A Decision Left Unexplained
Any person who makes a decision they can’t adequately and sufficiently explain is apt to find themselves in an unenviable, if not untenable, position.
Ron Wellman made such a decision last April when he fired Dino Gaudio coming off Gaudio’s second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. The basis he gave for cashiering a coach who had won 61 and lost 31 in three seasons was the failure of Gaudio’s teams in late-season and post-season play.
The explanation might have flown if Wellman hadn’t turned around and hired a coach in Jeff Bzdelik with scant post-season success on his resume.
Time and again I’ve asked Wellman to square the two decisions and I’ve yet to hear him do it. He acknowledges that he’s going on a hunch. Given what he knows about Bzdelik, Wellman is confident that in time the Deacons will be more successful in post-season than they were under Gaudio.
Here’s the real bottom-line reason Dino Gaudio is no longer the head basketball coach at Wake Forest. Ron Wellman—and most likely some very generous and influential boosters around Wellman—didn’t want him to be. When Wellman saw Gaudio, he didn’t see the man he wanted to be the face and mainspring of the Deacons’ basketball program. As for why Wellman felt that way, he declines to say.
In some ways it’s right and commendable that Wellman won’t trash Gaudio publicly. To do so might earn some points with his fan base, but it would be cheap and probably wouldn’t accomplish much in the long run. And when I finally got a chance to talk with Gaudio a few weeks back, he also declined to say anything about Wellman or his departure from Wake. Both men have chosen to take the highest road available.
So why, 10 months later, do I even bring up Gaudio and his departure from the program?
The first reason is that the questions lingering from Gaudio’s dismissal, and the way it came down, have been a thread woven throughout the narrative of a long, trying season, the likes of which I hope to never have to go through again. I firmly believe at least some of the criticism directed toward Bzdelik is a byproduct of the confusion and even rancor stemming from Wellman’s inability to adequately and sufficiently explain why he’s the head coach in the first place. If Gaudio’s record had been 31-61, the answer would have been obvious enough that Bzdelik might have gotten more consideration and support from the first day he took over. But it wasn’t 31-61. It was 61-31.
The second reason is to reply to criticism of my coverage of the coaching change. I hasten to mention that I appreciate all comments, positive or negative. If I had my choice between a Peanut Gallery 100 percent in favor of everything I write or one comprised of a certain element ready, willing and able to give me the business from time to time, I’ll choose the latter. The former would be too thick with conformity, if not adulation, and my bride has a hard enough time living with me as is. But there are some of you in the Peanut Gallery—most notably my friend Tony C—who have given me a pretty good working over for not telling ``the real story,’’ about why Gaudio is no longer Wake’s head coach. Tony C said it’s proof that real sports journalism is dead in Winston-Salem. I understand the frustration, and as pointed out above, recognize where it comes from.
Well, the truth is I could go out today and find a dozen people connected with Wake who would tell my why they think Gaudio was let go. But it would all be off the record. They’d be more than willing, if not anxious, for me to write a story about all of Gaudio’s shortcomings as a head coach. But they wouldn’t attach their name to their opinion, and I would have no real way of knowing if what they were telling me was true. And even if those accounts were indeed true, how do we know those were the reasons Gaudio is no longer the Deacons’ head coach? The two men who do know the story, Wellman and Gaudio, aren’t talking.
I’ve seen in my time as a sportswriter where one party in a dispute will wage a whisper campaign against the other in order to strengthen their position. I vowed long ago not to be a party of any such unscrupulous tactics. And it needs to be mentioned, and commended, that no one from Wake (and no one from those who know and support Gaudio) have asked me to. Good for them for that.
If the phone were to ring this moment and Wellman were on the line telling me, on the record, exactly why he made his decision to change coaches then I’d have it up on Journalnow.com as fast as I could – but not until I got in touch with Gaudio to give him a chance to respond.
Until then we’ll all continue to wonder. Such is the case when a decision is made by one who can’t or won’t adequately and sufficiently explain that decision.
Back to the main page.
By Dan Collins on 03/03/2011 (4:14 pm)
Comments
As most of you know, Wake athletics have historically been mediocre, with moments of greatness. I understand that it is improbable that a school like Wake will ever be a football dynasty. Just give us a winning season and we’ll be happy. However, basketball is a different story. No reason we should only win one ACC game ever. I don’t care who is the coach, we should be better than that.
Gene Daniel on 03/10/2011 (10:58 pm)
Only thing in the paper worth reading. Will Bzeldick resigned, even given the certainty that he will win the ?ACC tournament and go on to the Final Four.
