Coach Cal,
Let me start by thanking you for getting the Wolfpack nation excited about basketball unlike we have been for 20 years. Your flirtation with becoming the next NC State head coach awakened a spirit in us that only a coach of your caliber could. You could have come here and been king. The press conference to announce your hiring would probably have been standing room only, every home game would have been packed, and we’d have hung on your every word. You could have come and competed against the best coaches in the country night after night in the ACC. You could have proved yourself to be one of the best coaches in the country on a national stage.
Unfortunately for you, you chose to stay at Memphis. You chose to stay in the comfortable confines of Conference USA where you battle against the likes of UAB. You chose to have people question if you could ever hack it in a major conference, well, I guess we’ll never know. I hope that you’re comfortable there because after this past weekend you’ll never be able to leave.
Most of all I’d like to thank you for not becoming our next coach. We don’t need someone to come here with any kind of second thoughts. We need someone who wants to compete against the best and isn’t scared to do so on a nightly basis. Basically we need someone who isn’t you.
I’m sure our new coach, whoever he may be, will thank you for awakening the spirit and passion that we’ll follow him with. Just think: if you weren’t scared it could have been you.
Wagon.