• 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!

Inside the slow death of Wake Forest basketball: A motorcycle, silence and stubborn h

qcdeac said:
"departures of John Collins and Dinos Mitoglou in 2017. Manning and his staff had not planned on replacing either before they left"

Seriously? Collins blew up in the 2nd half of that year. People hoped he would stay, but I think most expected him to leave. I get being surprised about Dinos, particularly given the timing.

After the Tuesday game in the ACC Tournament next month, Manning will probably use Hoard leaving as an excuse for the season. It's like Wake is the only school that doesn't understand that players with pro potential may leave the program.
Click to expand...

The Collins thing is funny. It's almost as if he got even better than Manning had expected, and Manning just didn't have a backup plan for that happening. But if that's the case, Manning should get even less credit for his only "successful" season, considering Collins being that good is the only thing that dragged us that far.

The Dinos thing is ridiculous in an article of this scope. He left after his junior year, and in response we got grad transfer Terrence Thompson for a year. Downgrading from Dinos to Thompson for one year is certainly not why this program is a dumpster fire, and probably isn't even why the 2017-2018 Deacs took such a massive step backwards.
 
It was not a slow death. It happened quickly. By [Redacted]'s third year, Wake basketball was dead and has been ever since with no hope for resurrection in the far, far distant future.
 
The place smelled like gasoline and the environment felt sad. It was all enough to make anyone wonder:

Whatever happened to Wake Forest basketball?
 
qcdeac said:
"departures of John Collins and Dinos Mitoglou in 2017. Manning and his staff had not planned on replacing either before they left"

Seriously? Collins blew up in the 2nd half of that year. People hoped he would stay, but I think most expected him to leave. I get being surprised about Dinos, particularly given the timing.

After the Tuesday game in the ACC Tournament next month, Manning will probably use Hoard leaving as an excuse for the season. It's like Wake is the only school that doesn't understand that players with pro potential may leave the program.
Click to expand...

Skip lost Chris Paul and never made a single excuse.
 
DeacsATS said:
Phenomenal article... Came here to post it and was glad to see there was already a thread.

The quotes from Gaudio are the best. That guy is a class act, especially considering he was booted out of here.
Click to expand...

I mean, I like Dino, I truly do, but he did insinuate he was going to take legal action against OGBoards (still not even sure if that would have been possible) and me personally after emailing me concerning the rumors that started with the Ath Dept that were circulating on this site. He also left me a voicemail IIRC.

And I'm still not even sure how he got my email addy/cell phone number. Dino even brought up my soccer coaching history on the call and mentioned Sandusky (as in, what if a young boy claimed something salacious against me that I coached), this was in 2012. It was absolutely surreal. But I do remember telling him, "Well, I don't go into any private areas 1 on 1 with any of my players, we are always out in the open training or playing. I'm certain that is not something I need to worry about."

I get the guy was protecting his reputation while trying to get back into coaching, but I remember his tone (and his wife *sternly talking* in the background) as very aggressive. Almost like he was trying to lecture me, and I'm sitting there thinking, "why is this guy coming after me? I had fuck all to do with the rumor starting or spreading!" But this here OGBoards forum was just getting started, Dino was one of our WFU own, and none of us had any intention of harming his potential employment opportunities. Over a few conversations with Dino (2 or 3 tops total) we came to an understanding and dealt with the baseless rumors of co-ed nonsense or infidelity, etc etc etc. Baseless references were removed and Dino never contacted me, or any of the mod team, again.

I'm glad Dino now has a pretty sweet gig as an assistant at Louisville and I just saw on my google machine that they are #5 in the nation! Good for them! (I don't watch college basketball anymore, my joy for that sport is D-E-D, dead.) But I will never forget those emails and phone calls with the great Gaudino in 2012. That shit was WILD, y'all.

Point is, he might be a good dude. But I don't think he handled that situation very well.


The mod team at the time, most still "mods" now, can vouch for this craziness as we were talking about it in the mod forum back then.
 
Sirdeacsalot, that was reserved for about half of the fans.
 
deacvision7 said:
I mean, I like Dino, I truly do, but he did insinuate he was going to take legal action against OGBoards (still not even sure if that would have been possible) and me personally after emailing me concerning the rumors that started with the Ath Dept that were circulating on this site. He also left me a voicemail IIRC.

And I'm still not even sure how he got my email addy/cell phone number. Dino even brought up my soccer coaching history on the call and mentioned Sandusky (as in, what if a young boy claimed something salacious against me that I coached), this was in 2012. It was absolutely surreal. But I do remember telling him, "Well, I don't go into any private areas 1 on 1 with any of my players, we are always out in the open training or playing. I'm certain that is not something I need to worry about."