Hunter James on 03/10/2011 (8:02 am)
Matt & Blue - I disagree. We don’t have the 247th worst talent in the nation. We just have a coach who makes it look that way.
gt on 03/04/2011 (4:58 pm)
To Bluedeacon1 - I couldn’t agree more.
Matt on 03/04/2011 (12:32 pm)
Dan, Please; you are making the Dino/Welllman deal much more complicated than it needs to be. To understand the real reason Ron terminated Dino one only has to look at the calibre of players now populating our roster. Those are DINO GUADIO’s recruits. and they, bless there hard-working, ‘giving-it-all-they have’ hearts, are not of what one would consider NCAA Division I/ACC talent. If Dino had stayed and been forced to coach this team of gallent but painfully talent shy players, his record would have similar to our record today and Ron would be asking for his resignation at the end of this year. Ron knew this instictively and pulled the trigger on behalf of what was in the best interest of the University and its storied basketball program. Dave Odum said it best and it bears repeating for ALL of the DEACON NATION to hear again: In basketball, recruiting is like shaving; if you do not do it WELL everyday you start looking real bad real fast! WE DO NOT HAVE ACC CALIBRE PLAYERS ON OUR ROSTER CAPABLE OF COMPETING IN THIS OR ABY OTHER D-1 conference. What part of this simple equation do you and others not understand? Thanks for listening.
Bluedeacon1 on 03/04/2011 (10:27 am)
You are making this way too hard. Haven’t you ever given a friend a job?
nostradamus on 03/04/2011 (8:37 am)
Joe,
My problem is I make this writing thing look so easy, and most days it is. But there are days it’s not. I had a larger point in the post about Gaudio that I took down, but promised to revisit at another time. I revisited it today. In that there still may be one or two members of the Peanut Gallery who didn’t see the original, I cribbed off myself. You nailed me, fair and square. And as for drivel, I’ve written my share
Thanks for reading.
Dan on 03/04/2011 (1:36 am)
Excellent comments, mindact, but I’m having trouble with the Bz hiring because there were other coaches available at the time. It would have been worth a two week search looking at coaches other than Stevens and, if he couldn’t find anyone, he always could have come back to Bz anyway becuase no one was looking to hire Bz at the time.
Hugh on 03/04/2011 (12:32 am)
continuation….
Long story short, Buzz took the job with those stipulations. Wellman saved face temporary. With Battle and Rusty, the recruiting juggernut can continue and hope that Buzz is able to coach a little better than Dino.
The question is why wouldn’t Wellman tell everyone that Buzz wasn’t his first choice? Because it’s a disservice to the coach. It’s like someone telling you I got married to you cause I got rejected by the person I really wanted. Having a drawn out coaching search would have been embarrasing, particularly after a coach with a winning record was fired.
The other piece to this is that Dino didn’t kotow to the powers that be. That’s Wellman and the boosters. Dino felt his record was solid and folks were just whinning. With a record like that and the history of how he became the headcoach, it’s hard to justify firing him. Not to mention we beat Texas in the NCAA. A lot of fans were upset with Dino’s team late season implosion, but they felt he deserved one more year for post season success based on his record. The crazy thing about it is that Dino probably would have had a difficult season this year and that could have given Wellman an opening. However, Wellman’s lust for Brad Stevens was too consuming that he struck out on a limb.
Dan, if you’re curious about why Dino got let go and How we ended up with Buzz, that’s your reason. Yeah mindact said it….
Let me add, that just like finding talent and running a business, you take the hit when you screw up. Finding coaching talent is a high stakes game. You can strike out on a limb like Wellman did and it could be a disaster like it is now. Wellman should be held accountable for this disaster that has and continues to unfold before our eyes.
mindact on 03/03/2011 (11:45 pm)
Dan,
Here’s the business on why Gaudio got fired. Wake fans were getting antsy about our late season implosion. The early season success bred greater expectations and they were not met. A lot of folks felt Gaudio was a good recruiter, a decent practice coach, but an unimpressive gametime coach. A lot of people felt with Battle and rusty, we could still keep up with the recruiting game, we just needed someone who could execute during gametime.
Truth also is that Wellman believed Brad Stevens was available. Brad might have shown some interest as well, but when it came down to it, once the other guys offered he decided to stay within his comfort zone. After Dino was let go and Brad had passed on Wake, Wellman didn’t want a drawn out coach search. He would have had egg on his face if he went from one coach to the next and they all passed on the job. Keep in mind that Dino had a winning record, hence the expectation was high for any coach coming in.
