Triangle Coaching Hot Seat, Take Two

Not that Chuck Amato was not already facing some level of heat for squandering a 2-0 ACC record that included wins over Boston College and Florida State but the present six game losing streak that culminated in one of the more hapless performances I have seen from a team in a rivalry game has created a firestorm he probably rather avoid. The failure to compete and being outplayed/outcoached, especially against a rival who had a fired coach on the other side is not going to make the natives happy. And when you consider this is the third straight loss to UNC, their rage will make the dissatifaction over Herb Sendek look like a mild disagreement of coaching style. The real tell-tell sign for this situation is not so much with the message board folks. That crowd is the equivalent of a fickled mistress who turns at the slightest sign of trouble. The real money is on the hard core bloggers and the local media. Let’s just say there is enough real dissatisfaction there to make Amato’s future very cloudy.

Red and White From State:

Likewise, the Wolfpack’s loss to UNC is not the cause for my, nor other Wolpackers’, desires to see Chuck Amato resign or be fired. Rather, the Pack’s loss to a team, which had not beaten a 1-A opponent until our game, demonstrates the longstanding reasons why Amato should be gone at the season’s end. Who cares whether Amato is an alum or whether he is a nice guy?!? Amato is not paid over 1/2 million dollars annually to be a faithful alum or to be a nice guy. Amato is paid to win games and win big. Chuck Amato has failed.

State Fans Nation:

The idea that State needed to lose two in a row before making a change bothered us to the core because we don’t understand the difference between losing out and simply losing one of these two. Big F*ing deal?

It feels EXACTLY like TYPICAL NC State cowardly management – let’s keep changing the standard and give (insert employee here) another chance by basing our decision on a completely subjective and irrelevant standard while ignoring years of history.

N&O: Caulton Tudor:

But this situation isn’t all that complicated.

Amato, today, is where Bunting was after UNC dropped successive games to South Florida (37-20) and Virginia (23-0) in mid-October. He was fired three days later.

It’s right that Amato should be in this trouble, too. In the three seasons since quarterback Philip Rivers graduated, the Wolfpack’s offense has fallen into such a state of disrepair and misdirection that it’s illogical to assume that a great deal is going to change between now and September.

Wow. This really is like deja vu all over again. This was the exact place Tar Heel Nation was a month ago complaining about the lack of competiveness and the obvious indication that the program was going nowhere. Now NC State fans are in the same boat with reasonable and well respected bloggers pointing out the obvious and Caulton Tudor weighing in heavy against the coach. And having taken this trip recently let me say Wolfpack fans have every right to feel this way. I am of the opinion that if Bunting was a candidate for employment relocation then Amato most certainly is in the same predicament. As far as Chuck is concerned, the welcome wagon has left, the new carpet smell is gone from the Murphy Center, and three straight losses to a rival your were favored to beat but lost to because you didn’t show up is more than enough cause to ask for a refund on what ever Amato has been selling.

College football coaches get evaluated on where their program is at in relation to the number of years they have been there and whether or not there are signs of progress. I have heard the argument made that Amato is not that far removed from a few good years but that agrument is total hogwash. The progress of a program is evaluated based on whether it is building on the previous seasons of success. In other words once a certain level has been attained, that coach cannot consistently fall below that point or he will be fired. Sure the occasional bump in the road caused by injury or a poor recruiting class is understood but the bottom line is that the seventh year should be better than the first. That is not the case at NC State and there are so many things wrong with the way Chuck Amato coaches and the general manner in which is teams play to think it will get any better.

And one final note. While I do not subscribe to theories that members of the local media are unnecessarily biased I do find it curious that Caulton Tudor wrote two scathing columns asking for John Bunting’s head outright but when it came to Chuck Amato he took a more generalized approach of arguing why Amato’s return next season would be counter productive. I guess my question is why Tudor saw fit to swing the axe at Bunting but refrains from doing so with Amato even though, by his own admission, Amato is at the same point Bunting was at following the UVa game?

This is not an accusation per se just an observation on Tudor’s differing approach to the two situations. If anyone has a thought please share.