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For prospective coaches, the NC State job promises pressure, potential

NC State is looking for a coach after firing Mark Gottfried last week. (AP)
NC State is looking for a coach after firing Mark Gottfried last week. (AP)

When NC State announced it was firing Mark Gottfried on Thursday night, that decision drudged up a familiar but polarizing question.

Just how attractive is the job that will become vacant at the end of the season?

One side argues that NC State has unrealistic expectations if it’s firing a coach who reached the NCAA tournament four times in six years. The other scoffs at that surface-level assessment and insists that a deeper examination of the Wolfpack reveals an undisciplined, underachieving program in need of an overhaul.

One side argues that NC State’s quick trigger with Gottfried will scare off potential coaching candidates fearful of coming to a program that demands a level of success it hasn’t achieved in more than a quarter century. The other wonders why it’s a bad thing that the Wolfpack have a passionate fanbase and an ambitious administration eager to restore the program to its past heights.

So which side is correct? Oddly, it might be both.

Despite Gottfried’s four NCAA bids and two Sweet 16 appearances in six seasons, NC State had ample reason to fire him. The Wolfpack went 47-55 in league play during his tenure and failed to consistently play up to their talent level even in his best seasons, twice sneaking into the NCAA tournament as one of the last teams selected.

Back-to-back losing seasons at the end of Gottfried’s tenure aren’t the only signs that the NC State program is unmistakably trending in the wrong direction. It had become a rite of summer for Gottfried to have to retool his roster on the fly after enduring a rash of unexpected defections.

Gottfried managed to cobble together a talent-laden roster this season highlighted by future lottery pick Dennis Smith Jr., however many of NC State’s best players are unlikely to return next year. Terry Henderson is out of eligibility, Smith is almost certainly NBA-bound, Turkish 7-footer Omer Yurtseven and forward Malik Abu also could turn pro and several other rotation players are candidates to transfer.

Expecting more continuity and sustained success than that doesn’t mean NC State demands to be at the level of rivals Duke and North Carolina — or even fellow ACC foes Louisville and Syracuse. It simply suggests the Wolfpack are tired of also looking up at the likes of Virginia, Notre Dame, Miami and Florida State in the ACC pecking order.

At the same time, while NC State may have good reason to move on from Gottfried, the Wolfpack are naive if they think the decision to fire him won’t serve as a deterrent to some potential candidates to replace him.

NC State already had the reputation of expecting too much after nudging Herb Sendek aside in 2006 despite five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. All that most coaches will see is more of the same in the Gottfried firing even if a closer examination reveals this is a more logical decision

When NC State fired Sidney Lowe in 2011 after five years without making the NCAA tournament, athletic director Debbie Yow initially targeted high-profile candidates like Sean Miller, Chris Mack and Shaka Smart. Only after those coaches turned Yow down did she settle for Gottfried, then an analyst at ESPN after getting fired at Alabama in 2009.

It’s possible this search could follow a similar pattern, especially since the NC State job has gotten more difficult now with Louisville and Syracuse joining the ACC and Virginia, Notre Dame and Miami enjoying a renaissance.

Dayton coach Archie Miller and Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall are obvious potential targets for the Wolfpack, but there’s no reason for either to leave their current gigs unless it’s for a top-tier job. Both are well-compensated and lead programs that are indisputably among the best in their respective leagues. As a result, they would be wise to follow Shaka Smart’s lead and wait for a chance to jump to one of the nation’s most coveted jobs, especially with the possibility of Indiana opening in the near future.

Second-tier candidates include mid-major coaches eager to make a leap and power-conference coaches ready for a fresh start, but even those are no guarantee for NC State. One potential second-tier candidate told CBSSports.com, “I wouldn’t touch that job. If making four NCAA Tournaments [in six years] gets you fired midseason [in your sixth year], it’s not a good job to take if you already have a good job.”

What this means is that NC State will have to be creative in its quest to find its next coach. Then that candidate will have to answer the same question that folks in college basketball circles have debated for the past few days: Just how attractive is the job?

Is NC State an appealing job because of its enthusiastic fan base, state-of-the-art facilities and tradition-rich history that includes a pair of national titles won under two different coaches? Or is NC State a high-risk job because its ambitions exceed its recent track record?

In reality, the answer again is both. Now it’s up to NC State to find a qualified coach who’s comfortable with the pressure and excited by the potential.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!