Then there’s Buzz, the quitensential journeyman willing to jump at what he perceives as the next best thing. He obviously wasn’t wellman’s first choice, but he was likely to jump at the next shiny piece of metal. Wellman knew he could get him, prevent a drawn out coaching search that could be embarrasing. More so, he could put some restrictions such as you can’t bring your assistant coaches on board. to be cont.
mindact on 03/03/2011 (11:33 pm)
JUST WATCHED ANOTHER EMBARRASING LOSS.20+ TURNOVERS.THE PLAYERS DON’T SEEM TO HAVE ANY SENSE OF PURPOSE. THE COACHING IS PITIFUL. FROM A TOP 25 PROGRAM, TO POSSIBLY THE WORSE BASKETBALL TEAM IN THE COUNTRY. THIS COACH IS SO OUT OF HIS LEAGUE. ALL YOU CAN DO AS A WAKE FAN IS JSUT SHAKE YOUR HEAD AND LAUGH.
beachdeac on 03/03/2011 (11:22 pm)
RE: who would have coached?
Wake Forest is a Top 30 program. There are probably 25 coaches who “off limits”. There’s probably not an assistant coach on any major college bench in the country who would not have taken the job.
There’s probably not more than 5 midmajor coaches under age 45 who wouldn’t have leaped at the chance.
There are 75 BCS programs. 25 of those guys you can’t get or can’t afford. Those are the 25 who have proven the ability to coach at that level. Gotta ask, do you really want any of the other 50?
I’m quite sure I don’t want a coach from the bottom tier of any BCS conference. If I’m looking at the Big 12, I want Baylor’s coach (we could have him). In the SEC I want Vandy’s coach (we could have him). Those are successful coaches in major conferences at schools similar to Wake Forest.
There’s nothing is Bzdelik’s background that says he knows how to be a successful small fish in a big ocean with whales all around.
Joey D on 03/03/2011 (10:50 pm)
Dan - I appreciate your high-road reporting and your great writing. But I have to agree with Joe on this one: this article was a lot of words that said essentially nothing of substance. For those of us who read your column regularly and know the God-given talent that you have to turn a phrase and to keep us reading even when your topic does not include Wake Forest athletics…we expect a lot more than this. So please - only bring up the name Gaudio again if you get the true reason why Wellman fired him.
To Lee Jackson - I completely agree with your assessment of why Coach G was fired. Completely. And I agree with DC’s assessment that Coach G did not have the talent to coach at this level, though, like DC, I really like Coach G as a person. And I might also add that I don’t see a lot of talent on this year’s squad…most of whom are Coach G’s recruits. The talented players of the last three years were all recruited by Coach Prosser (even though he never got a chance to coach most of them). Even Gary Clark and Ty Walker are Coach Prosser recruits. So the remaining players who, in my opinion, are not very good, are here because of Coach Gaudio. While I like their grit and their character, I’m underwhelmed by their ability to play basketball. (I don’t think that any coach would have this team anywhere near successful.) To be honest, I don’t think that any of the current players except for Travis McKie and C.J. Harris will ever amount to anything that resembles a top-tier college basketball player. So if Coach Bzdelik is going to turn this program into something special he will have to bring in all new recruits, and that will take a long time to get them to the point where they can compete at the highest level. And ironically enough that will be just about the time that Coach B will be thinking about retiring. And then Wake will have to start the coaching search anew. What a mess this is indeed.
Matt on 03/03/2011 (10:25 pm)
Sorry Dan - Your act is getting tired. It really is pointless for you to post a blog with no substantive information. Everything you have written in this edition of the blog - you have previously written elsewhere. Unless you are really going to expose the true story about the firing of Coach Guadio, why even write this drivel? Some fans might not want to know why Coach Guadio was fired by Mr. Wellman - but there is a good segment of Wake fans that would like to know the real story. You’ve got access to Mr. Wellman and his associates. You also have access to Dino and his associates. Do a little investigation. That’s why you are getting paid the big bucks! :o It doesn’t appear that Mr. Wellman is accountable to anyone on campus and his efforts to defend his hiring decision are comical at this point. I don’t really care whether we ever get the true story about the firing of Coach Guadio. But - I’m seriously tired of reading blog posts, rumors, and speculation with no real information. The only thing more tired than rehashing the same information about this topic time and time again is listening to Coach Bz talk about how great Colorado basketball is this season. Coach Bz, if your reading this - nobody in Wake Forest Country cares about Colorado. The Buffs aren’t relevant in the college basketball world. I’m not sure they are the equivalent of a mid-major team. Wow - they might make the NCAA Tourney this year. Awesome! Wake was ranked #1 in the country two short years ago. Please, for the sanity of Deacon fans everywhere, no more talk about Colorado. Stop resting on your laurels - and accomplish something in the ACC. You’ve got all the job security in the world (your boss can’t fire you because to do so would be to admit that he botched the entire situation surrounding the hiring process plus yall have that non-friendship from back in the day). Dan - either bring us the dirt or give it a rest.
