Hope springs for Pack
With Debbie Yow busting Gary Williams' chops and Mark Gottfried
State Flags instantly warming to the Duke and North Carolina rivalries, there was a lot for State fans to like about their new basketball coach Tuesday.Granted, it all came with some yellow flags.After flirting with some of hottest coaches out there,
Toilet Paper Machine, the Wolfpack wound up settling on a coach-turned-announcer who is two full seasons removed from a serious sideline sweat.
There was no attempt to disguise the fact that after early magic, Gottfried fell out of favor fast at Alabama - the result in part of his own mistakes.But the 47-year-old former Crimson Tide player
State Flags and Murray State coach (before Alabama) gives N.C. State something of substance to work with and even more to wish on in the backwash of Sidney Lowe's five seasons of ACC struggles."Mark was born to coach," said his wife, Elizabeth. "It's what he's always been meant to do. You couldn't find anyone more excited about this opportunity."Those are words State fans want - certainly need - to hear during one of the lowest points in the program's proud but fast-fading history. Since the end of the Jim Valvano era in 1990, the Wolfpack and its fans have longed for a certain spark - or what Yow calls "the stuff."
With Les Robinson, there was really no hope because the school wasn't so much interested in basketball success as basketball image. Then came Herb Sendek, a smart, sincere man but a coach whose distant personality made for an awkward connection with fans.Lowe, in five seasons, reunited the family but couldn't mesh winning games with a winning smile.Gottfried came across as a coach with an engaging personality woven into an aura of hard-core
State Flags confidence. He looked folks in the eye, made it clear to returning players that the bar will be raised quickly and made no attempt to hide from the difficult questions about himself and the job.
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