ACC road a tough one for Virginia
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
January 9, 2005

ATLANTA - Those great poets, Sonny and Cher, once wrote “The Beat Goes On.” And so it goes for Virginia’s basketball futility in the heart of Dixie as the Cavaliers took a beating on the ACC road once again.

It has been well documented over the past year how poorly Virginia has played in conference games away from Charlottesville. It hasn’t gotten much worse than at Georgia Tech, where the Cavaliers have now dropped five of the last six, nine of the last 10 and 16 of the last 20.

Not many of them were as bad as Saturday night’s 92-69 bludgeoning handed out by the ninth-ranked Yellow Jackets.

Granted the Cavaliers were in a head-on collision with a good team playing its best. Tech coach Paul Hewitt said he has been waiting for weeks for his Jackets to put everything together in one half of basketball. Well, this was the night.

“Tonight what you saw is exactly how we’ve been practicing for the last two weeks and we finally put a half together exactly how we’ve been practicing,” Hewitt said.

Early fight

Virginia had put up a better fight that usual during the first half in the ThrillerDome, battling to a 44-38 deficit. But the Cavs couldn’t keep pace in the second half and couldn’t find enough firepower to match Georgia Tech’s defensive intensity.

Defense was the difference.

The Cavaliers came into the game eighth in the

11-team ACC in field goal percentage at .463, but couldn’t even approach that figure as Tech continued to turn it up defensively. For the game, UVa shot a season-low .297 (22 of 74) and hit only 5 of 20 attempts from beyond the arch (1 of 11 in the second half).

Virginia never shot below 30 percent all of last season.

But the Cavs knew before they ever stepped foot in Atlanta what they were going up against. The Yellow Jackets, 9-0 at home this season, led the ACC in several defensive categories, including points allowed (57.2), field goal percentage defense (.351), 3-point defense (.272) and defensive rebounds (29.2 per game).

Doubled up

Tech’s defensive strategy against Virginia was to double-team senior center Elton Brown, who was of great concern to Hewitt. The Jackets would put seven-footer Luke Schenscher behind Brown, then drop another player in his lap every time the ball came his way.

The strategy handcuffed Brown, who hit two of eight shots when he managed to even get one off in the first half. While his shot selections didn’t display good judgment, Brown wisely kicked the ball back outside to open jump shooters that allowed the Cavs to stay in the game.

J.R. Reynolds and Adrian Joseph were particularly effective during that half, benefiting from the kick outs. The

Cavs also were getting sent to the free-throw line because Tech was sending defenders rushing at them and getting beat off the dribble, forcing the Jackets to foul.

But Hewitt made a defensive decision at the half, choosing to play man-to-man against Brown and concentrate on Virginia’s shooters.

“We just said, if [Brown] beats us, fine, he beats us,” Hewitt said.

Brown didn’t. He was 3 of 7 in the second half and didn’t visit the free-throw line. Virginia got practically nothing from the point guard spot as Sean Singletary and T.J. Bannister were a combined 1 of 9 from the field.

Had it not been for a career-high 21 points by J.R. Reynolds, things could have been even worse for the Cavs, who dropped to 9-3 on the season, 0-2 in the ACC with Miami coming to town next Wednesday.

Coach Pete Gillen said his team became frustrated in the second half because it couldn’t score.

There was a good reason.

Tech played lockdown defense and had 14 blocked shots, the most ever against an ACC opponent.

“At halftime, all we talked about was defense,” said Schenscher, who tied his career-high for blocks with five. “We knew that we could score, that wasn’t a problem. It was just the defense. We did a better job defending them in the second half.”

Offense certainly was not a problem.

Tech built a 32-point lead at one point before winning by 23, its largest margin of victory in an ACC game in two years. Anthony McHenry tied his career high with 13 points, Jarrett Jack’s five 3-pointers were a career high.

You get the picture.

There wasn’t a lot that Gillen and his team could take away from this road trip except that things are bound to get better when senior forward Devin Smith, out with a turned ankle since Dec. 23, will eventually return to the lineup.

