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ESPN: Coaches at a crossroads

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TBR

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http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebask...d/86897/count-em-down-coaches-at-a-crossroads

1. Jeff [Redacted] (Wake Forest): In case you're unfamiliar with the nuclear waste site that is the Wake Forest fan-program relationship these days, the blog archives should get you up to speed. I also wrote a feature about the mess a month ago. To paraphrase the immortal words of Silky Johnson: What can I say about Jeff [Redacted]'s tenure at Wake Forest that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan?

In all seriousness, it's a shame. And not just for the fans, but for everyone involved. Athletic director Ron Wellman probably made a mistake when he plucked [Redacted] from his struggles at Colorado. In Wellman's darkest hours, he might even admit it to himself. But the ugly performance on the court would only inspire so much outrage did fans not feel like their intelligence was being insulted at every turn. Fans know a program. They see when their arena is empty. Wellman has taken a rather dismissive tack, leaning on terms like "foundation" and "culture" without really communicating empathy for fans' frustration, and the cycle of distaste has gotten so bad that fans now want to fire the longest-tenured athletic director in the ACC. [Redacted], meanwhile, seems (at least from the outside) like a perfectly nice, reserved guy who had no idea what he was getting into in the first place. Now he's a local villain. How insane is that?

Things are so bad at this point that you wonder if fans could ever be happy with [Redacted]. You have to wonder if there's any plausible level of success his next team could scale that would halt the popular uprising. We've gone so far down the rabbit hole it is hardly inconceivable to think fans would be cheering against their own team, paranoid that Wake brass will use any excuse to forge ahead.

Maybe that level of success exists. Maybe it doesn't. But boy, if any coach in the country needs a big season in 2013-14, it's [Redacted]
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Steamin' Eamonn strikes again. Great Chappelle reference.
 
Plausibly that level of success doesn't exist. I don't even think an NCAA tournament bid this year would do it for most fans, and that really isn't a plausible goal this year anyway.
 
Fuck Your Couch said:
Plausibly that level of success doesn't exist. I don't even think an NCAA tournament bid this year would do it for most fans, and that really isn't a plausible goal this year anyway.
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A NCAAT appearance in year 4 should be a given.
 
TBR said:
A NCAAT appearance in year 4 should be a given.
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That and Dino was fired after an NCAAT appearance, even a victory. Regardless of where you stand on that decision, a tourney bid would hardly protect Bz from the level of dissatisfaction with the program. And even that goal is more than a long shot.
 
The fact that a winning season would probably do it for Wellman and the big donors show the gap between Wellman and fans.
 
Found it interesting how several of the coaches on this list have ties to the ACC.


Steve Donahue
Oliver Purnell
Johnny Dawkins
Herb Sendek
Rick Barnes
Jeff [Redacted]
 
Well that sounds like a glowing endorsement!

His point about Wake fans rooting against the team is a good one. I can't do it, but the underlying distrust of the administration is the reason for it. For whatever reason, Wellman et al seem to want to do whatever possible to keep [Redacted] at Wake, and fans fear any positive outcomes that would give the admin reasons to keep Bz. It is absurd that Wellman would put his ego above the program, but that ship has sailed. If we struggle early this season, a mid-season firing is absolutely necessary.
 
We'd have to make the final four for me to even consider that he may know what he's doing, but I'd still probably chalk it up to dumb luck.
 
Today is not the day to rehash for the thousandth time the disaster that is WF basketball. Let's remember Skip fondly and deal with the crap tomorrow.
 
PhDeac said:
The fact that a winning season would probably do it for Wellman and the big donors show the gap between Wellman and fans.
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As long as Donny Flow keeps writing the big checks for Wellman and Wellman reciprocates by expanding Donny's pet tennis facility, the fans be damned. These guys could care less about fans.
Unfortunately, we are the textbook definition of the "good ol' boy" system.
 
Eammon is mah boy.

I will always despise Bz. He may as well wear Carolina Blue to the rest of the games.
 
Not only is an NCAA tournament appearance not enough, we don't have a shot to make the NCAA tournament unless we go on a four day binge (maybe needs to be five day?) and win the ACC tournament.
 
Wellman would have been so much better off letting Dino crash and burn for a year.
 
PhDeac said:
And then hiring Bz?
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God no. I just mean personally for him, the comparison is Dino + NCAA versus the [Redacted] debacle. If he'd let Dino coach one more year at least it might be troubled program versus [Redacted] debacle.
 
Ah. Wellman would be better off, but we'd all be much worse off.
 
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