(12-01-2016 11:05 PM)DawgNBama Wrote: I was trying to refute the post that said it was a "buyers' market for mid-level programs." There are several dominos that haven't fallen yet,IMO, but they are totterring and it could mean bad news for NC State. But, per what another poster said, it's probably much ado about nothing considering that Doeren's job is safe this year. NC State used to tend to follow the old 'Bama way of getting coaches, and that approach is just really not working out for them (offer the HC job to alumni only!!!). I used to refuse to believe, but now, I actually am believing it somewhat now: football isn't a really big deal at NC State. It's a basketball school. It's true. Compare the hires the Wolfpack has made in football vs the hires they have made in men's basketball. Is NC State quicker to pull the plug on failing football coach or a failing men's basketball coach?
Despite being an original member of SAIAA, Southern Conference, and ACC, NC State's football program did not really survive World War I. NC State didn't even have a legitimate football stadium to speak of until 1966. What we played in before was so small that many games were played at the other school's stadium and for most of the SoCon era, when we played Duke or UNC it was in Kenan or Wallace Wade. You can not fully comprehend how powerful Duke athletics were in the 30's, 40's and 50's with football at the head of that.
Before tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds bought Wake Forest in the 1950's and moved it from Wake County to Winston-Salem, WF, Duke, NC State, and WF were all within 25 miles of each other. NC State had the worst facilities.
NC State does not control the UNC Board of Governors. UNC controls that board, ask ECU folks if you don't believe. When you don't control your own board, when you don't mint your own lawyers, and your alumni quit running for statewide offices, you are at the mercy of others and the last time that NC State was turning the corner in football was when all hell broke loose with false or trumped up allegations about Jim Valvano and he was taken out both as basketball coach and as Athletic Director. In the late 80's and early 90's NC State was turning the corner, then Sheridan leaves and Florida State enters the league.
An attempt was made in the early 2000's with Amato, but he couldn't match a defense with a quarterback. Chuck rubbed some of the ptb the wrong way and after a 3-8 season where he lost to UNC and ECU, he was fired. Tom O'Brien was like another Herb Sendeck, but the way he handled Russell Wilson wanting to play spring and summer baseball alienated a lot of potential recruits and killed recruiting in the State of Va.
When you look at a place like VT, FSU, or Clemson, there is never a question which sport runs the show or which sport will pay the bills. Their focus is not split.
The steady rise of ECU as a football school has had a negative effect on NC State football - a solid 10-15K fans that attend games in Greenville would be attending a game in Raleigh if ECU had not grown it's football program. UNC would be getting perhaps the same number.
If football were not a big deal at NC State, 58,000 would not show up to watch NC State play dog **** U. The question is how do you go from the current plateau to the Clemson plateau? How much money will it take?
It's more than a head coach. It's an entire staff. It's a supportive Board of Governors. It's a supportive state Legislature. It's a faculty that if not supportive will at least keep their mouths shut. It's a price tag of about $100,000,000, and you could spend that and it still not work.
Now you can be my guest and float all this to the ptb at NC State - the most fiscally conservative of all the ACC schools. But as to the assertion that NC State is a "basketball" school. The answer is no.
