Mark Gottfried is supposedly hiring a “Dream Team” of assistants. He’s on his way with Bobby Lutz.
N.C. State officially added Lutz to Gottfried’s staff Monday, joining former Louisiana Monroe coach Orlando Early on the staff. In 12 seasons at Charlotte, Lutz was 218-158, reached five NCAA tournaments and won at least 20 games five times. (Perhaps not so coincidently, Early coached under Lutz while at Charlotte.)
More important are Lutz’ recruiting ties to the state of Carolina.
He signed seven top-100 recruits while at Charlotte, including an NBA lottery pick in Rodney White. Not bad for a Conference USA/Atlantic 10 school. (And, as Backing the Pack notes, Michael Beasley originally committed to play for Charlotte before assistant Dalonte Hill was hired away.)
“He has great ties in the state of North Carolina from his time at Charlotte and Pfeiffer and that will be a huge help for us in recruiting,” Gottfried said Monday. “That recruiting advantage, plus his on-the-floor coaching expertise, will make him an asset in every part of our program.”
Who gets that final assistant spot at N.C. State? The scuttlebutt is Jim Harrick, but all Gottfried’s done thus far relating to Harrick is ask him for advice. It seems farfetched that Harrick would join the staff, even if Gottfried was an assistant under him while at UCLA.
Given that Harrick was fired at UCLA for NCAA violations and later resigned at Georgia related to rules his son, Jim Jr., committed, that’s seems like pushing the boundaries a bit much. A smarter move would be to nab another assistant to help with recruiting. Gottfried and Lutz can handle the in-game duties.
You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.