money to pay what he is going to command. In my opinion, he would recruit at a higher level than either Herb Sendek or Sidney Lowe who combined to bring a top 15 recruiting haul since 1998. His predecessor at VCU, Anthony Grant, got $1.8 million per year from Alabama to give you a ballpark idea of what it will take to land Smart. In my opinion, it could end up taking more than $2 million to get Shaka to Raleigh. His team is built around 4 seniors so there is a reason to cash in now. But if he wins a national title this weekend, then can he really leave?

For those holding out hope that Yow is sending smoke screens to Giglio and his pals, then one NC State website(PackInsider) has stuck to its guns that something is going on regarding Billy Donovan:

Our sources come from people involved in coaching circles. From people who are not being swayed by the Parker Search Firm and by media hype. Could we be wrong? Absolutely, we could have been wrong on every breaking story we’ve ever released, but we haven’t been. Why think that those same people are giving us bad information now? We don’t and we trust what we’ve been told

Check the link and read the whole post from Pack Insider Staff.

As far as the Donovan rumors, various authors have heard Donovan rumors for a month+ from lots of different places. However, it just never made sense to us. I did do some research into Yow’s and Donovan’s background looking for a connection or something that would give us reason to believe the rumors. I stumbled across this old article detailing how Donovan built Florida and his confrontations with South Carolina coach Eddie Fogler and then Kansas coach Roy Williams:

Similarly, Miller’s decision to forgo Lexington and, especially, Lawrence, for sunny Gainesville sent such a shock wave through college basketball that an enraged Kansas coach Roy Williams sicced the NCAA on Florida—and didn’t care who knew it. “I don’t care who Skinny signs with,” said Williams, after his final visit to Miller’s hometown last fall, “I’m turning Florida in.

Never mind that a 10-month NCAA investigation, completed in August, cleared Donovan’s staff of the five allegations made by Kansas. In the murky, rumor-fueled world of recruiting, the mere fact that Williams, a squeaky-clean figure whose public acts and words are usually about as dry as grain dust, openly went after the Gators was tantamount to releasing the Starr report.

I was vague in that entry, but it should be obvious now why that entry was posted. Might the issues with Roy/UNC be a motivating factor to take the NC State job in addition to taking on a new opportunity at a basketball school with a fan base starving for success?

In the end, it doesn’t appear likely. But things can always change.

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105 Responses to Dave Glenn addresses Billy Donovan rumor(10 am updated)

  1. PackerInRussia 03/30/2011 at 8:03 AM #

    “Plus, he doesn’t wear a tie. LOL.”

    So I’m not the only one who is bothered by that 🙂

  2. Packfan28 03/30/2011 at 8:06 AM #

    I’m in Greensboro, and this was the afternoon drive home show from Charlotte (formerly Packman’s slot). The interview was live and happened around 6:00PM. He may have gotten updated info between 6:00 and 10:00, but it was interesting the names he was guessing at became fact a few hours later.

    In any event, we should know this time next week either way.

  3. PackPatriot 03/30/2011 at 8:09 AM #

    The confusion is when different admin’s post different thoughts on our program. This leads to chaos, sfn thinks this, sfn thinks that. We realize there are multiple authors but the perception – the brand – is SFN, not DU or any other admin. You all need to be somewhat careful as we feel like ping pong balls reading your various posts.

  4. PackerInRussia 03/30/2011 at 8:09 AM #

    “Can a coach,not used to recruiting against giants,be successful at State?”

    Not to knock your question or anything, but this assumes that all three schools (State, UNC, Duke) are always after the same players. You can recruit and get good players to come in without having to recruit against Roy and K.

  5. Rochester 03/30/2011 at 8:12 AM #

    Both Giglio and DeCock’s stories in the N&O this morning struck me as complete nothings. It felt like they were just grasping and trying to fill space. I didn’t feel like I had learned anything when I was done reading them.

    One point to make in comparison to the timeline of the last search: That one started after the Final Four was over. This one started before it began. That obviously has an impact on the speed at which any desired coach can be targeted. The two weeks, or whatever we’re up to now, are in no way comparable to the first two weeks of that five-week debacle.

    I’d be happy with Shaka, but more happy with Donovan or Miller.

  6. sautz 03/30/2011 at 8:18 AM #

    Even if this does last into next week, some of the more “delusional” fans can always tell themselves we are throwing the bank at Brad Stevens and not Marshall or Smart. Right??!?1

  7. Old MacDonald 03/30/2011 at 8:21 AM #

    Sportswriters are generally lazy. As a group I don’t think they have any real interest in trying to follow this story or figure it out. It is much more fun and easier for them to let sites like this and PI do the legwork of gathering the available information. Then they can use what they want. Many sportswriters now apparently think they are insult comics and that it is a good idea to taunt various fanbases, apparently not realizing that these fans are really customers. But I digress.

