• 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!

Carl Tacy Passes Away At 87

wfu22fan said:
He was a reserved man. WF has a long history of firing or running off its best coaches: Tacy, Odom, and Grobe. Yet we keep DM for 7...
Click to expand...

Grobe finished his 13-year career with 5 straight losing seasons, where he averaged 4.6 wins per year.
 
sportsmed86 said:
i would have to differ with that. DY a class guy and was gone in 84, KG overlapped some and drove the team leaders crazy. Ernie did have to put his job on the line for Coach to sign DY in 1980 but there was always respect. 10yr NBA player so i guess Ernie saw something.
Click to expand...

My information came from a former Wake player who played for Tacy and later became a D-1 coach.
 
ChrisL68 said:
The general word on Tacy is that he didn't like recruiting and didn't put much effort into it and that was why people got disgruntled with him. He got outworked by the Ks and Bobby cremins who were young hungry coaches of the time. And honestly when he was fired he left the cupboard pretty bare for staak
Click to expand...

Fair assessment but he hired good assistants and they all put the pieces together for our success. Academics was an issue in the 70s-80s as well. Ga Tech took anyone and Duke had as good an athlete track as State.
 
godeacsplate said:
My information came from a former Wake player who played for Tacy and later became a D-1 coach.
Click to expand...

Thats cool. Probably lots of factors. I lived it for 5 years. I think Coach Tacy served Wake well and then made a great choice knowing himself, knowing the job as he saw it changing and seeing UNC, UVA, State, Duke and Ga Tech so strong in an 8 team league. We were lucky to have him after the one year at Marshall and then when he resigned, we got the antithesis of Gentleman Carl, Staak.
 
Got a chance to work practices as I was a budding young college official. Asked Coach Tacy if I could come over and get some experience on the floor with the "big boys" and he said yes. Just so happened we had Danny Young, Delaney Rudd, Kenny Green, Anthony Teachey, Lee Garber, Chuck Kepley, Craig Wessell, Mike Hillman, John Toms, Tony Karasek, Scott Davis Mark Cline & a young freshman by the name of Tyrone Bogues. Tacy had a great staff of Ernie Nestor, The Dinger and a young buck named Herb Krusen. I did about 35 practices that year and it was quite a special season as we Retired Meyer and went to the Elite 8.

Gentleman Carl was a master of game strategy during practice sessions in getting his team ready for an opponent!
 
Kenny Green, not Danny Young, had the drug issue. I know that because Kenny's roommate, my senior year, was John Toms; and JT and I were good friends. I would go to the new athletic dorm to get JT to play tennis (we were sometimes joined by his friend from WS State, Tyrone) and then grab dinner somewhere afterwards. I often found Kenny smoking in the room. He also had a Penthouse centerfold on the wall beside his bed with a toll number below. I jokingly asked him who the girl was, and he would reply, "that's my girlfriend." I would respond, 'yeah right Kenny," and he would insist she was his girlfriend. His evidence? "I talk to her every night." I've always wondered out of what line item in the basketball program's budget Kenny's calls to his "girlfriend," came...
 
The Big Four tourney was a lot of fun back in the day. Loved the Skip and Rod combo.
 
ChrisL68 said:
The general word on Tacy is that he didn't like recruiting and didn't put much effort into it and that was why people got disgruntled with him. He got outworked by the Ks and Bobby cremins who were young hungry coaches of the time. And honestly when he was fired he left the cupboard pretty bare for staak
Click to expand...

Agree. Don't have all of the details, but it's telling that Tacy never coached again after leaving WF. Tacy took two teams to the Elite 8, and over his last 5 seasons at WF, he had 3 NCAA tourney teams (when only 48 teams made the field), and 2 NIT teams. If he still had a burning desire to coach, other schools would've come calling. Think Tacy's desire to do all of the legwork required to win on that level was gone by the time WF and Tacy parted ways. IIRC, shortly after leaving WF, he owned a bunch of frozen yogurt franchises.
 
74 plug said:
A great coach and a true gentleman. That 76-77 team was one of my favorites. If I remember correctly, had we beaten Marquette, then the Final 4 would have been us, UNC*, UNC-C and UNLV. I liked our chances that year.
Click to expand...

