Why Wait?
At some point while plummeting through the depths of this bottomless season, I was perusing a message board that caters to the long-suffering basketball fans of N.C. State. Best I could tell, the rank-and-file Wolfpackers had coalesced around the conclusion that barring some miracle over remainder of the season then Sidney Lowe was coaching his last handful of games for his alma mater.
Made sense to me. It’s not as though Lowe—who has never finished above ninth in the ACC and never even whiffed an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament—did anything in his five years to prove he was the right man for the job. Besides he was now working for an AD other than the one who hired him, and I imagined that his new boss, Debbie Yow, like most ADs, was more than willing, if not anxious, to put her own stamp on the program.
But Lowe has always been more than obliging to the media as well as respected by the fans who will always revere Sidney Lowe the player, the one whose steady hand at the point directed the Wolfpack to the 1983 National Championship. Furthermore he hadn’t embarrassed himself or his university in any manner as a coach—his 25-55 conference record notwithstanding.
Let him coach out the season, the consensus opined. Then say nice things about him as he’s headed out the door and move on. It’s not like Yow was going to have the trouble explaining the decision that Ron Wellman faced last April when he exchanged Dino Gaudio for Jeff Bzdelik. I have to say I was impressed with the maturity being displayed all around.
Then along came a bomb-thrower who was having none of it. Not a bit.
We’ve all seen what he can do, the dissenter railed. We’d be crazy to let him do any more damage to our program. Get rid of him this moment, right now. Why wait?
Why wait?
Not to say I have a lot of virtues, but I know patience isn’t one of them. If I’ve ever been on your back bumper as you tooled down the left-lane of a major highway doing 10 miles under the speed limit then you’d know exactly what I’m talking about.
But even being the HPA (the first two letters stand for High and Pressure and I’ll let you figure out the third) I can be, I could see the post not as a statement on one isolated subject but a mantra of sorts of the times in which we live. Why wait? Why wait for anything? Who needs to know how it’s going to turn out? Sometimes you’ve got to do something, as one of my former favorite bands BR-549 put it so eloquently Even If It’s Wrong
First I concluded the mindset was a product of the Why Wait? Generation, only to almost immediately realize we’re talking about more than one generation. We’re actually talking about an Age, The Why Wait? Age, in which communication, conversation and conclusion have been accelerated to warp speed and beyond by all the technological advances of the day, the internet being chief culprit No. 1. By the time the question, any question, is even asked, there is a groundswell down with the answer.
The casualties of the WW?A are everywhere and piling up daily. One place I see them daily is in recruiting, where players without lofty rankings are belittled, if not dismissed, by the fans of their chosen school who have yet to see them play. Rankings, in the big picture, do matter. Skip Prosser said many times that the college teams with the most NBA-to-be players usually win, and a five-star recruit is more apt to make the NBA than a two-star recruit. But personally I’d rather watch a player play before I decide if the coach who recruited him knew what he was doing. I have to think the kid, if not the coach, deserves that. But maybe that’s just me.
The old clock on the wall says it’s time for me to shut down this post, take a shower and head to the office for a 1 p.m. appointment, to be followed by a swing-through campus to watch the Deacons go through their paces. What I’ve hopefully set up, though, is a framework for explaining what I feel about the immediate future of Wake Forest with Jeff Bzdelik as head coach.
Sorry, but for that you’ll just have to wait.
Back to the main page.
By Dan Collins on 03/08/2011 (1:08 pm)
Comments
Dan do you remeber the Bob Staak era? I do, very well too 8-21 in his first season 0-14 in the ACC and nothing but inconsistency that followed during the era of Bob Staak! Now flash foward Years later to the Bzdelik era 8-24 1-15 in the ACC. Yea you are right Dan, why wait fire Bzdelik now and get rid of Wellman because their both a bad joke with Duke and UNC fans waiting for the punchline!
Robert Sharpe on 03/12/2011 (10:33 pm)
Craig - 2012 is too long to wait.
Ken - Well said.
