• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Wes Miller Watch 2018-2019

Generally someone actually recognized by the press and others as a good coach or an up and coming coach. You know, a coach others are actually interested in hiring. No one was knocking down [Redacted] or Manning's doors when we came calling.

You could just read the coaching threads here. Everybody that anyone wanted here was superior to Wellman's hires.

Both times he hired someone that no one on these boards would have considered or was even on the radar. Wellman made incredible risky hires that made absolutely no sense at the time.
 
That John Pelphrey horse is getting pretty tired. :)

In fairness to Wellman, Bz and Manning were not terrible choices on paper (not great by any means but not terrible either).

It's just amazing to me that RW so badly misjudged their ability to connect with and motivate players. It shouldn't have taken more than five minutes of interviewing Bz to know he wasn't a good fit from a personality standpoint. Making those sorts of judgment calls and getting them right are what the guy gets paid to do.
Man, time has been kind to Bz on these boards. Some people seem to have forgotten just how bad he was. He was an absolutely terrible hire on paper. That's really not even debatable.
 
As for what a safe hire actually looks like, it's someone who has built a winning program at a mid-major or higher level while having experience recruiting at a high major level and preferably having close ties to the Carolina's region. That leaves Hoiberg, Alford, and Grant as obviously available candidates. Oats is probably less safe (since he doesn't have high major recruiting experience), but is more exciting due to how quick / successful his build at Buffalo has been.
 
You could just read the coaching threads here. Everybody that anyone wanted here was superior to Wellman's hires.

Both times he hired someone that no one on these boards would have considered or was even on the radar. Wellman made incredible risky hires that made absolutely no sense at the time.

Manning was on the radar.
 
That John Pelphrey horse is getting pretty tired. :)

In fairness to Wellman, Bz and Manning were not terrible choices on paper (not great by any means but not terrible either).

Jesus Christ! What the hell do bad hires on paper look like to you? BZ was a pretty much a proven godawful hire. Manning was an extremely high risk hire at a time when Wake absolutely had to have a good coach.

The thing was still salvageable after BZ. At this point it does not matter as much. There is nothing to salvage. The program will have to be rebuilt.
 
Manning was on the radar.

I did not hear his name mentioned on these boards. It may have been casually by someone, but I did not even know he was coaching. Certainly not in the top 10 coaches talked about on these boards.
 
Jesus Christ! What the hell do bad hires on paper look like to you? BZ was a pretty much a proven godawful hire. Manning was an extremely high risk hire at a time when Wake absolutely had to have a good coach.

The thing was still salvageable after BZ. At this point it does not matter as much. There is nothing to salvage. The program will have to be rebuilt.

Who would a have been a lower risk hire when we hired Manning?
 
I did not hear his name mentioned on these boards. It may have been casually by someone, but I did not even know he was coaching. Certainly not in the top 10 coaches talked about on these boards.

I don't know where he ranked overall, but a few folks were big fans (sorry guys):
https://www.ogboards.com/forums/sho...p=1666217&highlight=danny+manning#post1666217
https://www.ogboards.com/forums/sho...p=1666860&highlight=danny+manning#post1666860
https://www.ogboards.com/forums/sho...r-coach-talk?p=1666868&viewfull=1#post1666868
https://www.ogboards.com/forums/sho...p=1667029&highlight=danny+manning#post1667029
 
A good candidate looks like what Dave Clawson looked like. Started at a very small school (Fordham) and slowly moved up, sometimes totally rebuilding as was the case at Fordham and Richmond.

I think we should take a guy that has had success at more than one place regardless of size and has moved to a bigger school with each stop. Not exactly sure who that is, but he is out there.
 
There was a lot of consensus around Mike White being a safe/great hire/up and comer. So much consensus that he didn't have to take the Wake job and held out for Florida. It's not as easy as people think here. Manning and Bzz likely weren't our first choices.

I'm hoping Nate Oats is interested but he is looking like a Mike White trajectory.
 
There was a lot of consensus around Mike White being a safe/great hire/up and comer. So much consensus that he didn't have to take the Wake job and held out for Florida. It's not as easy as people think here. Manning and Bzz likely weren't our first choices.

I'm hoping Nate Oats is interested but he is looking like a Mike White trajectory.

We have no idea what we offered him, in terms of his own salary, other resources, and the overall sales pitch. Just because we didn't get him doesn't mean that we couldn't have gotten him. Never forget that Ron Wellman is an ass.
 
The more information I gather on Oats, the more it seems like he's going to be an elite coach for a long time, regardless of where he ends up. I really hope it is at Wake Forest.

Beyond having impressive results at Buffalo, he just seems to have that competitive fire that a lot of folks around here want to see in a head coach.

There are a number of candidates that would excite me, but he's at the top of the list.

Biggest concern I have with him is that he'll be hired by someone else. Agree w/ MichDeac25 that it could be a Mike White scenario where he knows he can get a better gig.
 
in terms of a "safe hire" or someone who has proven he can build and sustain a program long enough to go through a 4-year recruiting cycle, WF has hired one of those guys in the last 50 years - Skip Prosser (two if you count Staak maintaining Xavier near the top of the MW Cities Conference)

Oats has obviously done that, and unlike Mike White, his dad is not the AD at the premier basketball program in our conference

I hope we can get him
 
Last edited:
Man, time has been kind to Bz on these boards. Some people seem to have forgotten just how bad he was. He was an absolutely terrible hire on paper. That's really not even debatable.

I debated quitting being a Wake fan the day he was hired. In hindsight, it might have been the better choice.

[Redacted] was an awful hire, on paper, from the day Goodman or whomever else it was broke the story he was likely the choice.
 
I think Ron had a hard-on for him from the point his Air Force team blew us out onwards. Especially knowing the guy from back in the day
 
I wonder if Mit is going to help Ron find the $19M he will owe Manning...
 
I think Ron had a hard-on for him from the point his Air Force team blew us out onwards. Especially knowing the guy from back in the day

Still think the whole thing was a ploy to get his buddy closer to his daughter.

[Redacted] is arguably the worst hire in ACC history.

Manning is arguably the worst coach in ACC history.
 
Bob Wade says hi...

Still think the whole thing was a ploy to get his buddy closer to his daughter.

[Redacted] is arguably the worst hire in ACC history.

Manning is arguably the worst coach in ACC history.
 
Back
Top