If Sidney Lowe Gets Fired, Who’s Getting the NC State Coaching Job?

All, College Basketball Jason McIntyre March 6th. 2011, 1:30pm

Barring a miracle in the ACC Tournament, NC State coach Sidney Lowe will miss the NCAA tournament for the fifth straight season. His first year in Raleigh was probably his best – with Herb Sendek’s players – but Lowe’s 25-54 record in conference play heading into the regular season finale today is pathetic. He’s recruited well, but on-the-court, the results have been underwhelming. The buzz is that he’ll be fired after this season, even though he has two years remaining on his contract. If that happens, who’s getting the job?

Lowe has recruited extremely well – especially in the last two years. Lowe’s 2010 class had three Top 40 recruits, and the Wolfpack have two Top 150 players coming in next year. If he is fired (he nearly got the ax last April), the incoming coach – assuming nobody transfers and recruiting commitments are honored – will have an opportunity for immediate success.

The most popular name I’ve heard to replace Lowe is Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall. According to a source, two teams are already hot for Marshall and have been poking around his orbit to gauge interest: NC State and Arkansas (where John Pelphrey is on supposedly on thin ice).

Marshall has been on the rise for a few years, having succeeded at Winthrop (where he upset Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2007), and won 20+ games at Wichita State in the last two years (though they’ll miss the NCAA tournament this year after a loss Saturday to Indiana State).

Other names expected to be in the mix for the NC State job:

* Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, who has done a magnificent job with the Irish this year and could be in for a big payday (which NC State can make happen), especially if he has a nice NCAA tourney run. The Irish have six seniors (three are expected to return for a fifth year) and a very thin recruiting class coming in, which you can read any way you’d like. Brey, a former Duke assistant, was rumored to be a candidate for the NC State job in 2006.

* Mark Turgeon, Texas A&M. After a nice run at Wichita State, he’s gotten the Aggies to the second round of the NCAA tournament three years in a row. He’s got two Top 150 recruits coming in and his top two leading scorers return. Is NC State – where you’re third fiddle in state – really an upgrade? The Big 12 has been stronger than the ACC the last two years, at least by this metric.

* Cuonzo Martin of Missouri State will be the hot name in coaching circles this April. In his first three years as a head coach, the former Purdue guard has been nothing short of brilliant, guiding Missouri State its first MVC title. The Gene Keady coaching tree has already produced Bruce Weber, Steve Lavin, Kevin Stallings and Matt Painter, so Martin is in good company. The bonus here is that he’d come considerably cheaper than Brey and Turgeon.

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15 Responses to “If Sidney Lowe Gets Fired, Who’s Getting the NC State Coaching Job?”

