Cal-isthenics
Why would John Calipari want the North Carolina State basketball job?
First, I'm not saying that he does - or doesn't. I know how rumors can get started. I'm just making a case here.
Ahem.
Calipari, the coach at Memphis, a regional finalist in this year's NCAA tournament, might be thinking along the same lines as Lefty Driesell and Gary Williams at Maryland, Terry Holland and Dave Leitao at Virginia, and for that matter, like former N.C. State coach Jim Valvano. All could have had their choice of jobs at various times in their coaching careers, and all chose the Atlantic Coast Conference knowing full well that they would be fighting the Duke-North Carolina hegemony from the day that they set their foot on campus.
Two of the above coaches did well for themselves - both Valvano and Williams have national titles to their credit. And Holland, for his part, coached in two Final Fours.
That TH, Jimmy V, The Lefthander and Rick Barnes (once at Clemson, now at Texas) ended up moving on (or being moved on) is not proof that the struggle to succeed in the ACC if you're not coaching at Duke or UNC is one that cannot ultimately be won.
This could be what is going on in Calipari's mind as N.C. State officials do their darndest to get him to think about setting up shop just down the road from guys named Coach K and Ol' Roy.
To update the old saw about New York, If you can win in the ACC, you can win anywhere.
That would be enough to get my competitive juices flowing.
- Chris Graham