    Seriously, when was the last time you read something from the local sports media and said “wow, I didn’t know that,” or “that was well-written analysis”?

    If you want to learn about the UNC football scandal for example, where would you go? If you wanted information on the coaching search? With the crappy, lazy work they are doing, newspapers and other traditional media cannot be surprised that they are being driven out of business.

  8. ADVENTUROO 03/30/2011 at 8:23 AM #

    Couple of points of clarification…and comments

    Valvano had 9 years of HEAD COACHING experience. He was the Freshman coach at Rutgers then had 8 years of HC experience(total) at Johns Hopkins, Bucknell & Iona. He was 34 when we hired him. He was also a very SMART individual…if you read his book and also Tim Peeler’s Valvano section in the 100 Year History of NCSU BB.

    Lowe is a VERY INTELLIGENT and ARTICULATE individual. He came from a poor family, compared to Valvano. He did not have college educated parents and was focused on providing his family with a better life. He certainly has done that as evidenced by the size of his extended family that lives in Raleigh. With some guidance in college, he probably would have graduated. The V man, as much as I love him, depended on others to take care of the academics of the players. Coach Lowe, as you know, actually lost some games this year and last year because he would not give playing time to some folks who slacked off and skipped or missed class or were having issues.

    Smart only has, including this year, 2 years of HC experience. He worked as an assistant for 9 years and had 5 jobs. His wife is probably tired of packing and moving.

    If brains were a criteria, then we should have been a final four team with Herb. Herb graduated SUMA Cum Laude from Carnige Mellon, while smart only graduated MAGNE Cum Laude from a much smaller school.

    I don’t profess to have followed Smart, but his bio lists a fetish for “quotations” and he has a lot of the Valvano traits. Valvano would pick one subject or item to study and learn about in the off season to clear the cobwebs and increase his knowledge. He also could “quote” from the great philopshers or writers…..a lot of what he said went over the sports writers…and they never got the subtle meaning of his barbs.

    The FSU game was the game that I became a Smart fan while watching….he totally outcoached, from an X & O standpoint, Leonard Hamiliton.

    I for one, would be QUIET PLEASED with him. The folks that know him at VCU can not speak highly enough of him and this comes from some really professional folks whose judgement I trust.

    Let the dance continue….we still have one more day before the “DO OVER – NO PENALTY” clause runs out for BD, but who knows….

    Shaka and the boys are playing and it will be great to watch him against Brad Stevens…

  9. blackdom 03/30/2011 at 8:23 AM #

    So if Smart did not have this magical run with Grants players mind you ,DY is left with Marshall? The guy from Dayton is looking pretty good right now.

  10. wolfpackdawg 03/30/2011 at 8:29 AM #

    I don’t think it’s a money issue for the A-listers. I just don’t think they want to leave where they are or take on our mess. It is not appealing to them imo.

    We need to get over it and stand behind whoever is hired.

  11. albunde6 03/30/2011 at 8:29 AM #

    The point that I was trying to make on coaching selection, is that we have given of two giants. If we can not get a giant, then we need a coach who is currently competing in a conference with Giants.

    My interest is to a Stallings or a Turgeon due to fact that they are already in a major conference. If I were making this hire, then they would be on the top of my list.

    The tournament is great, but you have to compete in acc to get to tournament. As this year has shown, fifth may not get you into tournament.

  12. theTHRILL 03/30/2011 at 8:30 AM #

    BJD said – “You can start worrying Friday morning, and start panicking Saturday morning. Until then, hold tight.”

    Why would we need to panic by Saturday morning? I understand that if we’ve heard nothing by then that probably means none of the A-listers are coming, but should the fact we’ve moved on to the B-list cause “panic” in your opinion?

  13. Wulfpack 03/30/2011 at 8:35 AM #

    You can’t say that Marshall or Smart would be locked up by now IF we were on to our B list as they are still playing. Hell, Stevens is still playing. Surely there is more to come. Nobody knows anything and that’s a good thing. But if this thing carries on, I have a hard time believing we have an A list guy on the hook.

  14. ADVENTUROO 03/30/2011 at 8:36 AM #

    the THRILL,

    Just speculating…but Billy Donovan and Florida have a “DO OVER” clause that many have written about. There is a period from sometime in mid March until April 1 where either can walk away without paying the other. Technically, if this is written in contract language, then 11:59:59 PM on April 1 is the deadline for letting the other know that they are leaving or their services are no longer needed.

    Maybe others took it differently….

    That would eliminate Donovan….

  15. theTHRILL 03/30/2011 at 8:43 AM #

    I understand the supposed Donovan contract clause, but I don’t understand the need to panic if he doesn’t pan out.

