NC State is firing head men’s basketball coach Mark Gottfried amid a disappointing season, the school announced Thursday. Gottfried is expected to coach out the remainder of the season — four more games.
Mark Gottfried fired by NC State and will coach out this season
The program has reportedly already started reaching out to potential replacements.
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
NC State was already reaching out to potential replacements to gauge interest in the job, according to Mike Decourcy of The Sporting News.
The Wolfpack have been one of college basketball’s biggest disappointments this season at 14-13 overall and 3-10 in the ACC. According to Decourcy, the program considered firing Gottfried after its fifth straight loss on on Saturday, an 88-58 defeat to Wake Forest, but decided the timing wasn’t right. North Carolina crushed the Pack on Wednesday, 97-73.
NC State isn’t just losing in ACC play. It’s often getting blown out in embarrassing fashion. The Wolfpack lost by 51 points to North Carolina and by 25 points against Louisville before the 30-point loss to Wake Forest and another 24-pointer to UNC.
Expectations were high for NC State after Gottfried signed a star-studded recruiting class, led by point guard Dennis Smith Jr. Smith has been brilliant at times, particularly in scoring 32 points during NC State’s upset of Duke on Jan. 23, but it hasn’t been enough to save his coach’s job.
Gottfried made the tournament in his first four seasons at NC State before missing the postseason entirely last year during a 16-17 season. Gottfried currently holds a 122-82 all-time record at the school.
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