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Carl Tacy Passes Away At 87

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Great man and an outstanding coach. His teams played harder and with more heart than any I’ve seen during my entire 45 years as a Wake fan. He will be missed by the entire Wake Forest community.

RIP, coach.
 
Rest In Peace Coach Tacy. He led the program with class, dignity and passion. Prayers for your family and loved ones.
 
Condolences to his family, friends and all the Wake Forest community. He was a great man and great coach. He excelled at getting his guys to play as a team. A great lesson in life.

RIP, Coach Tacy.
 
Few people have ever had a more appropriate nickname that Gentleman Carl Tacy. He and I talked several times during our mutual time at Wake. He was always generous with his time and access.

As a coach, he was a bit ahead of his time in playing up tempo. He was a throwback in that he could beat you with his guys, but if he switched sides he could win with your guys.

The way he was pushed out was sad. What was sadder was how Wake didn't make him more of a part of our community. His knowledge and class were a great and wasted asset.

RIP Coach.
 
We had a 4 point halftime lead against eventual national champion Marquette in the 1977 NCAA Regional Finals. Marquette coach Al McGuire switched to a triangle and two defense to stop Skip Brown and "the big white kid" Jerry Shellenberg and smoked us in the second half. Coach Tacy incorporated that defense in our schemes the next year.

RIP Coach Tacy
 
RJKarl said:
Few people have ever had a more appropriate nickname that Gentleman Carl Tacy. He and I talked several times during our mutual time at Wake. He was always generous with his time and access.

As a coach, he was a bit ahead of his time in playing up tempo. He was a throwback in that he could beat you with his guys, but if he switched sides he could win with your guys.

The way he was pushed out was sad. What was sadder was how Wake didn't make him more of a part of our community. His knowledge and class were a great and wasted asset.

RIP Coach.
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He brought back hope—and results—after a very rough period. He engineered several top ten all time wins for the program.
 
He was a true gentleman and a fine coach. Made a living out of finding hidden gems in small towns, like Jerry's Floyds Knob Indiana. I got to know him, as RJKarl did, when I was a student and tried to help recruit a young man at my high school for Wake as his mom had taught me and I had played some ball with him. The day before I was to meet up with them, Dr J, who went to a nearby high school, came to see him for UMASS and he turned him down. I called Coach and said why bother after that but he coaxed me into giving it a try. The Rutgers coach at the time had been to every game he played that year(or close to it) and he went there and came off the bench for their final four team. The article that SI did on how to beat the four corners might as well have been written by him as much as he was quoted. I had the privilege of attending the ACC Tourney game when Lee Foye hit a jumper with 2 seconds left in regulation and Phil Perry hit a lay up as the clock expired in OT to beat the Heels. He made us relevant again after a few down years. Noticed in the bio that he only coached at Marshall for a year but Gene Hooks made a good call to hire Coach Tacy. Keeping his family in prayer and hoping he rests in peace.
 
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.
 
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.
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Yep, that Butch Lee led Marquette team was tough. We had already beaten UNC-C and UNC that year. UNC twice.
 
"UNC twice. "

That fact alone makes it one of my favorite teams.
 
Carl Tacy was a treasure for Wake Forest basketball. It should have been required that every coach after him spend time picking his brain regarding how to scheme against all sorts of defenses. All in all, he may have been the best coach in Wake's history.

May God impart comfort and peace to his family.
 
RJKarl said:
Few people have ever had a more appropriate nickname that Gentleman Carl Tacy. He and I talked several times during our mutual time at Wake. He was always generous with his time and access.

As a coach, he was a bit ahead of his time in playing up tempo. He was a throwback in that he could beat you with his guys, but if he switched sides he could win with your guys.

The way he was pushed out was sad. What was sadder was how Wake didn't make him more of a part of our community. His knowledge and class were a great and wasted asset.

RIP Coach.
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How and why was he forced out? I was in school at WFU during part of his tenure (77-84) but don’t recall. We had the great run and beat DePaul in ‘84 and we won at #1 Duke with Rudd, Cline, Muggsy, Green and Garber (6’5” Garber at center). I thought he just retired. I recall a revolt by the players such as John Toms when Steve Warden was put in cold to shoot for Toms at Clemson, and Lenox Rawlings seemed to hate Tacy, but most of his tenure was filled with good times.
 
He had an off year and there was no patience. I'm not sure who did what back then, but there were a lot of rumblings.
 
The rumblings were real. There was a player rebellion led by one kid who didn't like Carl. He was a great coach, but wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy.
 
Among other big-time wins, Tacy's Deacs beat the 1982 National Champion Tarheels in Carmichael that season. UNC went 32-2 that year with a ridiculously loaded roster (Jordan, Worthy Perkins among others). The year before, WF absolutely rolled UNC (that UNC team lost in the Championship game) at Charmicheal 84-68, which may have been the worst beat-down UNC ever took in Carmichael under Dean Smith. UNC lost 3 home games over those two seasons, and 2 were to the Deacs (Sampson and UVA was the only other team to beat UNC at home, and they did it once). WF was relevant.
 
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