  16. BJD95 03/30/2011 at 8:48 AM #

    I’m hopeful that there is a backup plan already in place for Friday if, say, Donovan has a Thursday deadline. After that, I’m worried about being overly dependent on Shaka Smart, who will know full well that he has us by the short hairs. Not a good scene.

  17. ThomYorkepack 03/30/2011 at 8:55 AM #

    BJD is exactly right.

    If this search gets to Smart, he’ll have NC State over a barrel because we HAVE to get him or the search (fairly or not) will be viewed as failure. We’ll have to ridiculously overpay to get him….and then HOPE he works out.

    And LOL at the idea of Gregg Marshall being a ‘target’. Really?

    Ugh…this is looking worse and worse by the minute. Shocker.

  18. PittsburghPackFan 03/30/2011 at 8:58 AM #

    I just decided…

    I am okay with Smart.

    I too was impressed with his X’s and O’s vs FSU on Friday, and I like that he got PO’d and dropped the F-Bomb and earned himself a T to re-motivate his players vs KU on Sunday. VCU is playing very exciting, up-tempo ball, which is something many of us would like to see for a change. He has a reputation as a recruiter, and even though nobody knew who he was 2 weeks ago, he is a HOT name right now.

    Does he have the experience or proven track record that we want… No. But we may have to sacrifice those requirements.

    I think that for someone to come in here and win the ACC, not just compete, they need the chip on their shoulder that he has. Deano was angry when he first started out, we all remember K’s “officiating double standard” remark, and Gary Williams is generally regarded as an angry a$$h0le.

    We don’t know that he will succeed, but we also don’t know that he won’t, either. We also don’t know if Donovan can win away from UF, either. It is all speculation.

    If the Donovan rumors are false, I am okay with hiring Shaka Smart.

  19. albunde6 03/30/2011 at 9:00 AM #

    BJD95 has helped my point with Smart. Three weeks ago he may have been a $1Mill per year coach, now he is a $2Mill man. Can’t get comfortible with this based on one tournament with transfer and other coaches recruits.

    Please don’t let this be the top of our plan B?

  20. Daily Update 03/30/2011 at 9:13 AM #

    At this point, Smart would be a fabulous hire. We are one of the worst major conference programs of the last two decades. We need someone who can rebuild the NC State brand and Smart has a great head start on that with the Final Four run.

    We are who we are until someone changes it.

  21. wolfpackdawg 03/30/2011 at 9:15 AM #

    We will be down to Archie before we know it.

  22. Ed89 03/30/2011 at 9:16 AM #

    Smart is playing with an experienced team full of upperclassmen that he didn’t recruit. They finished 4th or 5th in the CAA with a team full of upperclassmen. It’s not often that VCU will get a top-notch transfer (Skeen) from Wake. While I think he’s a good coach, after 20+ years of mediocrity (actually 15 of which have been awful), NC State needs a proven coach to bring some excitement to the fan base. Yes, Smart needs to go somewhere after this run (Dayton, Alabama (after Grant goes to FL and Donovan comes here), but NC State is not ready for that gamble. I may pay him around 1 million with incentives, but talk of a 2+ million contract with a guy with 2 years Head Coaching experience is crazy.

  23. Pack84 03/30/2011 at 9:18 AM #

    I keep readin here, and other places as well, something to the effect of “don’t be worried until Friday and you can start panicking on Saturday”. Now why in the world would this deadline apply? If Smart is indeed the target he wouldn’t be available until Sunday at the earliest. Maybe even Tuesday. Marshall wouldn’t be available until Friday.

    What gives with this “panic deadline”?

  24. wolfpackdawg 03/30/2011 at 9:20 AM #

    Ed89…..If nobody wants to come here we don’t have a choice. When all of this is said & done we might be shocked to find out how many coaches had no interest.

  25. Rochester 03/30/2011 at 9:29 AM #

    Smart may be doing it with “someone else’s players,” but let’s be realistic about the talent level he’s working with compared to some teams VCU has dismantled during their run. Jamie Skeen, who transferred from Wake Forest is the only kid on the roster who was graded higher than 3 stars, according to the rankings on Scout.com (via Pack Pride).

    Skeen – 4
    Joey Rodriguez – 3
    Ed Nixon – 3
    Bradford Burgess – 3
    Juvonte Reddic – 3 (Freshman)
    Troy Daniels – 3
    Brandon Rozzell – 2
    Rob Brandenberg – 2 (Fr.)
    Darius Theus – 2
    Toby Veal – 2 (JC transfer this year)
    DJ Haley – 2 (Fr.)

    A couple of years ago a lot of the comments on this site ran along the lines of Sid needing time to get better talent into his system because our roster was filled with 3-star recruits. Shaka Smart took a roster of 2- and 3- star recruits and has outcoached five programs with more highly regarded talent over the past two weeks.

    His track record may not be long, but he’s accomplished more this month than any coach that’s paced our sidelines since V was run out of town.

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