The Cavs greatly miss Smith, the leading scorer and the heart and soul of the team. With Reynolds’ game coming on, the two could become a difficult tandem to defend and perhaps make teams pay for doubling Brown in the post.

Singletary has been overwhelmed in his first two ACC experiences, but then again, he couldn’t have drawn two tougher assignments than going head-to-head with Wake Forest’s Chris Paul and Tech’s Jarrett Jack.

“That’s two superstars, two of the top five point guards in the country,” Gillen said.

“I think we’ll bounce back,” Gillen said. “We have to go back to the drawing board and try to get better. There’s no disgrace in losing to Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. Not many teams are going to beat them.”

Cavs come up half empty
No. 9 Georgia Tech outscores Virginia 48-31 after break
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
January 9, 2005

ATLANTA - Georgia Tech rambled and Virginia got wrecked Saturday night at Alexander Coliseum.

In a scenario all too familiar in this building and on the road in general for the Cavaliers. The No. 9 Jackets broke open a close game at the half with the dominating second-half performance en route to a 92-69 victory, which marked Virginia’a worst ACC loss since a 102-67 loss at Maryland on March 3, 2001.

It was Virginia’s ninth loss in its last 10 trips to Alexander and like many of those contests, this one was not all that close. In its last seven losses here, the Cavaliers have lost by an average of 16.1 points per contest.

“Georgia Tech is a very good basketball team. We played a pretty good first half. … We couldn’t score in the second half and got frustrated,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. “Jack had a great game and played a terrific game. They are a very good team and they aren’t going to lose too often, especially in this gym.”

Jarrett Jack torched the Cavaliers with 22 points and seven rebounds as he connected on a career-high five 3-pointers for the Yellow Jackets (11-2, 2-0 ACC), who played their second straight game with second leading scorer B.J. Elder (hamstring).

Anthony McHenry had a career-high tying 13 points while reserves Ra’Sean Dickey and Anthony Morrow each also had 13.

“We’re battling a whole lot of things right now with injuries and the like but the one thing I don’t think anyone should question is our heart,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. “We may not be good every night, but these guys leave it out there.”

J.R. Reynolds paced Virginia (9-3, 0-2 ACC) with a career-high 21 points while Gary Forbes added 11 and Elton Brown finished with 10. Devin Smith, the team’s leading scorer, missed his third straight game since spraining his right ankle Dec. 23 against Loyola Marymount.

The Cavaliers shot a frigid 29.7 percent from the floor, particularly bad even for a team that rarely shoots well on the road. It was the first time Virginia shot under 30 percent in a game since shooting

26.8 percent in a 103-61 loss at Duke on Jan. 13, 2001.

“We just couldn’t score at times and then got frustrated and didn’t get back on defense. It’s very frustrating when you are out there and can’t make a basket and can’t score,” Gillen said.

The game had a remarkable similarity to Virginia’s 89-70 loss to Wake Forest last Sunday in U-Hall. In that contest, just like Saturday’s, Virginia trailed by six at intermission but lost any chance to win in the opening minutes of the second half.

The Yellow Jackets opened the final 20 minutes on a 10-2 run that was punctuated by a Jack trey with 15:00 left that made it 54-40. That advantage would only swell, not contract, as the Cavaliers could do little to stop Jack and the Jackets.

“That was something we were trying to avoid today, another episode like the Wake Forest game. I don’t know what happened. We did stick to our strategies,” forward Jason Clark said. “You have to stand toe-to-toe with a team like Georgia Tech. We did that in the first half but not in the second half.”

The Cavaliers got no closer than 12 the rest of the way as the advantage grew to as much as 32.

The message from Hewitt at halftime was relatively simple but clearly did the trick.

“At halftime there were no complicated speeches. I just told them they had a chance to be 2-0 in the ACC,” Hewitt said. “All we asked them to do was contest every shot, run down every loose ball and run the floor hard. “That is what we did and that is what this team is about.”

