Well, as everyone has seen Mark Armstrong’s report about the future of Mark Gottfried and the NC State basketball program. Now, it should surprise no one that the school is denying the report of the firing. But, as we all know, that’s what schools do, they deny until the season is over then make the firing official. But let’s go on the assumption that Mr. Armstrong is correct (on a side note, you don’t go on an ABC affiliate and report something without being rock solid on the information) and look at the options going forward for NC State.
1) Archie Miller: Here are the pro’s of Archie Miller. He is an NC State alum which means he knows exactly what he’s getting into being on Tobacco Road. He has a 130-59 record at Dayton. He’s been to 3 straight NCAA tournaments (not including this year which it seems as though he’s on his way to a 4th). The con’s, there are a few. The first one is a biggie. There are rumors that Thad Matta is on his way out at Ohio State and that Archie is on Gene Smith’s wish list. Ohio State can throw a lot of money at Archie and wouldn’t even feel it. Archie is a Matta disciple and coached with Matta form 2007-2009. Now, if/when Ohio State and Matta come to Archie Miller and ask him to succeed Matta, that’ll be a hard decision (especially when Ohio State backs that Brinks truck with all the money to Archie’s home).
2) Chris Mack: Chris Mack is currently a coach at Xavier (funny how both of my first 2 coaching candidates come from the Xavier tree). Mack has a 163-77 record and is in his 8th year leading the Musketeers. Mack currently makes 1.1 million dollars and he just signed a contract extension through the 19-20 season. Cons: Chris Mack is from Cincinnati, and coaches at Xavier, which is located in Cincinnati. It might take a lot to lure him away from his home town.
3) Chris Holtmann: Holtmann is currently the coach at Butler where he has a 103-78 record. Holtmann has coaching roots in North Carolina, he was an assistant at Gardner-Webb from 2003-2008. He was also the head coach of Gardner from 2010-13. So he understands the playing field and would be coming in with eyes wide open. As a private school Butler doesn’t have to disclose how much it’s coach makes. However, before leaving for the Boston Celtics Brad Stevens was making 1 million dollars. It’s hard to believe that Holtmann makes much more then that. The cons with Holtmann is again he is from Kentucky and went to Taylor University which is in Indiana. So he is very close to home and who knows if he wants to relocate to North Carolina.
So there are my top 3 coaches that I would like to see NC State go after. There are others such as Levelle Moton and Kevin Keatts. But I’d like to see NC State grab one of the first 3….
