Mark Gottfried reportedly on his way out at NC State

Mark Gottfried’s days are numbered as head coach at NC State, according to multiple reports from both local and national outlets Monday and Tuesday.

Per the reports, not only will Gottfried be fired by the end of the season, but NC State has already begun its search for Gottfried’s successor.

And according to one report, Gottfried has already been informed he will be let go at season’s end:

Gottfried spoke to Sporting News on Tuesday, and didn’t specifically address or deny the reports. “My thing right now is I’ve got North Carolina I’m preparing for (Wednesday) night,” he said. “I believe in our team. I know we’ve had some struggles but we’ve showed at times we can be very good. My hope is we can get on a run.”

He also told CBS Sports on Saturday that he hadn’t “had any discussions with anyone at NC State” about his future, and that he planned on being at the school “for a long time.”

WTVD in Raleigh reported Monday that NC State officials almost pulled the trigger on Gottfried’s firing after a 30-point loss to Wake Forest on Saturday. ESPN followed that up Tuesday with a quote from an anonymous source saying that if NC State gets “pounded” by North Carolina Wednesday night, Gottfried could be gone this week.

Gottfried, who took over for Sidney Lowe in Raleigh in 2011, made the NCAA tournament in his first four seasons in Raleigh, won five tournament games, and made two Sweet 16s. His Wolfpack, however, went 16-17 and 5-13 in the ACC last season with one of the nation’s best scoring guards, Anthony “Cat” Barber, and have sunk to new depths this season.

Gottfried secured his biggest commitment as NC State head coach for the 2016-17 campaign, that of five-star guard and future lottery pick Dennis Smith, and brought in his best recruiting class ever, a three-player group comprising two five-stars and a four-star. But his team has wildly underperformed. In his sixth season on the job, the Wolfpack have lost five straight, and are now 14-12 overall and 3-10 in the ACC.

The players essentially quit on Gottfried this past weekend in the 88-58 loss at Wake, with Smith pulling himself out of the game. Frustration boiled over for Beejay Anya, who reportedly dared a fan to meet him afterward. Gottfried’s team has now lost five in a row.

Gottfried signed a five-year contract extension worth roughly $2.5 million annually at the beginning of the 2015-16 season, and therefore has three years left on his deal. According to WTVD, however, State is willing to pay the $2 million buyout.

If the reports are correct, Gottfried’s tenure at NC State will be remembered for his ability to recruit and subsequent inability to get the most out of his talent. The average star rating of the seven players in this year’s rotation who were recruited by Gottfried out of high school is 4.29. He has consistently lured top-100 players to Raleigh, and consistently underachieved. Even in the years that yielded NCAA tournament bids, the Wolfpack never received better than an 8-seed, and needed upsets to progress to the second weekend.

Dayton coach Archie Miller, an NC State alum, has been mentioned as a possible successor.