Rick,<\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re now in need of a coach \u00e2\u20ac\u201c well, officially anyway; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been in need of a coach the better part of a decade. But I digress. Anyway, Rick, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to extend a personal invitation to you to come help us out up here in the heart of Tobacco Road. How about it, partner?<\/p>\n
Look, you know Raleigh is just a short two-hour Friday evening stroll up I-40 from your hometown of Hickory. I even feel like we have a connection, because I myself lived in Hickory for a while as well and grew up not too far from there. C\u00e2\u20ac\u2122mon, Rick, this is big-time college basketball, what else can you ask for? You know what I’m talking about.<\/p>\n
I mean, sure, Texas has become a national powerhouse, but c\u00e2\u20ac\u2122mon Cowboy, saddle up and come on home to where college basketball is King. In Texas, basketball is all hat and no cattle; think what you could be at State! I mean, look how State fans are: we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re intensely loyal, almost to a fault. You could own Raleigh, absolutely own it. Just beat Roy.<\/p>\n
I like you, buddy, and regardless of what you might have heard, that carries quite a bit of merit around North Carolina. I mean, I want your attitude. Remember how you told you boys at Clemson to go out and be mother f-bombers against Duke? I want that; we need<\/em> that. I want guys that drive and fight and scrap and push and shove and box out and push the ball in transition; I want six-ten guys that play like six-ten guys. I want someone to make Ced a beast. You never backed down to Dean or K and you won at Clemson. Good enough for me.<\/p>\n I want that swagger you brought to Clemson \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a lowly football school. You built them into a force to be reckoned with. Imagine how big you could be at a basketball school. Plus, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have an immediate opportunity to defend your honor. Didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you hear what Roy said about you after the 2003 National Championship game? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give a shit about [Rick Barnes].\u00e2\u20ac\u009d You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not gonna take that from him are you, Cowboy?<\/p>\n Then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Hickory Factor; the beautiful western North Carolina foothills. You were raised there; you went to Lenoir-Rhyne; coached at Davidson. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re mom worked in a textile factory there \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I myself worked in the furniture industry for a while, so we understand each other. Think about it: I bet you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t find a Sundrop anywhere in Austin. I dare you to find a convenience store anywhere in NC that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t carry an entire cooler-full. Think Eastern NC BBQ. Think Bojangle\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on every corner (just wait until you eat at the one on Western Boulevard; four-piece supreme dinner, trust me). Think sweet tea. Think grits that come anytime you say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153eggs.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n ACC basketball is in you. Come on and help us out. We want a winner \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we need it. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make me beg, Rick (because I will if I have to). Forget making The Dance; screw the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153body of work.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I want banners \u00e2\u20ac\u201c beautiful ACC and Final Four banners.<\/p>\n Do it for this great state. Do it for me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve endured enough; I think we all have. C\u00e2\u20ac\u2122mon home and toss away the axe and get us out of this dreaded day-tight compartment we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been stuck in for almost a decade. Make our decade-long wet dream a reality.<\/p>\n I look forward to hearing from you, Cowboy.<\/p>\n Dr. R.L. Bentley, III<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rick, We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re now in need of a coach \u00e2\u20ac\u201c well, officially anyway; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been in need of a coach the better part of a decade. But I digress. Anyway, Rick, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to extend a personal invitation to you to come help us out up here in the heart of Tobacco Road. How about it, … Continue reading A letter to Rick Barnes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/section30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}