The Yellow Jackets led 44-38 at intermission after what was a fairly entertaining opening 20 minutes. The teams swapped the lead seven times with Virginia’s biggest lead at five while Georgia Tech’s was six. At one point, the two teams traded consecutive 7-0 runs. Trailing 30-25, Virginia capped its 7-0 run with a trey by Adrian Joseph for a 32-30 lead with 5:47 remaining in the half. The Yellow Jackets then went on their 7-0 spurt and when Tarver nailed a jumper, it was 37-32 with 4:03 left before the break.

Reynolds paced Virginia, which shot just 32.4 percent in the first half, with 14 points. Georgia Tech was led by Jack’s 12 and 11 from reserve freshman forward Ra’Sean Dickey.

Hampering the Cavaliers cause was a poor performance from the stripe as they made just 12 of their 20 first-half attempts.

“You have to make your free throws on the road. We probably should hit 16 or 17 from the line,” Gillen said.

Jackets' Alexander not great to Cavs
Virginia has lost nine of its last 10 games at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

ATLANTA - Once Georgia Tech decided to play defense Saturday night, Virginia had no hope.

The Yellow Jackets, who played in the NCAA championship game last year, got a career-high 13 points from unsung senior Anthony McHenry and blew away the Cavaliers 92-69 on a night when both teams were without marquee players. It was the 22nd loss in the last 24 ACC road games for UVa, which trailed by as many as 32 points. The Cavaliers have lost nine of their last 10 games at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

The Cavaliers (9-3, 0-2 ACC) were without leading scorer Devin Smith for the third game in a row. Smith, who was on the trip but was not in uniform, has been sidelined for 16 days with a sprained ankle.

Ninth-ranked Georgia Tech (11-2, 2-0) had a star of its own sidelined, first-team All-ACC guard B.J.Elder, who has missed two games with a strained hamstring. That just meant more playing time for players like freshman Ra'Sean Dickey, who had 11 points in six minutes in the first half and finished with 13.

Virginia had the lead on several occasions in the first half, the latest at 23-22, and it was 32-32 before Jarrett Jack converted a three-point play with 4:35 remaining.

The Yellow Jackets led 44-38 at the half and it would have been closer than that if the Cavaliers had made their free throws. The Cavaliers were 4-for-10 during one stretch, including three misses by J.R. Reynolds, who had gone 19-of-20 from the line in UVa's first 11 games.

After committing 13 fouls in the first half, Georgia Tech started playing defense with its feet in the second half and did not pick up a foul at the defensive end until 13:29 remained in the game.

By that point, the Yellow Jackets had gone ahead 59-42, holding the Cavaliers to a pair of field goals by center Elton Brown, who had gone 2-for-10 from the floor until that point.

"Elton Brown concerns me," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said, "so, we put a lot of emphasis on him and doubled him in the post. When you double, you leave yourself in a scramble situation. In the second half, we decided not to double him."

Brown, who has shot 10-for-39 from the field in his last three games, had 10 points and nine rebounds on a night when the Cavaliers were a double-digit loser on the boards for the third time in four games. After being outrebounded by 17 in their ACC opener Sunday against Wake Forest, they were beaten 54-44 on the boards Saturday night.

The Yellow Jackets also had 14 blocked shots, which helped account for the Cavaliers' 22-of-74 shooting (29.7 percent) from the field. Seven-foot center Luke Schenscher, who had seven points, contributed a game-high 15 rebounds and five blocks.

"He's the key to that team," UVa senior Jason Clark said. "People talk about Jarrett Jack, B.J. Elder and Will Bynum, but where Luke Schenscher takes them, that's where they'll go."

Jack, the Yellow Jackets' junior point guard, had 22 points to lead all scorers. UVa's starting point guard, freshman Sean Singletary, had six points Saturday after being outscored 21-2 by Wake Forest's Chris Paul in Virginia's ACC opener.

Reynolds, apparently recovered from a suspected case of food poisoning, hit only five of 17 shots from the field and finished with a career-high 21 points for the Cavaliers. He had matched his previous high of 20 on Wednesday night, when he did not start and needed two bags of intravenous liquids before he could enter the game.

