Wednesday, February 15, 2012

What N.C. State must do to close gap with Duke, UNC

I had an interview with N.C. State coach Gottfried recently by phone and he said the No.1 thing the program needed to do to catch up to Duke and UNC was "recruit, recruit, recruit." So far, so good -- the Wolfpack has three incoming freshmen for next year's class, and all three are McDonald's All-Americans.

Here's the column on Gottfried and N.C. State, too, that was published in Thursday's Charlotte Observer and The (Raleigh) News and Observer.

In the column, Gottfried also talks about what he learned while coaching at Alabama and living in the shadows of the Crimson Tide's football program.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

he's doing a nice job on recruiting.

a real shame the Pack stuck with Sidney for so long, that dude stank....didn't even have a degree.

Anonymous said...

NCSU will ALWAYS be the 3rd Wheel in the "Tar Heel" state. I would say "get used to it," but they ALREADY are.

Anonymous said...

FIRE LUTZ!

Anonymous said...

Yea even if State beats Carolina and/or Duke, they will still lag way behind in popularity in this State and also nationally.

Anonymous said...

NC State just has zero name recognition.They haven't been to the Final Four since 1983 and since then many years they don't even qualify for the tourney.If somebody mentions State and basketball in the same sentence I think of Michigan State first.

Anonymous said...

State has not been popular since 1984. Look at the bright side...they are "probably" more popular than UNCC.

Anonymous said...

Even if NCSU makes the NCAA's...they will get bounced in Round 1.

Anonymous said...

If NCSU wants to "prove" doubters wrong about them...then let's start on Thursday night and beat Dook inside Cameron...and watch the Cameron Crazies cry. That would be a sight to see!

Anonymous said...

Gott could start by quit complaining about every damn call in his games. He is just about as bad as K. That type of constant complaining just boils over to the fan base.

Other than that, program is on the rise. Has plenty of talent already and more coming in (though Tyler Lewis is way overrated- dude is a boy among men). Gott seems to be a good coach also.

Anonymous said...

Unc and Duke can't hold State's jockstrap in football and that's a fact.

Anonymous said...

Dook and UNC can't even hold the Wolfpack's jockstrap in football. And that will always be true.

Anonymous said...

The tarheels will always play in the shadow of michael jordan. If it wasn't for him they would just be another program

Anonymous said...

Yeah not an football duke can't see state and unc has not been beating them lately....too bad for state fans the acc in football is a complete joke..so if state fans want to hold on to we beat you in football let them...but you guys are doing the same thing that duke and unc fans are doing when the acc championship is being played...watching it....smh

Anonymous said...

Yeah not an football duke can't see state and unc has not been beating them lately....too bad for state fans the acc in football is a complete joke..so if state fans want to hold on to we beat you in football let them...but you guys are doing the same thing that duke and unc fans are doing when the acc championship is being played...watching it....smh

George Hanson said...

More of the same, we suck.

As for the recruiting, is Harrick involved? Tonight they showed him on the ESPN broadcast sitting there right behind the NC State bench.

I have a very bad feeling about our association with this guy Harrick.

Generic Clarinex said...

Awesome post!!! keep it up.. please keep us updated with such amazing articles nice blog.. i would be regularly following your blog.

Thanks

Generic Clarinex

Generic Clarinex said...

Awesome post!!! keep it up.. please keep us updated with such amazing articles nice blog.. i would be regularly following your blog.

Thanks

Generic Clarinex

Anonymous said...

Scott F. . . . feedback for you:

- You write "Coaching the men's basketball team at N.C. State . . . has to be one of the most difficult jobs in college hoops." I would ask Herb Sendek which is tougher, coaching at NC State or at Arizona State.

- If you really want to write a good article, write the contrarian throught that NC State is actually not the most difficult job in the country, using Herb at ASU as an example. Even Norm Sloan who had less succes at Florida after leaving.

- I don't see the comparison of Gottfried to Barnes, seems like you are reaching to spur discussion. Different coaching styles, they both do have southern accents, perhaps that is what you meant.

- If you wanted to draw more depth to the article you wrote, you should have added Les Robinson's record against UNC, which was 1 game below .500. You could have then assessed why State fired him when he was fairly successful against UNC while having recruiting restrictions. It would create a counter thought.

Anonymous said...

If State is, on average in the future, 3rd fiddle behind UNC and Duke it could still make them one of the top 5 best programs in the nation would it not? I think most fans would be very happy with that.

The issue is that over the last 25 years, even with Herb, they never cracked the top 25, actually their RPI was rarely better than 50. So indepedent of any argument about UNC and Duke to State, State has simply not performed on the court to a high standard in a long time. Maybe that will change, Coach Gott appears to different than previous coaches there.

Anonymous said...

What N.C. State must do to close the gap with Duke, UNC? They could start with loving themselves more than hating UNC. They are more obsessed with their hatred for Carolina then they are for the love of their own university. What a miserable school and fanbase. Oh, and hold onto that 20 point lead at Duke and win and you would get instant credibility.