Comments

Wakes performance as of 12/22/10 leaves me
lost for words.  My many years of experience tell me that big time trouble is here and it isn’t going to disappear by
itself.  It goes from the top to the bottom.  Better to admit mistakes than to
continue down the wrong road.  This is a sad time for Wake fans and alumni.  Guess it has to hit the pocketbook before the talking stops and action begins.  It’s a sad time for basketball at Wake.  All of this didn’t have to happen in this day and age.

jack Mac Donald on 12/23/2010 (12:32 am)

Dan, This is for you. I will also see what type of journalist you are tomorrow at the news conference provided questions will be allowed. Do you have the guts to ask the touch questions? For example, Mr. Welman, how can you justify to all of the Deacon Fans the decision to hire this Coach who clearly does not the credentials to meet the objective set forth upon Dino’s termination? He does not have a winning post season record either. Is this a way to pay back some sort of debt? Because clearly on paper and based upon your own objective he has no record of being able to produce such results. Do you have the guts to ask touch questions? I guess we’ll see.

Tony C on 04/13/2010 (6:27 pm)

To the person who thinks TOM IZZO would leave a two consecutive final four team for Wake Forest, Please go back to the insane asylum.
To the poster with the list - Well put. I am not completely for this hire. I think Brownell would have been better. But in my opinion Wellman saw that Dino Gaudio was NOT an ACC caliber coach, and I won’t say Bzzz isn’t until I see otherwise.

Wake is a great school with great tradition, but it’s not a top 10 job in the country. Heck it’s not 20. So lets see what this guy can do. Before we get our silk Ralph Lauren panties in a wad. All the Alum can still leave early, don’t worry.

Thomas on 04/13/2010 (6:09 pm)

DC brings up a very interesting point that I hadn’t thought of. Being able to tell parents that you thought enough of Wake Forest to send your own daughter 2000 miles to here well before you had any idea you would be coaching should be a great asset in recruiting.

I feeling positive, if not gung-ho, about it at this point. I actually think his time at Colorado is a bigger positive than his time at Air Force simply because at Air Force he inherited a very good situation created by Mooney (now of Richmond) while that obviously wasn’t the case at Colorado. Everyone in the Big 12 thinks a lot of him and thinks that they are on the verge of something special. That’s a good indicator.

The question is recruiting. We really just don’t have anything to show us how good of a recruiter he is. Colorado and the Air Force Academy aren’t nearly easy to recruit to, with Colorado being a football-first school and the Air Force Academy being incredibly difficult. And, of course, both are in the basketball-wasteland that is Colorado.

tbrwfu on 04/13/2010 (5:48 pm)

The more I read about Bzdelik, the more concerned I am about the future of Wake Forest basketball.  I am having trouble seeing the positives that he would bring to the program.  It is hard to believe that there aren’t other candidates that would bring more to the table.

Steve on 04/13/2010 (4:21 pm)

Please tell me that Wellman will seacrh beyond this one guy??!!  He has a losing record everywhere he has been, pros or CU.  Throw Izzo a ton of money.  Throw Bobby Knight some dough for 2 years.  Something other than looking up at UNC, Duke, MD, Va Tech & Ga Tech year after year.  Go Deacs Field Hockey!

Pat on 04/13/2010 (4:14 pm)

DC states, “I trust people who have earned my trust over time. Ron Wellman has done this with his coaching hires the past number of years.” 

I haven’t read anything this comical in quite some time.  Where shall we start with Mr. Wellman’s superb hires?  Jim Caldwell, Charlene Curtis or do we begin with Rembliak and the baseball fiasco? 

Clemson just announced a very solid hire of a coach that has a very respectable WINNING percentage, 84-45 at Wright State, and the youth necessary to invigorate its program and travel the recruiting trail.

Wellman is definitely setting himself apart from the competition.  However, this distinction will likely result in the Wake basketball program looking at Mr. Wellman’s accomplishments from the bottom of the conference standings.