Stinging road loss for U.Va.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published January 9, 2005

ATLANTA -- For a team that loses almost four of every five road games within its conference, Virginia was in decent shape after 20 minutes Saturday night. Facing the nation's ninth-ranked team, the national runner-up a year ago, the Cavaliers trailed by six points. This despite 32-percent shooting from the field and being killed on the boards.

Sooner or later, that stuff will catch up with you, and for Virginia, it caught up sooner. A close game had turned into a blowout by the second TV timeout of the second half, and Georgia Tech ended up cruising to a 92-69 victory in Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

After staying within striking distance for the first 20 minutes - and even pulling ahead four times - Virginia (9-3, 0-2) was outscored 37-11 over the first 12:36 of the second half. It was almost a replay of last Sunday's home loss to Wake Forest, which was a five-point game at halftime but became a 19-point rout.

"The first part of the second half, you could see one team that really wanted it and one team that was just going through the motions," Cavaliers forward Jason Clark said. "That's what happened against Wake Forest, and that's what happened here. The players, we didn't show up in the second half. The coaching staff did a great job, but it's up to the players. And in the second half, we didn't get that effort."

Down by a half-dozen points at the break, the Cavaliers swallowed their most-lopsided defeat since a 102-67 hammering at Maryland to close the 2000-01 regular season. Virginia has lost 21 of its last 23 ACC road games and is 10-39 in Pete Gillen's six-plus seasons as head coach.

The statistics were telling. Virginia shot 29.7 percent from the floor, its worst figure since hitting 26.8 percent in a 42-point loss at Duke four years ago.

The Cavs were 5-of-20 from the 3-point arc, 20-of-33 from the foul line and 14 of their 74 shots were blocked, a Tech record in a conference game. The Yellow Jackets (11-2, 2-0) shot 49 percent, and 24 of their 33 field goals were assisted.

After taking a 44-38 lead into halftime, Georgia Tech outscored the Cavaliers 20-6 during the first 7:38 of the second period. The Yellow Jackets scored on nine of their first 12 possessions after halftime, Virginia on three of its first 12. Jarrett Jack had seven of his 22 points during that stretch: two 3-pointers and a free throw at 12:22 that put Tech ahead 64-44.

Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt took little credit for it.

"At halftime, there were no complicated speeches," he said. "We just played extremely hard in the second half."

The league's best defensive team, Georgia Tech bottled up Virginia leading scorer Elton Brown inside. Brown was 5-of-15 from the field, bringing his three-game run to 10-of-39, and five of his shots were blocked. Point guards Sean Singletary and T.J. Bannister were a combined 1-for-9 from the floor.

"They're a terrific team and they played great defense," Gillen said. "We just couldn't score and we got frustrated. And then, things fell apart."

Jackets win tuneup for Heels clash
By RANA L. CASH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/09/05

If Saturday was statement day in the ACC, No. 9 Georgia Tech certainly made one in its 92-69 victory over Virginia at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

From center Luke Schenscher's emphatic two-handed dunk and five blocked shots, to Jarrett Jack's career-high five 3-pointers, to Anthony McHenry's highlight reel night, Tech made a resounding point.

It's one that rings clear to Tobacco Road, where Tech will meet No. 3 North Carolina Wednesday — just days after the Tar Heels pasted No. 22 Maryland 109-75.

Tech marches ahead, although not without apprehension. Freshman center Ra'Sean Dickey sustained a right knee injury with 58.1 seconds left in the game and was helped off the floor.

Dickey is Tech's best low-post scorer, evidenced again by a first-half tear in which he scored eight of his 13 points in one brief stretch.

Georgia Tech has opened the year 2-0 in league games for the first time since 1995-1996, when it started the ACC season 3-0 and won the regular-season title by going 13-3.

The Jackets, now 9-0 at home, also atoned for last year's 82-80 loss at Virginia. Tech has won five of its past six games against the Cavaliers, and there is no rematch on this season's schedule.

This one, particularly in the second half, was as impressive as any.

