New Hire

[InFor6More]

App State’s basketball program is struggling despite Fox’s efforts to build our program back up after Capel drove it off into a ditch.
I appreciate Fox’s approach but he has shown he does not have what it takes to get the job done.
App State needs a hire that is low risk. We need someone that will bring our program back to winning ways who will not use it as a launching pad to the next job.
App State is going to have a hard time hiring the next up and coming coach due to our lousy recent history. As Fox and Capel have shown, hiring a coach with zero D1 head coaching experience is a complete roll of the dice.
Our football program is stronger than ever and we need to parlay that success into our basketball.
Luckily for App State, our answer is right under our nose!
Bobby Lutz
Lutz is well known for his coaching at UNC- Charlotte. He grew up in Hickory and has mostly spent his entire career coaching in NC. He has solid recruiting ties throughout the state of NC and the credibility with HS coaches to trust him with developing players.
Lutz coached at Pfeiffer 9 seasons, going 180-89 overall. He made the NAIA Final Four twice while finishing runner up as well.
He then went to his most well-known stop, UNC Charlotte.
In his 7 seasons at Charlotte while a member of Conference USA playing against coaches like Huggins and Pitino, he was able win 1 Regular season title, while making 4 NCAA Tourney appearances.
When Charlotte was moved to the A-10, the recruiting became harder at that level due to the natural footprint of the league moving away and the lack of buzz around the Charlotte program.
Overall at Charlotte, Lutz was 218-158 and 111-81 in conference.
He then coached one season at Iowa State under Fred Hoiberg. He was brought in to help the new coach learn how to run a college program and Hoiberg ended up being successful before bouncing to the NBA.
Lutz then came back to NC and was Assistant Coach for Mark Gottfried at NC State.
As you all know, Gottfried isn’t known for his coaching abilities or attention to detail and he relied heavily on Lutz for his scouting and game prep skills.
In the four seasons at NC State, NC State made the NCAA Tournament every year, going to 2 Sweet 16’s.
He was the mastermind behind the NCSU/UNC game that held UNC to the lowest point total in a game ever inside the Dean Dome against a team with Marcus Paige, Meeks, Brice Johnson, ect.
After Lutz left NC State, the Wolfpack missed two consecutive NCAA Tournaments and Gottfried was fired.
Lutz spent a year in the D League as an assistant for the Windy City Bulls in 2016-2017.
Yes, Lutz is 60 years old but he still has tons of energy and this wouldn’t be a case of a big name coach returning to coaching at a low level just to cash some checks before retirement.
Lutz has been on record saying he wants one more job and feels at his age he can be a productive coach and get the job done at the right school but he won’t take just any job.
The age may be a concern, but it is just what App State needs. We have swung and missed too many times. We can’t miss again. If we do, our basketball program may never be relevant again.
It is time to hire a proven commodity that can get our program moving back in the right direction.
Rick Barnes is killing it at Tennessee right now at the age of 64. Lutz could give us a solid decade of coaching but this is the last chance we will have to hire him.
I know his name was linked to us in 2014 but at that time NC State was winning and he was still getting paid from Charlotte.
It would have been a major pay cut when he was making his NC State salary + Charlotte payout salary.
That is not the case now. He isn’t making either salary now and I think he would LOVE to have the App State job and the salary we can offer would not be a negative.
His ability to navigate the JUCO waters and college transfer market that is prevalent in today’s college basketball market (5th year transfers, ect) could allow him to quickly rebuild App State.
Lutz’ coaching experience will far surpass most any coach in the Sun Belt so we should not see our teams getting outcoached any longer.
He prides himself on having teams that play hard, tough defense while running an up-tempo offense. We need a new brand of basketball on the mountain to sell to recruits.
We need a coach with a known name within the state that can bring talent in fast.
Bobby Lutz will bring more talent, highly ranked talent, and coach those players up better than anyone available on the market.
And he is in our price range and I bet he is more than willing to come!
Lutz would crawl to Boone for a chance to show he is one of the best coaches in the area but let’s pick him up in Lenoir to be fair.
I hope Doug keeps it simple and makes the right hire, Bobby Lutz.
A homegrown hire, experienced, energized, and ready to win big in Boone!
Let’s get it done!

[spacemonkey]

Yep.....I will give it the nod and "put money where my mouth is" make a $ donation when hired....
He would be a great "get" for Appalachian.