CL on 04/13/2010 (1:30 pm)

re: Bzdelik’s recruiting abilities - I think he has had more difficult sells at his previous two college jobs.  He thought enough about Wake Forest to send his daughter here, so I think that he should be able to go into living rooms throughout the country to explain why it is a good fit for recruits too.  On top of that, he has an NBA pedigree and the basketball acumen to illustrate to players how they will improve under his tutalidge.  Combine that with the recruiting abilities of Battle and Larue, who hopefully will continue in their present capacities, and that sounds like a pretty good recruiting pitch to me.

DC on 04/13/2010 (10:31 am)

I was an early reader and poster to this MToW blog and generally just read it (first priority of any Internet usage most days!), but I feel the need to type a bit today. 

I trust people who have earned my trust over time. Ron Wellman has done this with his coaching hires the past number of years.

When I hire people in business, I strongly consider those I have worked with in the past, as I have worked countless hours with them, in the trenches, and have experienced their reactions to many different stimuli and situations. I consider hiring others, but my past with an individual carrys a good amount of weight.  In my opinion, I do not think that Mr.Wellman’s “cronyism”/“nepotism” is a bad thing. Mr. Wellman has obviously developed trust in Coach B over time.  I commit to assign my trust that Mr. Wellman has earned over time to whoever he hires.  After a period of time, I will start to weigh the new coach’s results more heavily.

(Deacon Club member 12 years, usually at the lowest level due to personal budget constraints.)

G in OH

G in OH on 04/13/2010 (10:21 am)

Champ makes some very good points.

Wellman is privy to information that we all wish we had access to. Best course @ this point is to give the guy a chance. I am very concerned about reports from Co. stating BZ is not a good recruiter…

As I posted earlier Battle and LaRue will have to be very prominent in the recruiting area. Will be interested to see who the third assistant coach will be.

Thanks Country for this blog…Has been a very valuable tool for keeping up to date on breaking news.

Any updates on the status of the new recruits???

Tom on 04/13/2010 (8:54 am)

I think that Dino underachieved while here at Wake and the prognosis was not looking any better. Coach B HAS GOOD CREDENTIALS. He was thought well enough of, to be hired as a pro coach. Every team he has inherited has improved steadily. To me this means he isnt a one year wonder, but solid.  Take yout time and look how UMBC, Air Force and Colorado all have improved under his leadership.  A good school, winning, and style of BB attracts the recruits.  Usually the assistants do more recruiting than the head coaches.  Wake is not going to spend 2-3 million a year on a coach.  I think this coach will bring an uptempo game with emphasis on FUNDAMENTALS ie)fewer turnovers, better free throw shootings, better defense, and more movement on offense.  Look at the stats at Colorado since he got there.  I think this is a real good hire, but I may be wrong.

mark on 04/13/2010 (3:40 am)

Although I question the hire, I am eager to see how this plays out, and I am surely not going to buy into the “Wellman needs to go” attitude, nor am I going to buy into the “start cheering for somebody else” mentality.  Please.  That is absurd.  If that’s your mentality, we don’t need you on board anyway—Why?  I bring to your attention some insightful articles:

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/jul/05/campus-ron-wellman-refuses-to-let-the-size-of-the-/sports/

http://www.statefansnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/wellman1.png

These were cited from a respectable N.C. State blog, and one of the cited articles was written by Country himself.  Please people—stop calling for Wellman’s head.  It is amazing that a small school like Wake Forest can compete at such a high level in the first place in all sports that we play.  This is why I believe in Wellman’s abilities, given his resume/record so far with the handling of our sports program.

You may ask how I can be eager/interested in this (potential) hire.  I leave you with these points surrounding the situation:

1. Yes, Wellman has ties to Buzz.  Yes they are apparently buddies.  But at the end of the day, Wellman has a job to do for WAKE FOREST, and I guarantee he didn’t make this decision solely for his buddy’s benefit—he obviously sees something in Buzz’s style/schemes/leadership that can work here at Wake Forest.

2. Anybody but Dino = half-court offensive competence.  Enough said.  Dino’s scheme was absolutely horrible.  Once opposing teams clogged the lane or played zone and Ish couldn’t penetrate, we had no backup and couldn’t adapt.  Our players didn’t seem to have any discipline or direction when our fast-breaks broke down.