After playing a game of cat and mouse with the Cavaliers through much of the first 20 minutes, Tech thrust ahead in the final stretch with balanced scoring and stingy defense.

A soaring dunk from McHenry, who tied a career-high with 13 points, was followed by one of five Jack 3-pointers and a dunk from Schenscher, his first of the season, to make it a 14-point game with 14:27 left.

Jack led all scorers with 22 points and added seven assists. Anthony Morrow scored 13. Virginia got 21 from J.R. Reynolds, 10 from Elton Brown and 11 from Gary Forbes.

With the game so much in hand, the Jackets became a little sloppy in the final minutes and did not comfortably handle Virginia's trapping half-court press.

Otherwise, few things went wrong for the Jackets. Guard Will Bynum was rattled on a hard screen in the second half and did not return to the game. But Tech was fine without him — especially when getting points from unexpected contributors like backup guard Mario West.

As dominant as the Jackets were in the second half, they were just as resilient in the first.

The lead changed hands seven times and the score was tied on five different occasions in the first half. Tech helped Virginia stay close by turning the ball over eight times, leading to 14 Cavaliers points.

The Cavaliers led 32-30 after an Adrian Joseph 3-pointer at the 5:49 mark. But Virginia sank only one other shot from the field the rest of the period as Tech, with six points from Jack and four from backup forward Theodis Tarver, built a 44-38 halftime lead.

Not the better half
Cavaliers trails by just six at intermission but then fall apart at Georgia Tech
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Jan 9, 2005
GA. TECH 92 U.VA. 69
PAGE D6: North Carolina has no problems with Maryland.

ATLANTA -- In an arena where it has often struggled the past decade, Virginia's basketball team looked down- right inept last night.

Georgia Tech, up six points at the break, embarrassed U.Va. after intermission. The ninth-ranked Yellow Jackets led by 32 points with 6:20 remaining. They gave up several meaningless baskets in the final minutes but still romped 92-69 before an appreciative crowd of 9,191.

The loss was the Cavaliers' ninth in 10 games at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

"Our coaches did a great job of scouting," U.Va. coach Jason Clark said. "They said, '[The Jackets are] going to try to throw the first punch, so if you stand toe to toe with them, they're going to be in for a good game.'

"We did that the first half, we stood toe to toe. The second half, they knocked us down, and then they stomped on us."

It's difficult to imagine Virginia (0-2, 9-3) looking much worse than it did last night. Not since losing 102-67 at Maryland on March 3, 2001, had U.Va. suffered such a one-sided defeat.

"We just couldn't score [in the second half]," said Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen, whose record in ACC road games fell to 10-39. "We got frustrated, and then things fell apart."

Sophomore guard J.R. Reynolds led Virginia with a career-high 21 points, but he shot 5 of 17 from the floor. Sophomore swingman Gary Forbes came off the bench to score 11, but most came with the issue long since decided. Senior center Elton Brown had 10 points and nine rebounds, but he missed 10 of 15 field goal attempts. Brown is 10 for 39 from the floor in his past three games.

Each team was missing an all-ACC candidate: senior forward Devin Smith (ankle) for U.Va., senior guard B.J. Elder (hamstring) for Georgia Tech. But Elder's absence didn't faze Georgia Tech (2-0, 11-2), last season's NCAA tournament runner-up.

Four players scored in double figures for the Jackets, led by junior point guard Jarrett Jack (22 points). More impressive was Tech's swarming defense. U.Va. missed 29 of its 40 field-goal attempts in the second half.

"At halftime, there were no complicated speeches," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "I just said, 'Guys, you've got a chance to be 2-0 in the ACC. If Virginia comes out in the second half and plays better basketball than us, we'll shake their hands and go home.'

"All we asked them to do was contest every shot, run down every loose ball and run the floor as hard as you can in transition. That's what we're about."

For the third time in four seasons, Virginia finds itself 0-2 in the ACC. In November, the Cavaliers crushed Arizona, and they still resided in the Top 25 late last month. Now, however, they seem to be unraveling more with each passing game.

