Dear NC State fans,
Don’t you feel smarter and significantly more special being condescended to by a Duke graduate of the ilk of Seth Davis?
Now that you’ve seen the video once…go back and watch it again with some cynicism and a more discerning eye. Is it me, or does Seth’s comments of our history early in the video seem particularly contrived and even sarcastic?
You know…for such an irrelevant basketball program the media sure does like to talk A LOT about poor old NC State!?!?
I was actually working on a much longer and fact-based response to old Seth and his buddies in the drive-by media…but, I just can’t justify spending my time beating against the wall anymore. Many of my points will come out in future entries just as they have in past entries of the last fifteen years. But for now there is no reason to try to educate ‘first level’ thinkers with second and third level information and analysis.
It just doesn’t work. I don’t even think it can be done. Either one is equipped with the gift of critical thought and complex problem solving; or they have to have those skills fostered and nurtured through challenges and experiences. If one doesn’t innately possess an ability to analyze issues, then sitting in front of a television camera &/or writing about sports for a career ain’t the place to figure it out.
I look at it like this — we have a group of lawyers, engineers, statisticians, bankers and other professionals that make up the volunteer author team at SFN. As a hobby, we’ve been able to successfully build a ‘media presence’ competing against the good old mainstream media like Seth and others. Over the last few years we’ve been able to generate a decent amount of credibility and following; and we’ve generated well over 25 million pageviews since we launched. That’s pretty good. Pretty successful. And, pretty amazing for a bunch of hacks with no ‘formal’ training who just sit down in front of a keyboard.
So allow me to ask you professionals a question — conversely, could Seth Davis, Gary Parrish, Tim Brando, Mike Patrick or most any other of these national sports guys turn the table on you and so easily walk into your profession and claim such success with no real experience? Could one of these guys underwrite a loan? try a legal case? spec requirements for building? perform surgery? sell a medical device? treat a sick animal? run a business and meet payroll? obtain a consulting or M&A engagement from a Fortune 500 client? audit a firm or compile financial statements of a business?
Only in this weird world of the ‘media’ do people with so little real world analytical experience and professional credibility get to have their opinions ‘mean’ so much. It is that power that just adds to the disappointment that those with the loudest megaphones wouldn’t try harder to more deeply understand issues on which they opine. But, I digress.
The great news for all of us is that guys like Seth are going to very soon have the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is. Soon, Coach K will be retiring from his beloved Duke University and will ride into the sunset. So, it won’t be too long until we can all read and watch as Seth Davis beats the drum for the need for Duke to hire the great Herb Sendek as their next basketball coach!! That is, of course, unless The Great Sendek won’t have already been snapped up by some other top program out there.
Folks, the very reaction of either laughter or utter disbelieve experienced by EVERYONE who just read that previous statement is exactly why Herb Sendek isn’t the right Head Basketball Coach for any major college basketball program. If he were, don’t you think he would have landed some job better than crappy old NC State over his 18 year coaching career? Seth?
Something tells me that old Herbie will still be available for Duke or UNC or Kentucky or Florida or Michigan State or Texas or Kansas or Maryland or Louisville or Michigan or Syracuse or UConn or Ohio State or UCLA or Indiana or Notre Dame or dozens of other programs when their jobs become available. And, something tells me that not a single one of the programs who have ignored The Great Sendek for the last two decades will suddenly swoop in and choose to hire him.
Isn’t that weird? Not only did NC State provide Herb Sendek the platform to succeed and make over ten million dollars; but NC State retained Herb Sendek after an initial five year period when almost every other school in America would have fired him!! In the HUNDREDS of job changes over the last 15 years, no other top basketball program in the country has chosen to hire Herb Sendek; but they are immune from media criticism while the school that actually did give him a chance gets criticized!?
The thanks we got from Sendek was his CHOOSING to leave after his 10th season when he had very little experienced talent returning and a very weak incoming recruiting class. (What a ‘coincidence’?)
The thanks we continue to get from idiot sports writers is ridiculous criticism that fails to notice that NC State continues to be the most high profile job Herb Sendek has ever been offered. We get criticized for hiring him and keeping him 10 years. No other school gets criticized for NOT HIRING him!
The contradictions in the media’s ‘thought’ processes are dumbfounding. NC State is an awful job that can’t expect to get a great coach; yet, we supposedly had a fantastic coach in Herb Sendek. Get it?
NC State is an awful job that can’t expect to be successful on par with many other programs; yet Herb Sendek was able to find supposed success at NC State for a five year period that he has not been able to replicate at either of his other two coaching stops. That’s odd. Did he have success at State or not? Can State have success or not? Was it Sendek? or was it NC State? Considering that FOUR other NC State Head Basketball Coaches have managed to win a total of 10 ACC Championships in the 43 years before Sendek arrived (more than every school in the ACC except UNC-CH…including Duke)…I ask the same question again — was it Sendek (who never won a title in 10 years)…or was it NC State?
Last one — Herb Sendek is a fantastic coach that NC State should have been very pleased to have; yet, the only other job that Herb Sendek has been able to secure in the open market over the last 18 years is at one of the perpetually worst 20 programs in major college basketball conferences.
Don’t you understand the logic? The sports writers sure seem to! …which is exactly why they are sports writers.
