Sean Miller candidate for N.C. State coaching gig

Not to scare anyone in Wildcat Country or anything, but multiple media outlets are reporting that North Carolina State athletic director Debbie Yow will make a hard run at Arizona's Sean Miller.

The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., is reporting that Yow has forced a resignation of Wolfpack head coach Sidney Lowe, not a surprising move considering he's failed to reach the NCAA Tournament since being name head man.

It was Lowe who replaced current Sun Devil head coach Herb Sendek at N.C. State after Sendek couldn't live up to the pressure of playing nearby elite squads such as North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest.

Now, Miller's name comes up.

The Wildcats' second year coach was an assistant under Sendek, and assistant Archie Miller was a player at N.C. State from 1998-2002, three years spending time playing under his big brother.

It appears to be a pretty well-known list of who Yow will be chasing. The Fayetteville Observer is listing Miller, Texas' Rick Barnes, Georgia's Mark Fox among the top candidates. Of course, she'll have to wait for that group of candidates to get ousted from the NCAA Tournament.

What's it all mean? Should Arizona fans be afraid?

Probably not. Look at it this way, Miller just got this ship afloat. He came to Tucson because it was a challenge, had a huge tradition -- a tradition still known by young high school recruits -- and it's truly a college basketball town, one of the few places in the country where even a decent football team can't compare to, even in revenue amounts.

On the other hand, and maybe I'm ignorant about N.C. State, is a Wolfpack team who hasn't been elite in the past decade. Sendek's teams were occasionally tournament-bound, but nothing spectacular. Meanwhile, Raleigh must compete with so many other basketball schools within a very small locale.

Was the last time the Wolfpack was legitimate contenders back when Jim Valvano was head coach?

I think it was.

Sean Miller is an extremely competitive man. He only left Xavier because he felt that Arizona had the step up of being a huge public institution to go along with an intense tradition, the same reasons why John Calipari left Memphis for Kentucky. A once in a lifetime opportunity it was, Miller has said.

Personally, I don't think that he'll leave his post for anywhere other than Pittsburgh. Jamie Dixon seems to be doing just fine right now, so cool your jets and laugh off Yow's supposed short-list.

Yes, it's a solid list, and she should expect to grab someone of Miller's caliber. But at the end of the day, I don't think the N.C. State job is one of the best opportunities in the nation as she's selling it to be -- even for a former Wolfpack assistant like Miller.