In their ACC opener, after trailing by five at halftime, the Cavs lost to 19 to Wake Forest at University Hall. They bounced back to edge Western Kentucky in double overtime Wednesday night, only to self-destruct in the second half last night.

The final stats told the story. Virginia shot 29.7 percent from the floor, its worst effort since a Jan. 13, 2001, loss at Duke, where it hit 26.8 percent. U.Va., which came in ranked fourth among ACC teams in free throw shooting, missed 13 of 33 from the line. It allowed Georgia Tech to record 24 assists and shoot 49.3 percent from the floor. It gave up uncontested shot after uncontested shot to Jack, who'd never made more than three 3-pointers in a game. He bombed in five last night.

Senior forward Anthony McHenry matched his career high with 13 points, and freshmen Ra'Sean Dickey and Anthony Morrow added 13 apiece for the Jackets.

Georgia Tech outrebounded Virginia 54-44 and blocked 14 shots, a school record for an ACC game. His players' effort delighted Hewitt.

"We may not be good every night, but these guys leave it out there," Hewitt said.

Off-the-field turnover occupying Amato
In losing 10 assistants in coach's tenure, N.C. State has become a revolving door for coaches
By NED BARNETT AND CHIP ALEXANDER, Staff Writers

RALEIGH -- Chuck Amato's life in football is a story of long and loyal relations.

He played at N.C. State, then served as a Wolfpack assistant coach for nine years. After a brief stay at Arizona, he joined Bobby Bowden's staff at Florida State for 18 years. When he got his first head coaching job in 2000, it was back at the school where Earle Edwards taught him the game -- N.C. State.

While Amato stood steady, college football coaching turned increasingly fickle. Head coaches routinely are fired after three and four years, and assistant coaches' jobs are even more transient.

Now the changing winds are testing the strength of Amato's roots. High turnover among his assistant coaches and shortening patience among fans are pressing Amato. As he prepares for his sixth season, the head coach may be losing the momentum he created by coming home to State.

"Amato has run out of the sweetheart period. Next year, if the team is like this year's, you're going to hear a lot of boos in the stadium," said Harry Boyle of Irmo, S.C., a 1973 NCSU graduate and Wolfpack Club member.

Yet, Stephen Ponder, associate executive director of the booster club, said 818 lifetime seating rights, priced at a minimum of $2,000 each, have been sold since the end of State's 5-6 season.

"I think right now everybody is anxious to see who we hire and get all this behind us and move on," Ponder said. "I don't think it's affected the enthusiasm for the program."

In the past month, three top assistants have left Amato's staff for other coaching jobs. Their departures after Amato's first losing season could complicate his ability to rebound and recruit. In 2005, he'll face an expanded ACC while trying to settle on a quarterback and fill the gap left by the early departure of his top running back, T.A. McLendon, to pro football.

Of these developments, Amato has had little to say. He declined interview requests. He released a statement after defensive coordinator Reggie Herring left for Arkansas after only a year. He made no comment after top recruiter John "Doc" Holliday left for Florida.

When offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone confirmed last week he was headed for Mississippi, Amato released another statement that seemed to acknowledge fans' concerns that what once seemed to be a fast-track program had gone off track.

"I continue to be very excited about the future of the N.C. State football program," he said. "The foundation for success is set here, and it is solid ... I know that we are heading in the right direction."

NCSU athletics director Lee Fowler said the assistants left for their career goals, not because of dissatisfaction with the program or with Amato.

"With every coach that leaves, there's an individual reason. I don't think the sky is falling," Fowler said. " ... I don't think there's anything wrong with the program, and I don't think there's anything wrong with Chuck, but there's no question that when you have three leave, there's going to be speculation."

The right direction?

Whether the program is heading in the right direction will be answered in the coming season, but at the coordinator level, it's about to receive new direction. Amato will attend the American Football Coaches Association convention in Louisville, Ky., starting today, and his staffing needs will draw a swarm of attention.