Joe on 03/03/2011 (8:33 pm)
I hear John Calipari is going to be at NC State next year after they fire Sidney…. and the next coach of the ECU Pirate football program is going to be Jimmy Johnson…. visions of the Deacs landing some “big time head coach” were not a reality… had we changed coaches when Skip passed away we could have had a shot at a “name coach” because there was so much talent in the pipeline. People have to be realistic…
Lee Jackson on 03/03/2011 (8:07 pm)
OH MY GOD…. it turns out that Tony C is the point guard Tony Chennault…. No wonder he never posted his last name….
Lee Jackson on 03/03/2011 (8:01 pm)
Dan,
Thanks for the post. As for why Coach Gaudio was fired, I suppose it’s a matter of speculation. And since that’s the only option at this point, I will speculate for just a minute: it’s difficult to lose to Cleveland State in a landslide in the first round of the NCAA tournament with three first round NBA picks and still be considered a legit ACC basketball coach. Also, speaking of those first round NCAA pick, Coach Gaudio simply was incapable of getting those guys to buy into any kind of team concept. A stronger peronsality would have had Teague and Johnson more devoted to helping the entire team. As it was, they were only interested in enhancing their draft position. Perhaps UNC can get by with that mentality, but Wake Forest can’t sustain itself on one-and-done or two-and-done players. Coach Gaudio simply didn’t have what it takes to be the Wake Forest Coach. It pains me to say that, because I really like him.
For those members of the Peanut Gallery who contend that Jeff Bzdelick was the wrong guy for Wake Forest, I still want to know who was the better option. Brad Stevens wasn’t an option. Steve Lavin wasn’t an option either. Who could Wake Forest have brought in to take us to the next level? Mark Fox? Ok, maybe there’s something to that, but it’s tough to actually look at Bzdelik’s resume and not at least make a case for why he could succeed at Wake Forest.
DC on 03/03/2011 (7:55 pm)
Is Tony C really a good friend? I sure hope he’s not not going to come beat me up because I don’t think he’s right. If I don’t post anything on here for a while you’ll all know who to look for…
Lee Jackson on 03/03/2011 (6:48 pm)
Here’s my thought on why Dino was fired. It comes from nothing other than my rambling mind. No inside info. Nothing but my thoughts.
Dino came into a situation that was tough based on why the last coach was no longer here. It was tough on the team. Wellman did the best thing he could for the players by keeping Dino the following year. Dino was not ready to be a head coach in the ACC but he tried. He had enough NBA talent to make his record look pretty good but as a coach he couldn’t take even those talented guys to the next level. He had locker room issues, ego issues, etc but he never had to coach. Once it came time to play tournament basketball, the players couldn’t just use natural talent to take them where a real coach could take them. So we were going to have a bad year this year no matter who was at the helm and Wellman saw it as the time to make a switch. I’d bet he told Bzzz that it was going to be a tough year or 3 and that he’d stick with him through that time. We were not going to get the biggest of names in coaching so Wellman found someone who has the potential to build a program from the ground up and instill the culture that makes a program. He’s already started that by dealing with problem kids and letting the players know who makes the calls. We have a few talented kids that haven’t grown but they will. When you lose your point guard you lose the ability to control the game from the bench. When your shooter becomes the point guard then you lose the firepower you need on the wing. When you lose your inside guys you can’t rebound. Let’s see this as doing what had to be done and move forward. I think Wellman is the best AD in the country and I bet you would hear the other AD’s in major colleges say so. I hope he made a good hire, but right now we don’t know.
Lee Jackson on 03/03/2011 (6:35 pm)
Country, Very good assessment and all should be satisfied that the real cause of Dino’s departure will probably never be known.
However, Wellman made a huge error in his selection of Bz as head coach and of course Bz probably leaped at the opportunity to coach in the ACC…Will Bz make it @ Wake? Who knows, but the odds are squarely against him @ this point…Wellman has said he deserves 2-3 years to build a program. Maybe he will or maybe he won’t! The proof positive will be whether the present administration is still in power @ that time to make that call…
There’s an old saying “there’s no education in a second kick of a mule!” That may apply here…
Tom on 03/03/2011 (6:22 pm)
