In order to win, you have to keep players. Particularly at Wake Forest. We aren't going to be nor should we be a one-and-done factory. It wasn't sustainable for Georgetown. It won't be sustainable for Duke after K dies/retires. It only really works at State schools. I know Duke fans are having fun this year with Zion, but I do think they had way more fun when they are cheering on guys for two or three years - Grant Hill et al.
Regardless of whether Duke can sustain being a one-and-done factory and whether it is good for Duke's rep and college basketball, it shouldn't be done at Wake. Period. Therefore, a coach needs to follow the Brad Stevens, Jay Wright model of developing talent. Rotation guys for a year or two, starters for another year or two - 8 minutes, 13 minutes, 25 minutes+ trajectory. To develop talent, you need to have a system (we don't have one), a recruiting philosophy (don't have that either), and the players need to have fun (ours aren't). Fun happens when you win, and where there is a mentorship happening where guys know they are becoming better players and better people. We had that under Prosser in spades. We don't have that now. It was Bzd's downfall. Probably a pretty good Xs and Os coach - at least at the pro level - a miserable mentor - threw players under the bus and apparently a bit of a primadona (where's my ranch dressing). Manning, unfortunately, is neither a good Xs and Os coach nor is he a mentor. This is why guys leave. They aren't improving, aren't having fun, and are getting little to no mentorship/leadership.
Get him out today. Nestor/Childress the rest of the way. Probably need to put JGray on the bench to replace Manning and Manning.
Get Duncan and CP3 involved when approaching your first choice coach at the end of the year. I have retired the idea of Wellman stepping down and allowing his successor to hire the next coach. But maybe if CP3, Shah and Duncan are at least in the sales pitch and on board, our first choice could still happen.
This is a really good post.