Carolina and the Coaching Carousel - IC Daily | College Basketball

Welcome in Nazi Daily for Thursday, April 2nd, getting close to the final four.

Not there yet. I'm Tommy Ashley. That's Greg Barnes. Shout out to JohnnyTShirt and JohnnyTShirt.com

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to be glued into the facts of North Carolina's coaching search. But Greg, let's talk about

other coaching searches. I think the big one locally, if your

Chapel Hill, Raleigh Durham area is North Carolina State hiring one of its own,

which I really think is a good move for them. I think they learned lesson

last year, but your thoughts on Justin Gainey at State and just for trying to basket ball in general.

I mean, A, we'll talk about another one, but this makes me feel really old because I remember

like yesterday when he was playing at State, but just him being there. And he's not Jason. He's

Justin, Buchorrigan messing up the names, which to be fair, it's not that difficult to screw a name

up, Greg. Yeah, you talk about, talk about filling old Tommy. I was in school at the same time that

Justin Gainey was at State. And I vividly remember him and Archie Miller was in school at that

point in time as well. I guess Ron Kelly was the other one that I saw out quite a bit.

So yes, it's just the confirmation that that we are in fact getting old. And I will say that

this is one of those weeks that feels like a year. And I think everybody, especially with the

Carolina fan base, can agree with that. It just seems like it's it's molasses in terms of trying

to move forward just because North Carolina isn't kind of way in C mode. So we get to focus on

some of these other changes. And there's a couple that are relevant. And the thing with Justin

Gainey that I think is so incredibly important at Frenzy State is that he because he played there,

he has a true understanding of what it takes to be successful there and kind of what makes that

fan base tech. And they had some good teams in the late 90s. There was some thought that

that NC State was going to end up with with Josh shirts from St. Louis, who is a very good coach.

But St. Louis has kind of rallied around that basketball program. And it just seems like

the shirts was a guy who was not completely sold on leaving St. Louis at this point in time.

He's kind of happy with how things are set up. He's got a lot of support in the administration.

And so he ultimately declined what was reported as an unofficial offer from NC State.

But I think that's a good thing for NC State in getting Gainey. Gainey's, you know, has a very

good track record as an assistant coach. Rick Barnes I think is as proven over the years

that while he may not be an elite guy, he's in that next year. You know, I think they've had

what, three straight sweet 16s, I believe, maybe even better than that. So Rick Barnes is the

guy that knows the game. And so that's that's a good mentor for Gainey. But we saw what happened

with Will Wade. You know, Will Wade comes in and says all the right things. I think because he had

family that was local to the area that they just assumed it was going to be this homerun fit.

Even though there was a lot of questions about Will Wade in terms of his character and what he

was about and some of the things that he said, you can you can talk a lot of smack when you're

when you haven't really proven anything. And he did that in the off season. And then of course,

he took advantage of that when when state was able to beat Carolina without they saw and Caleb Wilson.

But we also saw how NC State finished the year very poorly. And I mean,

all accounts seems as though Will Wade has his his foot out the door. And you can't you can't

have a successful basketball program if you're always concerned about your coach leaving.

So there has to be some some level ground there. I mean, it's kind of like the dating scene, right?

I mean, if you're if you're a five and you're dating a 10, you're always going to be looking to see

exactly how long that person's going to be around. And that's that's that's the trouble. And I think

what what NC State has figured out is that it's very important to have somebody who who appreciates the

the program has a vested interest in the program. I mean, that's the potential to be a really good

coach. And you know, NC State fans when when Gainee was there, they were not far removed from Jimmy

Valvano getting run out town. That was a you know, less than a decade before. And so those feelings

were very raw. And I remember that very vividly being in college. And there was always a

hope that NC State could kind of get back to what they were. Well, it hadn't happened. You know,

it just has not happened over 40 years. And so I think NC State to get to that next level

of being a team that can compete in the ACC and can compete to get to the NCAA tournament

every year, not just once in a blue moon. There has to be a foundation in place, which has been

lacking. And I think Justin Gainee provides that. We shall see. But I think it's going to be a

situation where you give him five, 10 years because he's still relatively young guy. Maybe state

gets back to that point where they can they can actually be a legitimate top 25 type program.

And once you establish that that base, well, then you can talk about doing bigger and better things.

And it's not just so much about, hey, this year, we're going to be good. And the next three years,

you're not because that's just no way to really have success, especially for a program like NC State.

Look, I understand that the robbery component and all those things in Toronto fans are perfectly

happy to see NC State struggle. But for those of us who realize what ACC basketball is about and

what tobacco road is about, having Duke good and having NC State playing well and having

weight forest, having a solid team. In addition to Carolina being good, that's the best scenario

because it pushes everybody to be better, which I think is a good thing.

