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Now that the Season is Over - From a Long-Time Supporter

After he had spent the majority of the month bouncing around NCAA Tournament sites. The perfect place to make deals with good coaching talent. I agree that he should have fired Dino quicker and maybe that had an effect on the coaches with whom he spoke but I haven't heard anything that was along the lines of "I'll fire Dino today... oh look at the shiny Buffaloes... I think that I want their herd leader."
 
I would ask who has revealed a counter source? I find it funny when people require a source for info yet I don't think I have ever seen someone cite a source by name. I know because I don't reveal who feeds me info that it is doubted. I relay parts that I feel don't out the source and that are appropriate for now given Wellman is still the AD and Bzz is our coach. I know Bzz was presented as the guy and there were others on the list. At the time, I was hoping someone on the list would bite but the details going forward are not known to me. Wellman played it close to the vest and others may know more about contact with others on the list. I do know I was told about Bzz prior to there being anything on premium about him so it proved to be 100% accurate in that regard.

I am sure the standard will be to say I am trying to grab attention...blah blah blah. I am just relaying what I deem to be accurate information and so far nothing I have been told has ever been incorrect from an outside view. Anyway...we can carry on speculating.
 
That is fair Icker. The information that I have received about this, and most other inside information, comes from a couple of players, a couple of player parents and one rather high dollar donor. What you have been told, may have happened, but it doesn't mesh completely with what I've been told. Regardless, this is now the hand of 2s and 7s that we've been dealt. It's time for a new hand.
 
Well, what we ended up with is by far the least impressive coach in the ACC. If he was the only one who would take our offer, then we had the wrong coaches on that list.
 
RacerDeac said:
Frankly, that scenario is just as bad. If by some miracle Bzz was the only person Wellman called who was interested in coaching Wake Forest before Dino was even fired, a sane reaction would have been to keep Dino around, let him "suffer" through the next season (after all, according to the Bzzin fans, we KNEW we were going to be awful before Dino was fired), and then fire him after a bad season and see who you could find the next year.
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I agree that the timing was bad for a few reasons (more of which have to do with where society is today than whether it was sound decision making in a vacuum, but everything must be taken in its context). However, I'll make one small change to your interpretation of what I said: I think the list was already in place, but that calls to the individuals on the list likely commenced approximately 30 seconds after Dino walked out of Wellman's office, not before. Which makes the two decisions independent, rather than the hiring being an extension of the firing. With the leg work done on who to contact, you could contact 10 guys in the first hour and know generally who you want to pursue more closely by the end of day 1.
 
goldblack said:
Dino was fired because, in Wellman's words, he is a "greaseball WOP." Wellman--what kind of name is Wellman anyway, sounds vaguely Jewish--despised Dino for being a proud Italian American. He put the "kabash" on team spaghetti and meatballs night, and ordered Dino to remove an autographed picture of Robert Deniro from his office wall. BabyDeac75 can verify this if he dares. He complained that Dino wore too much cologne and always "reeked of garlic." If Dino's last name were Prosser, he'd still be here winning games.

In a nutshell, the entire demise of our basketball program is due to Dino's olive toned skin.
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I disagree the demise of the program was due to not hiring a real coach after Skip's death in order to save a bust recruiting class.
 
I am as upset as anyone that our athletic director and his search committee of one gave our head coaching job to his unproven friend. But all the speculation of how and why are not really important to me at this juncture. Our AD will not fire our coach after all the nauseating statements of support. Our only short term hope is that our coach is half as smart as he thinks he is and realizes he is in way over his head, and disappears into some non-descript assistant job in the NBA.
 
I truly believe we would have been a better team this year without a head coach and let the assistants carry the load.
 
