Big name just isn't necessary

N.C. State fans are starting to feel unloved. Texas coach Rick Barnes declined their school's invitation to coach its men's basketball team, and then Memphis coach John Calipari decided he prefers Beale Street to Tobacco Road.

Fans shouldn't take it personally. Even Sir Walter never came to Raleigh, though for $2 million a year he would have.

Rejection may hurt State's ego. It hasn't necessarily hurt its basketball program. The big names have been asked and have declined. That should appease fans who wanted State to hire a prominent coach.

Now State is free to take a better course. It can hire someone who is young, promising and intent on making a name instead of being one.

Many State fans don't want to hear this. They lived with Herb Sendek's low profile for 10 years. Now it's time, they say, for a coach with the spark and the recruiting connections to electrify State basketball like it was in the days of Jim Valvano, Norm Sloan and Everett Case.

But those coaches became famous college coaches at State. They didn't bring fame with them.

And greatness, even if you hire it, isn't always portable. Some coaches who thrive in one environment founder in another. That has been made obvious by coaches swollen with college success who have bombed in the pros. Consider Calipari and his failed venture into the NBA with the New Jersey Nets. Or Rick Pitino with the Boston Celtics. Or Steve Spurrier with the NFL's Washington Redskins.

As for coaches who go from one top college to another, there isn't much of a record to judge. Roy Williams would be Exhibit A for those who think a school can buy its way to the top by writing a check big enough to lure a famous coach. But it's more complicated than that. Williams and Carolina have a long history. He wasn't a hired gun who showed up and restored Carolina to greatness in a vacuum. He had help from the recruiting draw of Carolina and the players Matt Doherty brought to Chapel Hill.

Bill Self went from Illinois to Kansas in 2003 and is doing well, but the past two seasons Kansas has lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Bradley and Bucknell. Hall of Famer Bob Knight went from Indiana to Texas Tech; that program has improved, but The General went 15-17 this past season. Pitino came back to college at Louisville, and the program is doing well, but it's not the Kentucky of his best years.

Sometimes what's in a name isn't so much, and sometimes what's in a no-name is a lot. When Carolina, Duke and Kansas hired young unknowns -- Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams -- it worked out pretty well. Valvano came to State from that national basketball powerhouse Iona.

The strongest objection to hiring a potential top coach instead of a current one is that State feels it went that route with Sendek. He was 33, a Pitino protege, a coach who could blossom and stay rooted at State.

Sendek didn't become Pitino II. But he wasn't a bad hire. He restored State as an NCAA Tournament regular. He polished the school's image for integrity. State's experience with Sendek shouldn't be repudiated by the next hire. It should be built upon with another young coach who shares Sendek's integrity and dedication but brings a more outgoing personality and more exciting style of play.

Some worry that a young coach whom only insiders know won't unite the fan base that split over Sendek. But that split may not be as wide as it was. Sendek is gone. The Barnes and Calipari rejections may bring fans to agreement that the job should be given to someone who doesn't demand a king's ransom to take it.

Sendek listened to the unhappy fans when he left for Arizona State. Chancellor James Oblinger and athletics director Lee Fowler listened to them when they went after two of the game's biggest coaching names.

Now it may be time to listen to what the rejections are saying and what experience shows.

State is not going to hire away a big-name college coach, but it still can hire the next great one.