OPINION

By Matt Hayes

updated 10:52 p.m. ET Sept. 12, 2006

Matt Hayes

It's a painful sight to see: a coach with his job on the line and pressure heating up — succumbing to it all.

I like Chuck Amato. He always was my favorite assistant at Florida State in the Seminoles' heyday. Now I just feel sorry for him.

Two weeks into the season, N.C. State has one loss to a MAC school and one near-loss to I-AA Appy State. And Coach Chest is diverting from the facts, the first sign of a season/coach heading south.

When asked how an ACC school can lose to a MAC school, Amato had this response during his weekly teleconference: "They're (Akron) in a conference that allows non-qualifiers. You know what kind of players non-qualifiers are, usually? They're inversely proportional to what their grade point average is. They can make a big difference."

In one swift move, Amato insulted a non-BCS conference, degraded high school kids who can't qualify on their first attempt to get into school, and — worse, whether he intended to or not — made a definitive statement about his ability to win with the players he has recruited.

If I'm an N.C. State player, how do I feel when my coach says Akron won because they have better players? Meanwhile, Akron has one — 1 — non-qualifier on this year's roster.

This is the first sign of a coach on the verge of losing his team. Instead of accepting blame and working toward fixing the problems, blame someone else.

What Amato should have said is: "We were out-played, out-coached, out-hustled. It's my fault; I didn't get this team ready to play." Instead, we'll hear more excuses next week when little 'ol Southern Miss beats N.C. State.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

Take heart, N.C. State fans. At the very least, you may have found your new coach last weekend. Most athletic directors/presidents remember when things go sour and why. Despite what Amato says, it's because the team on the other sideline (Akron) was more prepared despite a significant disparity in talent.

N.C. State could do a lot worse than hiring J.D. Brookhart, who in three seasons has lifted Akron from the depths of the MAC to league champion in 2005 and league favorite this season.

Even with one non-qualifier.

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