It doesn’t matter how well their teams play for stretches, NC State’s Kevin Keatts and Clemson’s Brad Brownell always find themselves back on the hotseat.
When it looks like they have things solved, they don’t. They then find themselves on and off the bubble and far more often than not end up missing the NCAA tournament.
Three weeks ago Clemson sat 11-1 with wins over Alabama, TCU, and South Carolina. They were in the top 15, and it looked like Clemson was headed toward a top 3 NCAA seed. Since then Clemson is 1-4, the wheels came off Tuesday night in losing a 9-point lead with just 90 seconds to previously 8-8 (1-4) Georgia Tech. The Jackets have only won 1 game in January.
The Tigers fell to 12-5 (2-4) after that game.
Now you credit Georgia Tech for the comeback, and knocking down huge shots late to win 93-90 in 2 OT, but on your home floor, it was a devastating loss for Clemson who are teetering from NCAA lock to the bubble in a few short weeks. Again Brad Brownell finds himself in the crosshairs of angry Clemson fans who are witnessing an experienced and talented team struggle.
Clemson won at Florida State Saturday to get to 13-5 (3-4) with a road game at Duke next. A loss would have been an absolute disaster for the Tigers NCAA chances.
Brownell is not alone though.
NC State’s Kevin Keatts lives on the hot seat, but the Wolfpack started the ACC season with a ton of momentum. NC State was pretty average in the non-conference and didn’t garner a Q1 win, but they started to make up for it with a 5-1 ACC start. They were 12-5 overall.
Virginia Tech came to Raleigh losers of 4 of their last 5, and ironically their 1 win was over Clemson. Still, it was a big opportunity for NC State to get to 13-5 (6-1).
NC State fell apart late under an avalanche of Virginia Tech 3-pointers and clutch shots late as the Wolfpack got that deer-in-the-headlights look and lost on their home floor too Now the Wolfpack head on the road to Virginia and Syracuse, with a loss that sends them off the NCAA radar for now.
Brownwell and Keatts are not awful coaches. Their teams are rarely truly terrible, but like clockwork, they will find themselves fighting for the NCAA lives in February no matter what they do before that.
That’s how you get on the hot seat year after year.
Eventually, time will run out on one or both if there isn’t a breakthrough.
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