Yeah, and I agree with you. And it's why hiring a solid top level coach is so important.

Maybe even more so for teams like NC State, Syracuse obviously going the same route,

hiring Jerry McNair, up there, another guy who played yesterday and is already a head coach at

Syracuse. But Greg, I think, and we're talking with Greg Barnes here when I see daily for the

second of April, which is crazy to me. It feels like molasses, like you mentioned earlier,

but then you look up in its April second. I mean, it was new years just last week. And here we are

April second. And yet it's going so slow. But Greg, I think the big news across the country is

Bill Self clearing up the rumor mill or he said it himself, thoughts of stepping away or whatever.

That is huge. That's huge for North Carolina for obvious reasons of not having to fight another

blue blood for a coach. But it's huge for college basketball. And Kansas is one of those blue

bloods. And Bill Self is a big, big part of that. For sure. And I think Kansas really had to kind

of come to terms with what they want the program to be. And look, coaches have a lot of leverage.

And we're seeing it with Tommy Lloyd and the build up to the final four. And if Bill Self,

if you want him to coach another year, then I'm sure they made sure that he's got the NIL support

that he needs to get exactly what he wants in the portal and in the recruiting circuit. I think

that's important because there was, I mean, there's a lot of speculation in the agent circles

over the past week or so that more than likely he was going to be stepping down in retiring.

And that's just a big boon, as you mentioned, to Carolina because these jobs don't come all

open very often, right? I mean, Bill Self stepped into the Kansas job after Roy left Kansas to come

the Chapel Hill. Carolina has only had a handful of coaches in the last 60 years, 65 years.

Duke had Mike Shoshesky for however long. And now Shire's likely going to be there for a long,

long time. So it's a unique situation. And the idea of having both the Kansas job and the

Carolina job open in the same cycle would have just created madness. And you know, as a chaos

efficient auto, I think from a reporting standpoint nationally, it would have been very intriguing

because those were two massive dominoes that have to fall. And if both of those programs

were waiting for coaches that are still potentially competing in the instigable tournament,

I mean, in theory, you could get to Monday night the day before the transfer portal opens.

And you've got two blue bloods waiting to make a coaching hire. And once they make a hire,

that means another job's open. And then you just have this domino effect all the way down

as the portal's coming open. So I do think it's fascinating from that aspect. It's beneficial

for North Carolina because now you're front and center, right? I mean, Syracuse has made a hire.

They're not really going to compete with the same type of coaches that Carolina is. And C-States

made a hire. Same reason. And so you just have Carolina here being able to take its time. No

significant rush. Although you do have the portal kind of sitting there in the distance, right?

I mean, that does matter, although it's not as important as some people may think.

And I just think Carolina greatly benefits from this. And the other part of this with Kansas,

though, is self-seriously considering stepping down. He's getting older. It's not like he's

going to coach for another five years. So another year, maybe two years, whatever it may be,

that job will come open. And so a lot of the programs that have concerns about whether or not

their head coach is going to stick around, those concerns will continue once Kansas is

the size to have to have to find somebody to replace yourself. It's crazy. And to your point,

it's not just Carolina trying to hire a coach. It's putting another school in position to have

to hire a coach. We talk about this transfer portal and how Carolina needs to hurry up. Some people

say that. Well, think about the other schools that are losing a coach right there at it. You

mention chaos. It is like a circular firing squad with chaos in college basketball when it comes

to hiring big-time coaches. I was going to wrap it up. Well, let's say this. Think about it from

the players perspective, especially the agent representation. Because if you know that

Carolina's sitting there and doesn't have a coach, and they're going to hire a big name,

well, that means that another job's going to come open. And that means that another job's going

to come open. So are you going to be quick to sign your plighter to a deal on Tuesday,

April 7th knowing what may transpire? Or are you going to say, we're going to talk to everybody.

We're not going to sign a dang thing until we see how this plays out. And yes, the portal's only

open for two weeks. But I bet especially a lot of the big name players, I bet they take a step

back and wait and see exactly what unfolds. Back up quarterback and NFL sports agent,

two of the best jobs in sports, especially this day and age, to your point.

Guys with leverage, if you're a elite player, are you talking about leverage? Wow. I'm going to do

it now. That's Greg Barnes. I'm Tommy Ashley. I spend inside Carolina today for Thursday,

April 2nd. Go to Johnny T-shirt as always and go to inside Carolina to sign up for your premium

membership. You still got a chance to get in on the fun. And if you can call it fun, we'll call it

chaos. We'll call it coaching search chaos for this one. Greg, it's always fun.