N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried was fired this week in a somewhat controversial decision.
The issue at hand? Gottfried, who had been to four NCAA tournaments in his first five years as the Wolfpack coach, was relieved of his duties with four games left in the regular season after a week where his job status was the topic of conversation in college hoops.
Gottfried was allowed to coach the rest of the season, and on Saturday he let the ESPN cameras into his locker room prior to a home game against Notre Dame.
And in his pregame speech, Gottfried compared himself to a dog that had been run over by a car but was still going to bite that car’s tires.
Listen to this:
Pregame, Mark Gottfried compared himself to a run-over dog ...
— Bret Strelow (@bretstrelow) February 18, 2017
"Bite the damn tire!" pic.twitter.com/nnENfpSkSI
“Bite that damn tire.”
It didn’t sound like his team was all that inspired by the speech. And it didn’t look like it, either. They were down 41-28 at the half and by 20 points early in the second half as they lost to Notre Dame on Saturday.