I tried to send this to Mit Shah but was rejected as spam by his server.
Dear Mit: Quick introduction: Name is Paul Powell. I am a 1982 graduate of Wake Law and sent my son to Wake, graduating in 2008. Have been a Deacon Club member for 30 plus years and am in the top 100 in so far as rank. We have met once or twice through the years but nothing formal.
I have always been proud of Wake Basketball and even through some of the ups and downs of Carl Tacy, Bob Staak, Dave Odom, and Skip Prosser. I tried to remain fully engaged through the horrible decision of hiring Jeff [Redacted] and prevailed with logic and common sense for Ron to dismiss him after the third year. Of course he did not listen to me or anyone else and we endured one very unnecessary year of his tenure.
At the point he was finally terminated, I so hoped we would hire a proven winner to bring our once proud program back to its rightful position. The Manning hire was not the top of my list but I did support it and had high hopes he could get us back to winning and competing. Five years in and we have made little if any progress. We are no more competitive than we were when he took over. The fan support is almost nonexistent. The student support is nonexistent. Other than one decent (not great) year we have spent 10 long years in the wilderness and right now there is no real hope to get out.
Simply put Danny cannot coach defense, he cannot inspire the best effort from his players and he may be one of the worst in game coaches I have ever seen. But what is most concerning is that he cannot keep a team together. It is obvious that a large number of players do not want to play for him. I know all of the arguments about how times have changed and transfers are a part of the fabric. But the players we have lost have gone for inexplicable reasons. Doral and Bryant could have been all conference this year and on draft boards but chose to go overseas or to d league teams for no real legitimate reasons other than they just didn’t want to play for Wake and Danny. I could go on and on about the other transfer but it would only be piling on.
This has to stop and it should stop now. He needs to be terminated and an interim named. Then a REAL search done for a new head coach. One much more like our football coach who can inspire the absolute best out of each player and attract awesome student athletes to our basketball program. Just look at the hires at NCSU, Louisville (I think we could have gotten Chris Mack with some effort) and Va Tech. Two of the teams are ranked and the third just went into Chapel Hill and throttled the Tarheels.
This season cannot be saved in any way shape or form. Decisive action is needed. If you had an Executive on your outstanding management team that performed like Danny you would not hesitate to make a change and really shake things up. I run a 50 million dollar business myself with over 100 employees and I know I would have done something after last year’s debacle but certainly after the losses to Houston Baptist and Gardner Webb.
I have written a similar note to Ron but of course he cannot respond to me. However, he can and will respond to you as a Trustee and major basketball program financial supporter.
I implore you to get involved with this and put us on a path to getting out of this swamp.
Thank you for your time in reading this and I look forward to seeing you at a Deacon Club event or possibly at the ACC Tournament this year.
Paul Powell
I fully signed it with return email and etc.
Dear Mit: Quick introduction: Name is Paul Powell. I am a 1982 graduate of Wake Law and sent my son to Wake, graduating in 2008. Have been a Deacon Club member for 30 plus years and am in the top 100 in so far as rank. We have met once or twice through the years but nothing formal.
I have always been proud of Wake Basketball and even through some of the ups and downs of Carl Tacy, Bob Staak, Dave Odom, and Skip Prosser. I tried to remain fully engaged through the horrible decision of hiring Jeff [Redacted] and prevailed with logic and common sense for Ron to dismiss him after the third year. Of course he did not listen to me or anyone else and we endured one very unnecessary year of his tenure.
At the point he was finally terminated, I so hoped we would hire a proven winner to bring our once proud program back to its rightful position. The Manning hire was not the top of my list but I did support it and had high hopes he could get us back to winning and competing. Five years in and we have made little if any progress. We are no more competitive than we were when he took over. The fan support is almost nonexistent. The student support is nonexistent. Other than one decent (not great) year we have spent 10 long years in the wilderness and right now there is no real hope to get out.
Simply put Danny cannot coach defense, he cannot inspire the best effort from his players and he may be one of the worst in game coaches I have ever seen. But what is most concerning is that he cannot keep a team together. It is obvious that a large number of players do not want to play for him. I know all of the arguments about how times have changed and transfers are a part of the fabric. But the players we have lost have gone for inexplicable reasons. Doral and Bryant could have been all conference this year and on draft boards but chose to go overseas or to d league teams for no real legitimate reasons other than they just didn’t want to play for Wake and Danny. I could go on and on about the other transfer but it would only be piling on.
This has to stop and it should stop now. He needs to be terminated and an interim named. Then a REAL search done for a new head coach. One much more like our football coach who can inspire the absolute best out of each player and attract awesome student athletes to our basketball program. Just look at the hires at NCSU, Louisville (I think we could have gotten Chris Mack with some effort) and Va Tech. Two of the teams are ranked and the third just went into Chapel Hill and throttled the Tarheels.
This season cannot be saved in any way shape or form. Decisive action is needed. If you had an Executive on your outstanding management team that performed like Danny you would not hesitate to make a change and really shake things up. I run a 50 million dollar business myself with over 100 employees and I know I would have done something after last year’s debacle but certainly after the losses to Houston Baptist and Gardner Webb.
I have written a similar note to Ron but of course he cannot respond to me. However, he can and will respond to you as a Trustee and major basketball program financial supporter.
I implore you to get involved with this and put us on a path to getting out of this swamp.
Thank you for your time in reading this and I look forward to seeing you at a Deacon Club event or possibly at the ACC Tournament this year.
Paul Powell
I fully signed it with return email and etc.