I get the guy was protecting his reputation while trying to get back into coaching, but I remember his tone (and his wife *sternly talking* in the background) as very aggressive. Almost like he was trying to lecture me, and I'm sitting there thinking, "why is this guy coming after me? I had fuck all to do with the rumor starting or spreading!" But this here OGBoards forum was just getting started, Dino was one of our WFU own, and none of us had any intention of harming his potential employment opportunities. Over a few conversations with Dino (2 or 3 tops total) we came to an understanding and dealt with the baseless rumors of co-ed nonsense or infidelity, etc etc etc. Baseless references were removed and Dino never contacted me, or any of the mod team, again.

I'm glad Dino now has a pretty sweet gig as an assistant at Louisville and I just saw on my google machine that they are #5 in the nation! Good for them! (I don't watch college basketball anymore, my joy for that sport is D-E-D, dead.) But I will never forget those emails and phone calls with the great Gaudino in 2012. That shit was WILD, y'all.

Point is, he might be a good dude. But I don't think he handled that situation very well.


The mod team at the time, most still "mods" now, can vouch for this craziness as we were talking about it in the mod forum back then.
Click to expand...

Time to release the transcripts!
 
Dillon Fence said:
The Dino quote (and I like Dino FWIW) about taking 5-6 years to rebuild is total bullshit. As a Louisville coach he wants to see Wake suck as much as possible therefore he is supporting Manning. But in college hoops it takes 2-3 years tops to rebuild a program.
Click to expand...

I feel like Dino was trying to bury [Redacted] there moreso than covering for Manning.
 
Dillon Fence said:
Decently well written? It's fantastic. The fact that Charlotte / Raleigh papers even give enough of a shit about wake basketball to give it a full column is a miracle unto itself. Only missing item in here is plainly laying out the the [name redacted] and Manning eras individually are among I believe the 5 worst tenures of any ACC coaches in history.
Click to expand...

Good article but one major fail. No effort (at least not noted) to interview Ron Wellman. Wellman was the destroyer of Wake Forest basketball with a series of disastrous coaching hires and, of course, the most stupid contract extension in college athletic history. The writer should have hounded Wellman and noted if Wellman refused to comment.

Another note: major PR fail on Currie's part for refusing to comment for the story. This is a major newspaper asking legitimate questions and Currie should never have refused to speak on the record.
 
Last edited:
FreeStateDeac said:
Good article but one major fail. No effort (at least not noted) to interview Ron Wellman. Wellman was the destroyer of Wake Forest basketball with a series of disastrous coaching hires and, of course, the most stupid contract extension in college athletic history. The writer should have hounded Wellman and noted if Wellman refused to comment.

Another note: major PR fail on Currie's part for refusing to comment for the story. This is a major newspaper asking legitimate questions and Currie should never have refused to speak on the record.
Click to expand...

Would any of us want to hear Ron's take at this point? We all know what he would have said had he even sat for the interview.

In regards to Currie, maybe that is a good sign that he didn't comment. Crossing my fingers he didn't respond for a specific reason and will shit can Manning in March.
 
The stats for ACC wins were the most shocking. Basically, under Odom, Prosser, and Gaudio we were one of the top 3-4 teams in the league over a 20 year period. 3 more wins in 20 years would have put us as the 3rd most winning team in the league. If anyone needed it, that is proof that Wake can sustain success in the sport.

And now, we are the worst. None of the schools added to the conference since then are an obstacle to us being up there again; our only obstacle is our leadership (or lack thereof).
 
It's sad that our best season in the past decade was a 14 loss season.
 
"And so perhaps it was not surprising, then, that last March, after the second of consecutive 11-win seasons, Wake announced Manning’s return. The announcement came a little more than a month before Wellman retired, and before John Currie, his successor, began. (Through a school spokesperson, Currie declined to be interviewed for this story."
Currie has no trouble showing up to ask you to accept this dumpster fire or asking for money. The WF administration is the only entity that chooses not to recognize how pitiful and comical our basketball program has become. Currie is and will be no better than notWellman. The joke that we are continues.
 
deacvision7 said:
I mean, I like Dino, I truly do, but he did insinuate he was going to take legal action against OGBoards (still not even sure if that would have been possible) and me personally after emailing me concerning the rumors that started with the Ath Dept that were circulating on this site. He also left me a voicemail IIRC.

