Why Was N.C. State’s Mark Gottfried Fired? Hard To Say, But Routinely Losing By A Thousand Points Probably Didn’t Help

North Carolina State fired coach Mark Gottfried midseason even though he took the Wolfpack men to four NCAA tournaments, including two Sweet 16s, in six years. Why on earth would athletic director Debbie Yow do such a thing, outside of the usual delusion State has that it should be good at things?

Here’s one clue: State hasn’t just been losing. It’s been LOSING, especially on the road, when it’s hard to tell if the team even gets off the bus. To wit:

• Routed by 18 at Miami on Dec. 31
• Obliterated by 51 (51!) at UNC on Jan. 8
• Blasted by 25 at Louisville on Jan. 29, six days after supposedly turning the season around with a stunning upset of Duke in Durham.
• Crushed by 24 at Florida State on Feb. 8
• Decimated by 30 at Wake Forest on Feb. 11
• Drubbed by 24 at home against UNC on Feb. 15

In between, the Wolfpack also lost on the road to a terrible Boston College team and were defeated in Raleigh by Georgia Tech, Wake, Syracuse and Miami – all far from elite teams. We discuss the ins-and-outs of the firing in our latest podcast:

Lack of competitiveness is an obvious reason for the firing. It indicates lack of effort, as does a “defense” that is the worst in the ACC and among the worst in the nation at 80 points surrendered per game. Wonder how that could be? Take a look:

Please see Exhibit A:

#Defense pic.twitter.com/5xj2jKpihS

— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) January 29, 2017

And Exhibit B:

#Defense #TheSequel pic.twitter.com/zdSjhsx1zv

— Mike Rutherford (@CardChronicle) January 29, 2017

And you better believe UNC fans are enjoying it all!

Gonna miss Mark Gottfried. No coach in the ACC makes us look better #GoHeels pic.twitter.com/ZijeyTB82M

— Home of The Blue Cup (@Hes_Not_Here) February 16, 2017

Losing is embarrassing. Losing embarrassingly is worse, as Gottfried found out.