1
reggie_dunlap Says:
March 6th, 2011 at 2:22 PM
The Gophers fans will gladly give NC State Tubby.
2
kantwistaye Says:
March 6th, 2011 at 2:44 PM
The Gophers fans will gladly give NC State Tubby.
Just don’t get why they would. Minnesota is disappointing this year, but they’re actually relevant which hasn’t been true since the whole debacle with Clem Haskins.
3
tvp1 Says:
March 6th, 2011 at 3:37 PM
I’d be happy with any of the names mentioned, including Tubby. I’m just happy that we have a competent AD now who will run the search in a professional manner unlike the fiasco in 2006.
Lowe did not get it done, but as you point out he at least leaves the table set nicely for the next guy.
4
Jimmy Chitwood Says:
March 6th, 2011 at 3:40 PM
I’ve heard Jay Wright’s name mentioned in more than one place.
5
Jay V Of Considerable Influence Says:
March 6th, 2011 at 5:28 PM
Jay Wright is not leaving Villanova. Period.
6
Cassington Says:
March 6th, 2011 at 10:56 PM
Knowing State fans like I do, it’s probably a tossup between Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach.
7
memphispackfan Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 9:33 AM
I would love to see Brad Stevens from Butler…If not, then Phil Jackson would be a slight step up.
8
j.sears90210 Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 9:51 AM
I’d be happy with any of the names mentioned, including Tubby. I’m just happy that we have a competent AD now who will run the search in a professional manner unlike the fiasco in 2006.
Just saw this post now.
TVP1: I am sorry to tell you that NC State does not have an AD who is going to help the basketball program at all. Debbie Yow did a terrible job in supporting he two revenue programs when she was at MD. The alumni and MD boosters are very happy that she left.
9
RnR_NCSU Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 10:28 AM
j.sears:
I don’t think you can truly grasp just how incompetent State’s previous AD was. The 2006 coaching search was a tour-de-force of Lee Fowler’s ability to lead an athletic program. Yeah, Debbie has her faults. But if you give me the choice between a micromanager and one who doesn’t know how to manage, I’ll take the former, not the latter.
And it’s interesting that the majority of the strife between MD fans and Debbie Yow centered on holding Gary accountable for sagging performance and her desire to fire Ralph Friedgen behind closed doors…she leaves and not even a year later, Gary’s team goes in the crapper and Ralph gets fired by the new AD. I’m not saying Yow’s departure caused Gary’s team to stink, but clearly she and the new AD both felt like a change needed to be made in football. She may have been more right than some Maryland fans give her credit for.
But all of that is in the past. I think Yow will handle this search quietly and effectively, even if we as State fans don’t wind up with our dream candidate. I think you’ll see Sidney retained through the bulk of the NCAA Tournament while her intermediaries quietly gauge interest from all potential candidates. After the top target is through in the tournament, she’ll remove Sidney, thank him for his service to his alma mater, and within the week name the new head coach.
That’s how I see it going down.
As for this article’s list of potential candidates, only Marshall has shown up on any of the lists I’ve seen. Martin has started popping up but I think he’s way too green to take a chance on. Turgeon is a Big 12 man and no thanks to Brey…he’s this year’s version of John Belein.
10
j.sears90210 Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 11:23 AM
RnR- I am glad that we don’t have Debbie anymore. Debbie burned her bridges with the alumni and donors of Maryland and engaged in a stupid power struggle with the basketball coach. When she lost the power struggle she left.
MD is not UNC or Kentucky. The team goes in cycles and is rebuilding this year. The two best players are a sophomore and freshman who both will be contributing for years to come.
It is very uneducated on your part to suggest that this (
she leaves and not even a year later, Gary’s team goes in the crapper)
is the reality of college sports. If UMD basketball is worse off three years from now then you may have a very valid point. But Debbies departure has nothing to do with this years team. Debbie cut Gary off at the knees with a thousand little decisions which hindered his ability to bring in the type of players that are necessary to make a program successful.
In fact I think the basketball team is going to be a lot better for the next 5-10 years because Yow is not around to hinder the coaching staff and try to exert her authority.
I respect your opinion that NC State is happy to have Yow as their AD but your post reads like a Debbie Yow press release which is meant to bolster her image. I do not pretend to know what is going on in the NC State athletic department (Yow could have a very positive influence) but as a Md basketball fan and season ticket holder I know that the team is much better off going forward without Yow around.
11
RnR_NCSU Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 12:24 PM
j.sears:
A fair response. I did state:
I’m not saying Yow’s departure caused Gary’s team to stink
but I suppose I did kind of imply that without Debbie around to crack the whip, his team sagged. From an outsider’s perspective, it seemed like Maryland had the talent (Jordan Williams, Stoglin) and the coaching (Gary’s still a great coach) to get the job done but failed to do so. It’ll be interesting to see if, like you believe, that Gary’s teams take off without Yow in the AD’s office or not.
And I acknowledge that we may grow tired of Yow over time, as well. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the hype of a new hire no matter who it is. If she starts causing undue friction, I imagine we’ll have similar opinions of her as y’all did at the end, regardless of her family’s ties to the school.
It cannot be overstated, however, just how completely, utterly incompetent Lee Fowler was, and Yow–no matter her rep–is still leagues ahead of him from day one.
You wouldn’t believe some of the behind-the-scenes horror stories from the ’06 coaching search. There’s a reason no other school made overtures to hire Fowler away from us and why he’s still unemployed to this day.
12
j.sears90210 Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 1:23 PM
From an outsider’s perspective, it seemed like Maryland had the talent (Jordan Williams, Stoglin) and the coaching (Gary’s still a great coach) to get the job done but failed to do so.
The core talent on the team are very young and Stoglin did not start to shine until about 7 games ago. Stoglin and Howard still make a ton of Freshman mistakes at the PG position. I do think they will be a top 25 team next year and a top 10 team in two years (with the caveat that J.Williams must not leave early)
I hope NC States experience with Yow is better than MD’s. She will clean the program up if there are problems but she is going to need to be the boss. Which is going to be a problem if NC State wants to bring in a bigger name basketball coach who wants a hands off AD.
I really do hope that NC State fans have a better experience with Yow than MD fans did.
13
tvp1 Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 1:27 PM
No matter what Yow does, she cannot come close to the damage Fowler inflicted on our program with his shambolic coaching search in 2006. He could have hired a perfectly competent mid-major (or lower tier high major) at any point. Instead he ran around the country contacting coaches all over the place with no plan and no clue, giving the media the impression that no one would want the job.
I think that’s what RnR is getting at.
14
Lets Keep Winning Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 2:59 PM
Mike Brey isnt leaving ND.
15
RnR_NCSU Says:
March 7th, 2011 at 3:29 PM
tvp: Yep.
Nice work on the Mack piece for backingthepack.com. I totally agree on pursuing Mack. If we did so publicly and he turned us down, it would be 2006 all over again. Hopefully, if he’s on her list, she’s already done her homework behind the scenes on what it would take to land him and whether or not he would leave his alma mater.
I’d love to have him, but he’s still very green as a HC. Further, he’s been very vocal about building the Xavier program into a top program. For the amount of money it would likely take to wrest him away from Xavier, it would be too much of a risk.