North Carolina State's Identity Crisis

A 20 win team that loses early in the NCAA tournament every year does not make for a marquee job. Just ask North Carolina State.

The Wolfpack are still searching for a new basketball coach to replace Herb Sendek, after both ESPN’s Steve Lavin and West Virginia’s John Beilein turned down the opportunity to take over at the ACC school.

Lavin and Beilein join a long list of candidates that didn’t want any part of the NC State job, including Memphis’ coach John Calipari, Texas’ Rick Barnes and Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan.

So what’s the problem with coaching in Raleigh? Well, recruiting for one.

Both the North Carolina and Duke are a lock to get any player they want. Even recruiting with Wake Forest, who pretty much sucked last year, is difficult for the Wolfpack. The Demon Deacons have been a more respected basketball program over the last decade.

When they try to recruit south, they run into the Florida’s, Louisville’s and Kentucky’s of the world and if they look to the northeast, they have to do battle with Connecticut and Syracuse.

Considering they didn’t have a player on their roster from west of Mississippi last season, it’s safe to say they are primarily an east coast school. An east coast that is second rate compared to the powerhouses they are expected to compete with.

North Carolina State is suffering from the same identity crisis that Seton Hall went through when searching for its new head coach less than a month ago. Both are schools that still rely heavily on their success from yesteryear, rather than looking forward.

While the Pirates were getting turned down by strong mid-major coaches, the Wolfpack thought they could pry big time coaches from top ranked schools away from their jobs.

They were sadly mistaking.

Lavin, Beilein staying put, leaving Wolfpack to keep searching - Yahoo