Amato's openings come at a good time for hiring. In Division I-A, 14 head coaches have been fired or forced out this year, and LSU's Nick Saban has gone to the NFL's Miami Dolphins. Numerous veteran assistants are seeking work.

No matter how qualified the replacements, State's program has lost continuity. Amato will have to devote attention to breaking in new coaches.

California defensive coordinator Bob Gregory, a finalist for the Broyles Award for the nation's top assistant, said it was "a compliment" to State that top programs want to hire its assistants, but keeping a staff together is the best way to improve a program.

"Every time you add somebody new, you're teaching that person how it works," he said. "When there's continuity, you get in a kind of a rhythm.

"I don't know coach Amato at all, but I know he's saying, 'Dang it, I got to go get another guy.' "

New relationships

Staff turnover also disrupts recruiting and relationships with prospects. Too much change can raise concerns about a program's direction, or lack of it.

Jamie Newberg, a recruiting analyst for Fox Sports Net South and Scout.com, said NCSU's turnover is "going to have an impact. Recruiting is all about building relationships. Coaches know their territory, build those relationships. Now, they're gone. Obviously, they probably weren't the only Wolfpack coaches talking to the recruits, but they were the main guys on certain recruits."

Two recruits who played this season at Virginia's Hargrave Military Academy -- running back Andre Brown and defensive end Willie Young -- have not wavered on their commitments, Hargrave assistant head coach Ryan Sulkowski said.

"With Andre, it's more about T.A. leaving," he said. "He's excited about getting there and competing for the job. The coordinator doesn't matter. He's going to N.C. State because he likes the school and likes coach Amato.

"Doc Holliday recruited Willie and they had a great recruiting relationship. But Willie didn't change his decision when Doc left."

So far, State has 10 commitments, and no one has withdrawn. Signing day is Feb. 2.

But in at least one case, the turnover apparently had an effect. Chris Todd, a prized quarterback from Elizabethtown, Ky., was recruited by Mazzone but committed to Texas Tech this week.

Todd's father, Brad, is the offensive coordinator at Elizabethtown High. He said his son visited State and "really liked it."

"But we didn't feel we could wait until a new coordinator came in," he said. "With N.C. State, the questions were: Will they change the offense? Who will be there?"

The father of one quarterback who did come to NCSU said the assistants matter less than the head coach's vision.

"You can't base your decision solely on a coach. Change is inevitable," said J. Michael Stone, father of backup quarterback Marcus Stone.

J. Michael Stone still believes State can win a national title under Amato within the next three years. "Bottom line, coach Amato is still there, and I have all the faith in the world in him," he said.

Many reasons to move

Each of the 117 Division I-A teams is allowed nine assistants, a total of 1,053. Within that group, assistants are reluctant to criticize former bosses. It could jeopardize a future job in a field in which people frequently are looking.

The three who left NCSU this year said they left for more money, more security or personal ties. They said Amato's management style was not an issue.

"I can tell you point-blank that I believe in the things Chuck is doing at N.C. State. I had no problem with it," Herring said. He said a multi-year deal at Arkansas surpassed what State could offer.

Ten assistants now have left Amato's staff during his five-year tenure, one of the ACC's highest turnover rates. Only one, defensive line coach Cary Godette, was critical after being fired in 2002 for exploring a job at Navy. At the time, he described Amato as an overbearing boss. He declined comment when reached Friday.

Some fans are troubled to see three assistants leaving, particularly Herring and Holliday, the associate head coach and the top recruiter, respectively.

"Chuck is the CEO, and when you're losing your top managers left and right, it's not good for the company no matter how you try to spin it," said Raleigh's Michael Knight, a Wolfpack Club member.

Others say turnover isn't always bad. At LSU, Saban went through 12 assistants in his first four years while collecting a national title.

USC's Norm Chow, who left Amato's staff after a year as offensive coordinator, said turnover isn't a measure of leadership or loyalty. Chow spent 27 years as a BYU assistant before going to State.

Chow said high turnover among assistants "has always been that way. Chuck's career at Florida State and my career at BYU are the unusual, not the norm."