NC State hires Mark Gottfried

North Carolina State has FINALLY hired a basketball coach. Former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried, most recently an analyst for the SEC Network, has been hired as the new basketball coach. Supposedly, the rest of the coaching staff will be named during the press conference.

Gary Parrish at CBS Sports notes the following about the coaching search:

N.C. State spent weeks searching for Sidney Lowe's replacement before settling on Gottfried. Sources told CBSSports.com that the school pursued many candidates -- among them Texas' Rick Barnes, Arizona's Sean Miller, UCLA's Ben Howland, Xavier's Chris Mack, Memphis' Josh Pastner, Texas A&M's Mark Turgeon, Cincinnati's Mick Cronin and Wichita State's Gregg Marshall. All decided to pass on the opportunity to work under athletic director Debbie Yow, whose reputation within the coaching community hindered her ability to make the type of home run hire she and her fan base desired.

Mark Gottfried, in my opinion, is a superb hire. Whether he will restore NC State to the glory days of when Jim Valvano coached there is hard to tell. His first step is to keep Ryan Harrow from seeking a transfer but time will tell.

In other coaching news, Lamar has hired Pat Knight. It is definitely a step down from the Big 12 but that could be what he needs. We'll see.

Jeff Goodman makes an observation about the 2011 offseason coaching carousel, and why it took so long for NC State to make a hire.

By my count, there have been 40 coaching changes thus far – which is actually on the lower end of the last handful of offseasons.

Nine of the changes have involved schools from the Power Six conferences – and seven of them have been filled.[...]

Fans in Raleigh may be tired of hearing this from me, but it’s the truth: Coaches in the industry are well-aware of the largely irrational fan base, they know that Herb Sendek was basically run out of town after five consecutive NCAA tournament bids.

They are also well-aware of athletic director Debbie Yow’s reputation – and in coaching circles, her reputation hasn’t helped her land anyone.

It should be noted that NC State's hiring of Gottfried changes that number to eight being filled.