Dan - Ken’s right. “Why wait?”
gt on 03/08/2011 (10:33 pm)
Dan,
The reason against waiting to speculating about what a recruit brings to the table is that we really don’t have anything better to do at the moment. I think it’s definitely worth noting that our two new recruits are ranked low (or not at all), and that we did not beat out any major college basketball powers for their services. That’s not a conclusion so much as it is a summary of some of the information that we have to date. As we compile more information, we will work that into our perception of the players. I don’t think this is the first “age” that people have been doing this. I think it’s just the first time we can create a running dialogue of it.
Looking forward to reading your thoughts on Wake Forest’s future!
DC on 03/08/2011 (6:41 pm)
Why wait? Is there any real chance that Bzdelick will be a better coach if we can give him less talented players to coach? You and some others seem to think Wake fans are just impatient. What has to be factored in is that this team/coach is the worst (RPI-250ish) modern era team ever to play in the ACC. The lack of copmpetitiveness is appaling. Bzdelick is a far cry from the worst coach (Stack) that Wake ever had. This is not a typical bad Wake team with a 11-12 wins and a lot of close losses. There is no hope right now. How can things get better by recruiting less talented players than we currentlly have. I hope these players turn out great and maybe some will, but you cannot recruit at a wholesale lower rate and expect more success.
Why wait to make a change? My 9 year old son was well on his way to being the hardcore fan that I am. Posters on the wall, excited at games. Now I cannot get him to watch a game. What is the point.
Personally, nothing used to excite me more than the prospect of a good Wake Basketball game. Even when the odds were slim, there was always a chance. Not now. There is no reason to watch. I never thought I would drift into apathy about Wake basketball, but I see no hope as long as Bzdelick is the coach. The question is not “why wait?”, it should be “what is the cost of not doing now what you know you will end up doing eventually?”.
How many other kids will become fans of other teams? How many fans will find other ways to spend their time and money and never return?
Ken Nowell on 03/08/2011 (6:22 pm)
Karl Hobbs (coach at George Washington) would be a great choice for WFU. His contract expires in 2012.
Craig Carter on 03/08/2011 (3:53 pm)
Yes, we will have to wait. But we do not have to pay to do so. Given the results of this year, given that the recruits that are riding to the rescue range from three stars to unrated, and given that the two teams ranked immediately above us in the ACC are about to get coaching upgrades, the prospect for the future of Wake Forest Basketball is not terribly bright. With our conference rivals signing four and five star players, we are essentially disarming unilaterally, unwilling to even try to compete with Duke, UNC or even NC State. Why would anyone buy tickets to games where the outcome is a foregone conclusion? I don’t plan too, and I suspect there will be a lot of other folks who come to the same conclusion.
Lee on 03/08/2011 (3:32 pm)
The Herb Sendek-Sydney Lowe situation is EXACTLY what we are trying to avoid at Wake Forest.
State had an ok coach (fair recruiter, excellent bench coach). Wake had an ok coach (excellent recruiter, fair bench coach).
State replaced their coach with a lesser coach (better recruiter,much worse bench coach). Even with greater talent their program has never gotten back to where it was.
Wake replaced their coach with a lesser coach (much worse recruiter, seems to be worse bench coach).
We have the NC State example right in front of our nose. We need not repeat their mistake. The sooner a mistake is corrected, the less damage done and the less time it takes to recover.
Joey D on 03/08/2011 (2:30 pm)
Dan,
What’s going on with coach Grobe’s decision on hiring a replacement for Brad Lambert? He has two decisions to make. One is who will be the new defensive coordinator, and secondly, who will be the ninth assistant? Could it be Chris Barclay?
john Hawley on 03/08/2011 (2:14 pm)
Dan,
You are correct that we should wait until we see these 2-star players in action for the Deacs before we criticize them, but probably most of what we write is a product of having absolutely no confidence in anything Bzdelik says or does. It is an indictment of the coaching staff,really, and not of the players.
If,as you wrote in the WSJ, Rountree is the second coming of Jamal Levy, I will be delighted. Also, if McIntyre-Miller is the second coming of Ish Smith I will be delirious—-if he can hit free throws.
Lord, give me patience….and I want it right now!
Jerry on 03/08/2011 (1:45 pm)
Herb Sendek looks alot better now with his boring 22 wins per year and his continuous appearance in NCAA tournament.But don’t feel sorry for him, have you ever been to Tempe?
mime o on 03/08/2011 (1:31 pm)
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