NC State coaching hire a chance to establish continuity, restore tradition

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…