[J84]

App State’s basketball program is struggling despite Fox’s efforts to build our program back up after Capel drove it off into a ditch.
I appreciate Fox’s approach but he has shown he does not have what it takes to get the job done.
App State needs a hire that is low risk. We need someone that will bring our program back to winning ways who will not use it as a launching pad to the next job.
App State is going to have a hard time hiring the next up and coming coach due to our lousy recent history. As Fox and Capel have shown, hiring a coach with zero D1 head coaching experience is a complete roll of the dice.
Our football program is stronger than ever and we need to parlay that success into our basketball.
Luckily for App State, our answer is right under our nose!
Bobby Lutz
Lutz is well known for his coaching at UNC- Charlotte. He grew up in Hickory and has mostly spent his entire career coaching in NC. He has solid recruiting ties throughout the state of NC and the credibility with HS coaches to trust him with developing players.
Lutz coached at Pfeiffer 9 seasons, going 180-89 overall. He made the NAIA Final Four twice while finishing runner up as well.
He then went to his most well-known stop, UNC Charlotte.
In his 7 seasons at Charlotte while a member of Conference USA playing against coaches like Huggins and Pitino, he was able win 1 Regular season title, while making 4 NCAA Tourney appearances.
When Charlotte was moved to the A-10, the recruiting became harder at that level due to the natural footprint of the league moving away and the lack of buzz around the Charlotte program.
Overall at Charlotte, Lutz was 218-158 and 111-81 in conference.
He then coached one season at Iowa State under Fred Hoiberg. He was brought in to help the new coach learn how to run a college program and Hoiberg ended up being successful before bouncing to the NBA.
Lutz then came back to NC and was Assistant Coach for Mark Gottfried at NC State.
As you all know, Gottfried isn’t known for his coaching abilities or attention to detail and he relied heavily on Lutz for his scouting and game prep skills.
In the four seasons at NC State, NC State made the NCAA Tournament every year, going to 2 Sweet 16’s.
He was the mastermind behind the NCSU/UNC game that held UNC to the lowest point total in a game ever inside the Dean Dome against a team with Marcus Paige, Meeks, Brice Johnson, ect.
After Lutz left NC State, the Wolfpack missed two consecutive NCAA Tournaments and Gottfried was fired.
Lutz spent a year in the D League as an assistant for the Windy City Bulls in 2016-2017.
Yes, Lutz is 60 years old but he still has tons of energy and this wouldn’t be a case of a big name coach returning to coaching at a low level just to cash some checks before retirement.
Lutz has been on record saying he wants one more job and feels at his age he can be a productive coach and get the job done at the right school but he won’t take just any job.
The age may be a concern, but it is just what App State needs. We have swung and missed too many times. We can’t miss again. If we do, our basketball program may never be relevant again.
It is time to hire a proven commodity that can get our program moving back in the right direction.
Rick Barnes is killing it at Tennessee right now at the age of 64. Lutz could give us a solid decade of coaching but this is the last chance we will have to hire him.
I know his name was linked to us in 2014 but at that time NC State was winning and he was still getting paid from Charlotte.
It would have been a major pay cut when he was making his NC State salary + Charlotte payout salary.
That is not the case now. He isn’t making either salary now and I think he would LOVE to have the App State job and the salary we can offer would not be a negative.
His ability to navigate the JUCO waters and college transfer market that is prevalent in today’s college basketball market (5th year transfers, ect) could allow him to quickly rebuild App State.
Lutz’ coaching experience will far surpass most any coach in the Sun Belt so we should not see our teams getting outcoached any longer.
He prides himself on having teams that play hard, tough defense while running an up-tempo offense. We need a new brand of basketball on the mountain to sell to recruits.
We need a coach with a known name within the state that can bring talent in fast.
Bobby Lutz will bring more talent, highly ranked talent, and coach those players up better than anyone available on the market.
And he is in our price range and I bet he is more than willing to come!
Lutz would crawl to Boone for a chance to show he is one of the best coaches in the area but let’s pick him up in Lenoir to be fair.
I hope Doug keeps it simple and makes the right hire, Bobby Lutz.
A homegrown hire, experienced, energized, and ready to win big in Boone!
Let’s get it done!

This is very well said - thank you for the background and clarity. Bobby is also be our best chance to keep the recruiting class together. He would raise money, teach, recruit, and win.
He is on 610 in Charlotte every Monday now - his reach and credibility is obvious by the way listeners interact with him.
Bobby would be a huge get for App State.

[AppSt94]

Jason Allison would probably be the first choice of the administration. Just a guess.

[swva appfan]

I've been all in on Lutz for a while however I'm also on the record as not so much having a problem with coaches leaving for a better opportunity, we all do it, just as long as we keep winning. I'd love to have the equivalent of Jerry Moore on the court though.

[yosef13]

Jason Allison would probably be the first choice of the administration. Just a guess.

DG needs to clean house. I appreciate our current staff, but it's time.

[AppSt94]

Jason Allison would probably be the first choice of the administration. Just a guess.