3. I’d be cautious to call Buzz’s offense “Princeton”—that offense has a certain negative, boring stigma that may not equate to Buzz’s offensive scheme.  Herb Sendek’s offense at State was “Princeton,” however I’m not so sure that it equates with Buzz’s.  Just look at Buzz’s PPG stats compared with Dino’s.

4.  Buzz is coming from a place where NO ONE is concerned with college basketball.  So much so that Buzz INCORPORATED THE BUILDING OF NEW PRACTICE FACILITIES AT CU IN HIS CONTRACT.  Stop thinking that his subpar record at CU will automatically equate to the basketball-oriented WFU community.

Ultimately, I believe some WFU fans have some blown-up sense that Wake Forest is a lucrative job, and that big-name coaches would jump on the opportunity to coach here.  Let’s not make the same assumption which State fans made back in the horrendous, ludicrous search to replace Herb Sendek. 

I can say that I question the hire, and will admit that I was somewhat disappointed.  But I believe that Ron Wellman to do his job in the highest manner.  I believe that he may be on to something that may surprise some people—he obviously knows the state of the basketball program a hell of a lot more than a simple fan does.  If Buzz becomes coach, let’s rally behind our DEACS and support the man, rather than throw around negative, emotionally backed comments.  I trust Ron Wellman’s rational thinking over negative fans’ emotional outbursts.  Go Deacs!

Champ on 04/13/2010 (1:24 am)

I am very disappointed by this turn of events. While I supported the dismissal of Coach Gaudio, I am concerned that a national search was not conducted, and that Wake Forest fans are being asked to accept less than the best. And the air of nepotism in all this is deeply troubling for a university of Wake Forest’s stature.

Obviously, Ron Wellman thinks he can keep the recruiting class intact by keeping the assistant coaches in their jobs. But that just reveals the weakness of the candidate that he is considering. The incoming coach should be able to hold onto the recruits by the force of his personality and the excellence of his coaching. By requiring Bzdelik to accept the old coach’s staff only serves to underscore to the recruits that the AD is calling all the shots here, not the coach. Will they really want to play for someone that weak?

As a Deacon Club member, I will have to think long and hard about how I respond to this ugly turn of events. I had hoped that Gaudio’s dismissal meant that Wake would finally get serious about finding someone with the same caliber as a Coach K or Roy Williams. But clearly, we will not be playing ball in the same coaching league for some years to come.

Terry on 04/13/2010 (12:55 am)

This should be a fun year to be a journalist. I highly doubt you will run out of story material this year. As your comments show, people definitely want to hear/care about hearing the latest about everything on the new coach.

I think I have finally come to terms with it. It’s either continue to be a Wake fan and accept the coaching change, or start cheering for somebody else. I have yet to give him a chance, so as much as I disagree with how things turned out, he at least deserves some support (no one has really talked about how difficult of a year this is going to be for us)

Aaron on 04/13/2010 (12:01 am)

I don’t get why in the world Wake is getting him. Dino had at least 30 more wins than Bzdelik. Who has this guy recruited? This definately shows that Dino was not Wake’s only problem. I members of the Deacon Club read this and start speaking out. Like I said earlier, Wake won’t listen to the small bloggers. Wake will listen to the money and the Deacon Club. WELLMAN NEEDS TO GO!!!

Price on 04/12/2010 (11:52 pm)

Dan, Thanks for your efforts.  There are still lots of questions as to the dismissal of one and hiring of the other.  Looking forward to your analysis Keep us informed.

EJ on 04/12/2010 (9:21 pm)

Unless something happens in the 11th hour, we now know Wellman will be hiring a former associate who has a daughter @ Wake…Not passing judgement, but does not sound to be proper…

We must all accept this fact or find some other team to support. I am willing to give this crew the benefit of the doubt and see what transpires.

Obviously, Battle and LaRue will remain and of course a new assistant will also be brought on board. I have read that BZ is not much of a recruiter. If this is true, our hope will be that the assistants will be able to pick up this deficiency. I understand Battle is a pretty good recruiter and of course LaRue bleeds the WFU colors which means a great deal when in front of concerned parents. Wish them all good luck!

Tom on 04/12/2010 (8:30 pm)