Sure, if you just want to be a dick. People making decisions, I am going to go out on a limb and say aren't weighing assclown arguments, they are weighing football, soccer, tennis, facilities, fundraising, etc...
So you can have the assclown discussion again, it just has no value other than venting. Repeatedly.
My argument is that it doesn't matter whether Wellman is or was shit, good or great. The question is can he get his first choice hire at the end of the year. Let's say he goes after the Buffalo coach. How likely is he to say yes? I don't think very likely. Oats has never had to recruit 4-star recruits in his life, or even had the opportunity to - can he get them? Sure. Would he want to try his luck at Wake Forest? In the ACC? And recruit against the big boys? With a dead man walking AD? Possibly.
But if I were Oats, I'd look at other jobs too where the relationship I started with the AD was going to matter 6 years down the road because s/he was still going to be there. ..
This is why I HOPE Wellman pushed the decision to fire Manning out a year. He knows this and wasn't ready March 2018. My FEAR is that he's not going to be ready 90 days from now either. We have zero indication he is even leaning out the door. That said, Wellman has been old school no transparency for decades. Even when our football team has been exciting the last few years, our stadium looks like a tomb. Almost as bad as Duke. That's because Wellman has focused on corporate and afluent sponsorship. I have no doubt the new press box area is popping. But he has essentially ignored the general fan. It doesn't seem like we have any strategy to fill the corner seats. In basketball, Prosser took that role upon himself, which in hindsight is pretty remarkable. Clawson simply doesn't have time, and it may be the reason he leaves should we get a 9 to 10 win season going and we still can't get fan momentum.
Anyway, my argument for Wellman going has nothing to do with what he has done to now and everything to do with how likely he can knock a home run next hire vs. his replacement. Wellman's job is way more intriguing to a young AD than our basketball coaching position. IMO. Fill that one first.