The observation was quickly lost amid the chatter over Mark Gottfried’s pending departure and delicious speculation on who might replace him. But concern over how to sustain a program, rather than stutter from one bench regime to another, was well-taken at N.C. State, seeking its fourth coach in 13 years. Especially in a neighborhood that’s home to a pair of men’s basketball programs regarded as national institutions in their sport.
Those idiosyncratic factors, confronted in an era when unpredictable player movement is a disruptive constant, and widened parity is fed by multimillion-dollar coaching salaries at mid-major schools, makes the task of refurbishing a once-powerful program that much more daunting.