Who cares, short of it being Baylor-level awful. Let the guy RIP, his legacy is set.

I met Jim Valvano a number of times. He was wonderful to be around.

The ACC was full of fun coaches at the time. We had Cremins. We had Driesel. We had Holland. -Valvano. -Coach K. Dean Smith. It was awesome growing up with access to these coaches.

(09-29-2017 02:00 PM)Wedge Wrote:  The idea that Valvano was squeaky clean and unjustly forced out is absurd.

The Wikipedia/Valvano version repeated in the OP omits extremely important information about the period before Valvano's forced resignation.

Charles Shackleford admitted, after he had turned pro, that while a NC State player he had taken about $65,000 from two shady agents or wannabe agents. Shackleford denied additional allegations that at least some of that money was given to him in exchange for participating in a point-shaving scheme.

Valvano resigned from NC State a few weeks after the first media reports of the point-shaving allegations and Shackleford's admission that he took $65,000 while he was an NC State basketball player.

And, of course, no one ever denied the fact that Chris Washburn and his unbelievably low SAT score should never have been in college in the first place.

Even the TV announcers for that Wake Forest game were openly laughing on air about how blatant Shackleford's tanking was. I'm sure Ralph Kitley was a wonderful young man. But even he couldn't have been naive enough to think he was torching Shack without "help".

At the time, I didn't know anybody in the NC State athletic department, but I did have a lot of friends who were on the faculty. To say that they were embarassed was putting it mildly. They were the driving force behind his ouster.

(10-01-2017 01:07 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(09-29-2017 02:00 PM)Wedge Wrote:  The idea that Valvano was squeaky clean and unjustly forced out is absurd.

The Wikipedia/Valvano version repeated in the OP omits extremely important information about the period before Valvano's forced resignation.

Charles Shackleford admitted, after he had turned pro, that while a NC State player he had taken about $65,000 from two shady agents or wannabe agents. Shackleford denied additional allegations that at least some of that money was given to him in exchange for participating in a point-shaving scheme.

Valvano resigned from NC State a few weeks after the first media reports of the point-shaving allegations and Shackleford's admission that he took $65,000 while he was an NC State basketball player.

And, of course, no one ever denied the fact that Chris Washburn and his unbelievably low SAT score should never have been in college in the first place.

Even the TV announcers for that Wake Forest game were openly laughing on air about how blatant Shackleford's tanking was. I'm sure Ralph Kitley was a wonderful young man. But even he couldn't have been naive enough to think he was torching Shack without "help".

At the time, I didn't know anybody in the NC State athletic department, but I did have a lot of friends who were on the faculty. To say that they were embarassed was putting it mildly. They were the driving force behind his ouster.

You do know NCSU won that game? True they were a 15 point favorite. But a lot games have been won under the point spread. But I believe it was the shoes that Valvano was invested over and came out clean each time.