One Circus (Ringling Bros) Ends …. Another Circus Begins … at NC State.
It is simply AMAZING how quickly Mother Nature moves to fill a vacuum. Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus will shut down forever in several months (May). RBBB officials cite increased operating costs, dwindling ticket sales and “animal rights nuts” as contributing reasons.
After 100 years touring the world, the most famous circus in history made its last appearance at Raleigh’s PNC Arena last weekend. Showing her impeccable sense of timing…. no sooner had the last shovel of sawdust been swept up and the last clown stuffed back into their itty bitty car than Mother Nature “filled that vacuum”.
….. NC State has formally begun “a coaching search” to replace MBB Coach Mark Gottfried.
This is NOT just another “make fun of NC State’s notorious lunatic fringe fan base faction”. If past coaching searches are any indication…. that segment of goggled-eyed, spittle-spewing whack-a-doodles will take care of that without any help from me.
NOTE: I will say that my personal cadre of Wuff Friends does NOT include a single lunatic fringer. Kennel? Absolutely not. Eccentric absolutely, but no way a Hell Hound.
Legendary “Voice of William Neal Reynolds Coliseum” C.A. Dillon passed away this morning at the age of 91. C.A. Dillon was public address 
announcer through the fifty years of Reynolds Coliseum and the first two games in what is now PNC Arena. His rich baritone voice was as much a part of Reynolds Coliseum as all it’s seating oddities and 1,000s of memories…. From “The Fall of Skywalker” to “Dudley Bradley steals the ball”.
As I read of Mr. Dillon’s passing on the same day that NC State Athletics officials announced that Gottfried will not be retained… I did wonder if he (CA) got the honor of going deep into the sub-basement of Reynolds to unleash those afore-mentioned goggle-eyed spittle-spewing hell hounds. Whether he had that honor or not…. The Hell Hounds are indeed unleashed AGAIN to run unfettered ever how long ….
It takes Frau Yow to lasso “the man we knew we wanted from Day One”. As that Day One comes to a close no one but Frau knows who that “who” is, but surely she will reveal him once she signs him.
To be fair to Frau… EVERY coaching search in human history ends with “the man we wanted from Day One” …. Not just at NC State but everywhere – EXCEPT when Matt Doherty was hired of course at UNC when Roy “I Hate HB2” Williams decided “I’m staying” (at KU).
Dickie “Prince Tassel Loafer” Baddour might have even said “Matt was who we wanted from Day One” then but NO ONE ever paid attention when Dickie said anything. I recall one gawd-awful press conference that Dickie did with “The Meez” – the one with The Pissed-Off Posse where Matt was canned – where UNC media dept didn’t even bother to turn on their mics, knowing whatever they might say would only make a bad situation much worse.
“Coaching searches” and “signing day recruiting classes” ALWAYS result in “we got who we wanted from Day One”.
ANYHOOOO…. Quicker than one can say “short list” the “game is afoot” on The Brickyard as Sherlock himself would say.
Having Mark Gottfried hang around for another three weeks as a lame duck is not unprecedented. UNC did it with “Burly John” Bunting. It is somewhat uncomfortable for the coach but he will likely pick up some sympathy support from the same “fans” who were demanding his head on a platter 24 hours ago. Maybe his players will Win One For Gott ???
The name atop every “short list” on Day One is aptly enough a “short man” – Archie Miller – now the successful head coach at Dayton. Archie played 
for “Hapless Herb” Sendak / Sendek at NC State at the dawn of the current millennium. Archie Miller already knows who State’s rivals are which puts him one-up on Hapless Herb who never figured that out.
Archie’s Flyers will for sure be dancing in March so there is likely no chance he will even acknowledge an offer from Frau for the next month. A MONTH is a very long time for those Hell Hounds to roam unfettered across The Brickyard. Two days is a long time for Hell Hounds to roam unfettered on social media.
I had lunch in Chapel Hill today (Thursday) and was asked “scores” of times who will be State’s next coach. I assured my “scores” of inquirers that it would be “who Frau wants right now regardless of who that is, even if it isn’t”. I mentioned Archie – Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) and WhatsHisName at NC Central…. Along with, of course, Steve Kerr, Greg Popovich, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson. Notably I did leave off Rick Barnes. This is the first NC State Coaching Search in anyone’s memory in which Rick Barnes is not on “the short list”.
I can’t recall if John Calipari was on “the short list” when Frau signed Mark Gottfried. I think “Cal’s” last NC State short list was the Sid Lowe experience. I could be mistaken.
My UNC inquirers all said “REALLY?” when I said “WhatsHisName at NC Central” which is pretty much what 97% of the Hell Hounds will probably say. The NCCU Guy is no doubt a fine fellow in every way… but hardly of the Steve Kerr cache.
I also reminded my lunch bunch that no NC State fan/alumni 25 or younger ever saw Jim Valvano coach at NC State. They have all seen “Cinderella’s shoe fits …. Looking for someone to hug” a bazillion times and have memorized “The ESPY Speech” but they never saw him in person.
NOTE: I still swear V was searching for Bob Kennel that night in Albuquerque.
It’s been 42 years since Skywalker soared in Reynolds. Only those 50+ can truly say “I was there when David ……” in Reynolds. Feel old yet?
Whoever it is that “Frau knows she will get” could very likely be on the scene when Ol’Roy and/or Coach K retire…. Radically changing the local coaching picture. In Roy’s case it might be as soon as 2018 when Roy will probably replace David Price as Congressman For Franklin Street. That is assuming Chapel Hill’s latest political activist registers to vote… or has the slightest clue who David Price is.
One thing is for sure…. Bobby Purcell is “working the phones”. As Exec Director of The Wolfpack Club, Bobby does an INCREDIBLE JOB of maintaining an enthusiastic (and $$$ generous) fan base through more than a few of these Yeeee Haaaaa Coaching Searches. What’s one more. Between Gottfried’s buy-out and what anyone but “the NC Central guy” will expect …. The WPC Deep Pockets will be digging deep AGAIN.
What makes these things so darn much fun for us “no skin in the game” bystanders is that there is absolutely zero overlap between The Hell Hounds on The Brickyard and the WPC Deep Pockets.
To be fair… that is the case with every “sleeping giant” dreaming of becoming “a juggernaut.
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