DG needs to clean house. I appreciate our current staff, but it's time.

Perhaps. Sometimes it’s not the message that’s the problem, it’s the messenger. Allison is well respected from what I hear.

[EastHallApp]

Jason Allison would probably be the first choice of the administration. Just a guess.

I don’t think so. If that were the case, I’d think Gillin would have fired Fox midseason and given Allison a shot as the interim. To me, the decision not to do that suggests Gillin wants to clean house and didn’t want to risk Allison turning the season around and making it tough not to hire him.

[yosef13]

Jason Allison would probably be the first choice of the administration. Just a guess.

DG needs to clean house. I appreciate our current staff, but it's time.

Perhaps. Sometimes it’s not the message that’s the problem, it’s the messenger. Allison is well respected from what I hear.

If that's the case, then Allison will likely be an unfortunate casualty. When you are consistently the worst in your conference, it seems best to bring in new minds.

[AppSt94]

Jason Allison would probably be the first choice of the administration. Just a guess.

DG needs to clean house. I appreciate our current staff, but it's time.

Perhaps. Sometimes it’s not the message that’s the problem, it’s the messenger. Allison is well respected from what I hear.

If that's the case, then Allison will likely be an unfortunate casualty. When you are consistently the worst in your conference, it seems best to bring in new minds.

Nothing wrong with that sentiment.

[HighlandsApp]

We can likely hire someone who was successful at one time but moved up and was fired from that position.

See these once fired coaches:

https://sports.yahoo.com/forde-minutes- ... 42247.html

[Appstate88]

For DG to pull the trigger at the end of the season, please give him the ammunition, by donating to Yosef Club/Athletics Department. My understanding is we need at least $200K to make this "buyout" happen. Go Apps!

[NO.2]

I highly doubt that we buyout the current contract.

[GregPercussion]

I highly doubt that we buyout the current contract.

agreed. It's a waste of funds, even when we're this bad.

[HighlandsApp]

Go one more year with Fox and just don't let him offer any scholarships? An lame duck season and recruiting year?

Probably is best. Put the money in women's basketball, Field Hockey, men's baseball, softball where we are rising.

[Yosef84]

I have nothing against Lutz and he might be a great hire. I'm not sure the assumption that he would "crawl to Boone" to prove something is true at all. He is probably making as much or more as an assistant than we pay Fox. He might be a good fit in terms of skill but not financially.

No idea if we will buy Fox out after this season. It's not like we have money laying around. If we did, I would hope that we would be fully funding baseball, track, etc. I imagine DG has all the information in front of him and I trust him to make the decision.

Gotta say....that is a REALLY long post to present an option that is a known option and has been discussed quite a bit elsewhere.

[yosef13]

Go one more year with Fox and just don't let him offer any scholarships? An lame duck season and recruiting year?

Probably is best. Put the money in women's basketball, Field Hockey, men's baseball, softball where we are rising.

I get that, but doesn't this send the wrong message to potential new players and coaches. Is App willing to invest in MBB? Not spending the assumed 200k to remove a coach with zero winning seasons and the worst winning percentage in over 40 years says NO.

[Yosef84]

Go one more year with Fox and just don't let him offer any scholarships? An lame duck season and recruiting year?

Probably is best. Put the money in women's basketball, Field Hockey, men's baseball, softball where we are rising.

I get that, but doesn't this send the wrong message to potential new players and coaches. Is App willing to invest in MBB? Not spending the assumed 200k to remove a coach with zero winning seasons and the worst winning percentage in over 40 years says NO.

No argument from me. That's why I'm trust DG with the decision. At the end of the day, we have to pay the bills. Managing the message is a bit of a luxury. The question for the administration is whether we can afford the luxury.

[Arsenal App]

Lutz was the first choice when Fox was hired. He gave us the finger. Wouldn't even come in for an interview. Preferred being an assistant at State to being the head coach in Boone. Unless he's really hard up for money I doubt he'd be interested this time either. As for keeping Fox for another year a couple of you need to lay off that hard cider. Lugnuts.

[yosef13]

Okay, let's assume it's 200k to buy him out.

Fox is making 260k a year but started at 200k. I would assume our new coach would be in the same salary neighborhood. Let's say 230k per.

If you divide the buyout by the number years for the new coaches contract, assumed to be 4, that would give you a new coach at 230k, with a 4 year annual buyout fee of 50k. Basically you would get a new coach at 280k for 4 years.

Or if you save 30k the first year on a new hire at 230k, the buyout is really only 170k.
170/4= 42.5 + 230 = 272.5k for a new coach.

I'm sure the payout is up front, but if you break it down, it appears to be more affordable.

It will be interesting to see what DG decides to do.