And let us share some love for his 84 team that beat #5 Kansas, #1 Depaul(Bye Ray Meyer), then only lost to #2 Phi Slamma Jamma by 5 in St Louis. That Final Four would have been Wake vs. UVA, UK losing to Georgetown and we had beaten UVA by 12 in the first round of the ACC and were 2-1 against in the year. Ah, what could have been.
 
Enjoyed reading thru this thread. Tacy was the coach when I was at Wake. It was his teams that got me fired up for Wake sports - I loved football, but we were awful back then. At the time, I think all Wake students were guaranteed tickets for the games, but a number of us went way early to stand in line or camp out so we could be sure we were on the first of second row. A great time for Wake basketball and the ACC overall. We owned the Big Four tournament for a few years. Saw loads of All Americans play during that time.
Also, enjoyed the comments about Sarge. He ruled the equipment room with an iron fist......or should I say cane. And he was not afraid to use his cane on anyone, although I've also heard stories about the 'soft side' of Sarge and how he helped people out. Those were the days when all the sports teams shared some of the equipment and locker room space. My, how things have changed.
 
Looked it up, we won 4/11 Big Fours the most of any team including three in a row. No wonder Dean hated it.
 
AWSDeac said:
Kenny Green, not Danny Young, had the drug issue. I know that because Kenny's roommate, my senior year, was John Toms; and JT and I were good friends. I would go to the new athletic dorm to get JT to play tennis (we were sometimes joined by his friend from WS State, Tyrone) and then grab dinner somewhere afterwards. I often found Kenny smoking in the room. He also had a Penthouse centerfold on the wall beside his bed with a toll number below. I jokingly asked him who the girl was, and he would reply, "that's my girlfriend." I would respond, 'yeah right Kenny," and he would insist she was his girlfriend. His evidence? "I talk to her every night." I've always wondered out of what line item in the basketball program's budget Kenny's calls to his "girlfriend," came...
Click to expand...

Didn't say Danny Young had a drug issue. Said he led the rebellion.
 
Godeacsplate stated it was Danny Young, not KG. My response was to that assertion. DY was quiet and reserved, as I recall.
 
I was at Wake during Tacy's early years at Wake. It seemed very much like a blind eye was had towards players smoking pot as a vast majority of scholarship players smoked pot in that era.
 
Larry Harrison was one that stood out for various reasons.
 
I didn't actually see one of my favorite Wake wins of all time, but I will never forget it. We beat defending national champion NC State, a team that included David Thompson, in the first round of the Big Four in January of 1975. We were still home on Christmas break. I will never forget seeing that score in the paper the next day.

Thanks, coach.
 
Sad news. I was at MSD and played trumpet in the basketball pep band when Gentleman Carl was roving the sidelines and we always had very competitive teams ending in the awesome Elite 8 run. Good times!

Thanks Coach! RIP
 
BiffTannen said:
Grobe finished his 13-year career with 5 straight losing seasons, where he averaged 4.6 wins per year.
Click to expand...

Is there any question that he was the best coach in WF football history? All 3 are among the most storied WF coaches in WF sports history. It might have been time for all 3 to go, but it puts the DM saga in perspective.
 
morrison2951 said:
Sad news. I was at MSD and played trumpet in the basketball pep band when Gentleman Carl was roving the sidelines and we always had very competitive teams ending in the awesome Elite 8 run. Good times!

Thanks Coach! RIP
Click to expand...

Imagine how good that 1984 team would have been if Todd May hadn't gotten injured and was even half as good as he was supposed to be. That team may have been one of Tacy's best coaching. None of the players were really stars (except maybe for Kenny Green) but all were really good and knew their roles. Anthony Teachey is one of my all time favorite Wake players.
 
Shorty said:
I didn't actually see one of my favorite Wake wins of all time, but I will never forget it. We beat defending national champion NC State, a team that included David Thompson, in the first round of the Big Four in January of 1975. We were still home on Christmas break. I will never forget seeing that score in the paper the next day.

Thanks, coach.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top