And I'm still not even sure how he got my email addy/cell phone number. Dino even brought up my soccer coaching history on the call and mentioned Sandusky (as in, what if a young boy claimed something salacious against me that I coached), this was in 2012. It was absolutely surreal. But I do remember telling him, "Well, I don't go into any private areas 1 on 1 with any of my players, we are always out in the open training or playing. I'm certain that is not something I need to worry about."

I get the guy was protecting his reputation while trying to get back into coaching, but I remember his tone (and his wife *sternly talking* in the background) as very aggressive. Almost like he was trying to lecture me, and I'm sitting there thinking, "why is this guy coming after me? I had fuck all to do with the rumor starting or spreading!" But this here OGBoards forum was just getting started, Dino was one of our WFU own, and none of us had any intention of harming his potential employment opportunities. Over a few conversations with Dino (2 or 3 tops total) we came to an understanding and dealt with the baseless rumors of co-ed nonsense or infidelity, etc etc etc. Baseless references were removed and Dino never contacted me, or any of the mod team, again.

I'm glad Dino now has a pretty sweet gig as an assistant at Louisville and I just saw on my google machine that they are #5 in the nation! Good for them! (I don't watch college basketball anymore, my joy for that sport is D-E-D, dead.) But I will never forget those emails and phone calls with the great Gaudino in 2012. That shit was WILD, y'all.

Point is, he might be a good dude. But I don't think he handled that situation very well.


The mod team at the time, most still "mods" now, can vouch for this craziness as we were talking about it in the mod forum back then.
Click to expand...

I mean it's a little over the top, but I can see where he is coming from. I would be unhappy as well if someone was operating a site that allowed those baseless accusations swirl about myself or anyone close to me. Having said that it is pretty hard to manage what is being discussed on a message board 100% of the time. Especially one that is rightfully pretty wide open about most subjects.

Not gonna hold that one against Dino.
 
WFcatamount22 said:
I mean it's a little over the top, but I can see where he is coming from. I would be unhappy as well if someone was operating a site that allowed those baseless accusations swirl about myself or anyone close to me. Having said that it is pretty hard to manage what is being discussed on a message board 100% of the time. Especially one that is rightfully pretty wide open about most subjects.

Not gonna hold that one against Dino.
Click to expand...
You are right and I don't either.

Again, I like Dino, having nothing against him, and wish him all the best.
 
FreeStateDeac said:
Good article but one major fail. No effort (at least not noted) to interview Ron Wellman. Wellman was the destroyer of Wake Forest basketball with a series of disastrous coaching hires and, of course, the most stupid contract extension in college athletic history. The writer should have hounded Wellman and noted if Wellman refused to comment.

Another note: major PR fail on Currie's part for refusing to comment for the story. This is a major newspaper asking legitimate questions and Currie should never have refused to speak on the record.
Click to expand...

I mean, the article is full of pretty much indisputable facts, and it paints Wake Forest basketball in an incredibly negative light. Without a coaching change having happened yet, there's nothing Currie can say that would inject some optimism into that, so I get why he chose to not comment. Hopefully this is the sort of article that he will have a comment for in a couple months in the form of a new, promising head coach.
 
Great article. Random thoughts:

I had been waiting for one of the big papers in NC to do this story. It is indeed a big story given the prominence of college basketball in the region and the extraordinary amounts of money involved, esp the huge salaries paid to a succession of people whose jobs were to keep us marginally competitive, which we have not really been.

Disappointed that there wasn't more discussion of Wellman's role. I wonder if the writer tried to interview RW. Maybe he did and RW declined. Maybe he couldn't reach RW. But it amazes me how WF and many in the fan base have absolved RW of any wrongdoing. The fact that there are parts of campus now named for the guy, and that Wake continues to fete him in retirement, incenses me.

I get why Currie did not comment, but I think it's a bad look that he didn't. I'm not a PR expert, but it shouldn't be that hard to draft some talking points about Wake bball that convey some meaningful concerns about the state of the program without trashing Manning or telegraphing intentions re: his future employment. It just shouldn't. This is something else Wake pays people to handle, yet we repeatedly duck and hide.

Liked that the writer interviewed Dino. I like Dino and am glad things are working out for him. I don't necessarily fault RW for sending him out. It was the terrible judgment applied later (in multiple areas), and the regular insults to the intelligence of fans and alumni, that angered me.

I'm actually okay with Manning's comments. I believe the part about him being guarded is true. Nothing wrong with that, but it does make him poorly suited to coaching at the D1 level. Let's acknowledge that it hasn't worked out and move on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top