The search is over

After a month of searching, N.C. State has finally hired a new basketball coach. Former point guard on the 1983 NCAA Championship team and ex-NBA head coach/current assistant coach, Sidney Lowe, was hired (officially) today. I think that the final hire is an excellent one, but the process to get here was terrible. Soon after the job was opened, I thought of Lowe as being a good candidate for the job, but the limiting factor was that he didn't have his college degree. Turns out he's just one month away from finishing it. Lowe has two things that Roy Williams at Carolina and Coach K at Duke don't have - 1) he's black, the first black coach at a Big 4 school, and 2) NBA head coaching experience, and possibly an NBA championship if the Pistons can win it this year. I think those 2 factors can weigh heavily with recruits who are making a decision about where to play. Even though he doesn't have any college coaching experience, finding the right staff to help can overcome that weakness. And from the names mentioned as assistants, it sounds like he'll have some terrific people to help him.

It has been a long a frustrating jouney to end at this point. After the very public rejection from John Calipari, there was a long period of silence - no serious names surfaced to the top. Then the names of Steve Lavin (now with ESPN and formerly UCLA coach) and John Beilein (WVA coach) became very prominent. I was not thrilled with either of them. Lavin ws run out of UCLA after going from a National Championship to sub-.500 record in 6 years, and was never offered a coaching job since. Beilein was very similar to Herb Sendek in personality and style of play - i.e., boring. Plus, he had a $3 million contract buyout, which ultimately was what kept him from being hired. Why Lavin turned it down, I don't know for sure. Rumor is that Lee Fowler offered him a chance to bow out gracefully before Beilein was hired, but then the Beilein deal fell through, leaving Fowler with nothing. Another week of slience went by before Lowe's name surfaced, and it was only a day or two later that it was confirmed that he would be the coach. I think it was a huge blessing that Lavin and Beilein turned State down.

Just for fun, here's a list of names that I can remember that were mentioned for the job (aside from those mentioned above which were the ones which supposedly were offered the job). Some of them are pretty crazy:

Derek Whittenburg, Fordham
Billy Gillispie, Texas A&M
Gregg Marshall, Winthrop
Frank Hatih, Miami
Mike Brey, Notre Dame
Nate McMillan, Portland Trailblazers
Mike Montgomery, Golden State Warriors
Tim Floyd, USC
Jim Les, Bradley
Jim Larranaga, George Mason
John Brady, LSU
Phil Ford, NBA assistant (and former Tarheel! Blasphemous!)
Sean Miller, Xavier
Lon Krueger, UNLV
Jay Wright, Villanova
Mark Turgeon, Wichita State
Dave Odom, South Carolina
Bobby Knight, Texas Tech
Bobby Cremins, ESPN analyst
Jon Pelphrey, South Alabama
Chris Lowery, Southern Illinois
Rick Pitino, Louisville
P.J. Carlisemo, San Antonio Spurs assistant
Larry Brown, ex-NBA coach
Tubby Smith, Kentucky
Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh
Mark Few, Gonzaga
Bobby Lutz, UNC-Charlotte
Matt Dougherty, somewhere in Texas now
Dana Altman, Creighton