91deac said:
... I am friends with the family of an incoming freshman the year that Dino got fired (Buzz's first class). The day Dino was fired, I was told - RW called Dino in and said no more one-and-done guys majoring in pre-NBA. I want a team full of kids that will stay for 4 years and graduate and be quality representatives of WFU while they are here (Like what Grobe does in WF football). Dino said the same thing I heard Skip say multiple times - the teams that win in the ACC are the teams with the most future NBA players. RW insisted on a team full of 5 star heart guys, Dino stood his ground and RW fired him. (Btw - I posted this back on the old board contemporaneously.) ...
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If this is true, I'll bet the trustees weren't in on that decision. Too be sure there is enough brainpower on the Board of Trustees to know just how bonechillingly STUPID such a tactic is. It also explains why no one was interested in coaching for Ron Wellman and Wake Forest. Would you want to coach for an arrogant butthole who was going to condemn you to always being the underdog?

ChrisL68 said:
Well, what we ended up with is by far the least impressive coach in the ACC. If he was the only one who would take our offer, then we had the wrong coaches on that list.
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Or the wrong AD...

Deke 73 said:
I truly believe we would have been a better team this year without a head coach and let the assistants carry the load.
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That is also true of last year.
 
Mendacious said:
After he had spent the majority of the month bouncing around NCAA Tournament sites. The perfect place to make deals with good coaching talent. I agree that he should have fired Dino quicker and maybe that had an effect on the coaches with whom he spoke but I haven't heard anything that was along the lines of "I'll fire Dino today... oh look at the shiny Buffaloes... I think that I want their herd leader."
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Then why was Dino's canning such a surprise in the media at the time? If Ron was making deals, wouldn't you think word would have spread. The only bigger gossips than sportswriters, are basketball coaches, and firing the WFU coach is kinda big news. Word would have spread.
 
Deke 73 said:
I truly believe we would have been a better team this year without a head coach and let the assistants carry the load.
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I truly believe we would have been a better team this year and last year if the players never went to the locker room at halftime.
 
tvcigar said:
Then why was Dino's canning such a surprise in the media at the time? If Ron was making deals, wouldn't you think word would have spread. The only bigger gossips than sportswriters, are basketball coaches, and firing the WFU coach is kinda big news. Word would have spread.
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This is a very, very good point.

Wellman had a list, no doubt, but the timing of Dino's fire to [Redacted] being in talks was just so narrow.

Occam's Razor suggests that it is more likely that Jeff [Redacted] was at the head of the search than it is likely that Ron Wellman went thru a myriad of other coaches before getting to Jeff [Redacted] in two days.
 
There are 345 Div 1A head coaches. Throw in top Div 1A assistants and good lower level head coaches, and one is left to wonder how Bzz was even on Wellman's short list, much less at the top of it. He shouldn't have been in the top 100.
 
No idea about Bzz being on the list but I can easily see how Wellman could have a narrowed list out of your potential 400 candidates.

- Of the Div I coaches you can probably immediately trim that list by 200-300. Just eliminate the bottom of the RPI etc.
- Wellman had the unique situation of being on the NCAA selection committee so would know more about schools and coaches than the average AD would.
- Now eliminate the established big 6 coaches/programs that we are not getting (i.e. Syracuse, UConn, dook, UNC, Kansas etc), that will trim the list further
- Factor in Wake's specific issues such as academics, having a foreign language requirement, level of integrity etc and the list narrows further.

I'd bet that list drops to 30 or less pretty quickly, before you even do significant research.

Finally, I don't recall there being a list of 30 being tossed around here, the board list was narrowed pretty quickly.

Again how Bzz gets through all those screens is another thing all together, but having a short list for Wake should not be a real mystery, IMO.
 
I never questioned whether it was possible to have a short list...only how the hell a guy like Bzz ended up on it.
 
IckerDeac said:
I've said this before...and I can't reveal my source...but Bzzz was the target prior to firing Dino. There was a list but many doubt Wellman really pursued anyone on this list in earnest. He wanted Bzzz from the beginning so in his mind it didn't matter that other coaches were being recruited by others.
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Look back and you will see that I also have said this. This is absolutely correct and I don't want to reveal how I know it to be the truth. Many of you will remember my post saying so. Wellman has been completely infatuated with Buzz since the loss to Air Force years ago. Just absolutely infatuated. Like some high school crush that he had to satisfy.

The result was that very soon after he made the hire Wellman knew he had made a mistake. Ron Wellman is highly intelligent. Like anyone, he can and did make a mistake and he knew it and believe me he knows it now. Believe that.
 
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