The Facts: With the resignation of men’s basketball coach Sidney Lowe on Tuesday, Athletics Director Debbie Yow is now tasked with finding a coach that can get the men’s basketball program back on track.

Our Opinion: During the search, Yow needs to stick to the guidelines she laid out during a press conference Tuesday night in terms of how the search will be conducted and certain qualities and traits the next coach will need to have.

The N.C. State’s men’s basketball program is at a crossroads. After having to part ways with former coach and player Sidney Lowe, Athletics Director Debbie Yow has now begun the critical search for the next coach.

Yow described how she will begin the search- by selecting an effective search firm to seek out potential candidates for the hiring committee to evaluate. This process is meant to ensure gaining the best of the best. Yow listed a few qualities the hiring committee will be looking for: a career as a college coach who has made multiple trips to NCAA Tournaments and has a proven track record of winning.

Along with the search process, Yow promises a competitive salary for the next head coach to ensure the finest. Yow also reassures students this money will come from outside resources available to University athletics.

Yow should note, this search, more than any other, is extremely important, as the next Pack basketball coach will have the chance to be the face of the triangle teams and potentially bring N.C. State back to the glory days of actually winning a tournament.  

Both Carolina coach Roy Williams and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski are over 60 years old and Lowe’s successor could be there when the two hall of fame coaches retire. This would give the new coach an opportunity to have a leg-up on the competition and actually give the fans the results they’ve been demanding. This opportunity would give the new coach, and N.C. State, the chance to become the face of the Tobacco Road Rivalry.

Therefore, it is crucial that Yow stick with her standards and expectations throughout the entire search. While Yow described the search would be hush-hush, the Wolfpack fan base wants Yow to keep to her word and hire a coach with the ability to build our team back up. By keeping this search close to chest, Yow would be able to find the perfect match without heavy media coverage.  

We saw what happened with the hiring process five years ago when the search was extremely publicized and out in the open. We don’t want this time around to produce the same result.

While this very-anticipated search will be a hassle, the outcome should bring a much needed breath of fresh air for our basketball team and University. This decision also has the potential to make University athletics history if it is as stringent as Yow promises. So during this exhausting search to find the new hero for our basketball team make sure you stick to your words, so that past mistakes are not repeated.