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Carl Tacy’s Exit

DeaconBoss

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With no live baseball (MLB or Little League) to occupy my free time, I’ve had time to reminisce about growing up on campus and riding my bike to watch Coach Tacy’s practices sitting next to Jody Puckett, etc.

As I was young at the time, I don’t recall the the exact circumstances around Tacy’s departure from Wake and any alleged rift he and Gene Hooks may have had.

Any color or explanation from those that have have a better recollection than I would be appreciated.
 
He was trying to get a tenured professorship for his wife, but Hearn fucked him.
 
Biff is trolling.

Tacy resigned in 1985. At the time WF just finished 15-14 and was facing a rebuild. WF had just missed on some key recruits (Tom Hammonds being one), and WF was not offering an contract extension. He was 52 at the time, and think he just felt like it was time to get out. He never got into basketball again, but stayed in W-S, owning a handful of frozen yogurt franchises.

Here is a link to an article about Tacy's resignation with Hooks' comments as well: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t8ERAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tukDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6870,79496&dq=carl-tacy
 
Biff is trolling.

Tacy resigned in 1985. At the time WF just finished 15-14 and was facing a rebuild. WF had just missed on some key recruits (Tom Hammonds being one), and WF was not offering an contract extension. He was 52 at the time, and think he just felt like it was time to get out. He never got into basketball again, but stayed in W-S, owning a handful of frozen yogurt franchises.

Here is a link to an article about Tacy's resignation with Hooks' comments as well: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t8ERAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tukDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6870,79496&dq=carl-tacy
Thanks very much Pilchard! I remember watching Hammonds and thinking what him and Ivy could’ve done together. And yeah Biff’s comment smacked of SHAKA...I was just playing nice.

Appreciate you adding your comments. Certainly seems not dissimilar to how Ron and Odom parted company.

And I loved ICBINY near Hanes Park!
 
No no no, the tenured thing is a joke, referencing Shaka Smart "inside info".

It's been recounted several times over the years, even not too long ago when Coach Tacy died.

The "player revolt" was from several years prior, 82 ish? There was no revolt at all for 85. There were issues with Kenny Green but not with the team overall.

I'm not going to claim any Hooks/Tacy drama info. He (Tacy) had an extremely unlucky year, losing Todd May (legit ACC top team starter talent) in pre-season, losing highly regarded recruit Tom Hammonds to GT after having great optimism he's be a Deacon. The season itself starting promisingly enough and then bottomed out. All of this combined with an arms race for young, energetic coaches (Valvano, Cremins and K were all in their first 2-3 years) didn't bode well for him.
 
Another contributing factor, in addition to the recruiting disappointments, was that Kenny Green was not returning for his senior year and we just were not going to be very good. All of those issues contributed to the timing of the decision.
 
As a 90s NBA fan, I didn't realize that Tom Hammonds was such a highly rated recruit, and also didn't know how good he was at GaTech. My only memories are of him being a benchwarmer for a string of really bad teams.
 
The player revolt was in 1983. I remember going to the last regular season of the year in Reynolds Coliseum. State beat WFU 130-89, and Tacy pulled all of his starters as the blowout kept getting bigger. The starters looked liked they could have cared less they were getting beat that badly. They must have patched things up after that because they almost beat State in the opening round of the ACC Tournament 5 days later and then played well in the NIT finishing in the Final Four. I remember going to the NIT games at the Greensboro Coliseum, and the players seemed to enjoy playing again.
 
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What Pilch, 75 and Deachead said. I was at Wake when he retired. I would say a way better coach than recruiter. I was talking to a former UVA player 1 time, and when I told him I went to Wake, he said that was 1 of the schools recruiting him. He said his conversations with Tacy were a bit stilted and that Tacy never said much. Said he was more comfortable with Holland.
 
That Georgia Tech team with Tom Hammonds, Dennis Scott, and Brian Oliver was a fun team to watch. Would’ve been great to have Hammonds at WF.

This as well. Dennis Scott was the 1st player I remember who would have the ball passed to him on the wing on a fast break, and he'd back up and take the 3. Cremins was the opposite of Tacy - good personality and recruiter but not the sharpest tool in the shed. GT was probably every ACC fan's 2nd or 3rd favorite ACC team after their school.
 
The player revolt was in 1983. I remember going to the last regular season of the year in Reynolds Coliseum. State beat WFU 130-89, and Tacy pulled all of his starters as the blowout kept getting bigger. All of the starters looked liked they could have cared less they were getting beat that badly. They must have patched things up after that because they almost beat State in the opening round of the ACC Tournament 5 days later and then played well in the NIT finishing in the Final Four. I remember going to the NIT games at the Greensboro Coliseum, and the players seemed to enjoy playing again.

I was at the S. Carolina NIT game that year. One of many drives back and forth from W-S to GBoro over the years.
 
What I heard at the time was that Tacy didn't get along with the players too well. Kenny Green would not stay if Tacy was there, and Tacy would not stay unless Kenny Green stayed. Both left Wake at the same time, and the Staak years followed.

Staak may be the most snake-bit coach of all time. The guy could not catch a break. Star player got homesick and transferred. Stud recruits get season ending knee injuries (Keys, Siler). There were times after bball practice, you would see more guys on crutches than able-bodied. Lost to State in the final seconds in identical situations (2 pt lead, 3 secs left) by 3 pointer, and after intentional foul (made one, missed one, got rebound put-back ftw). The damn rebound gripped the inside of the rim and swung out at a 90 degree angle from the foul shooter, and fell into a boxed-out State player's hands (Rodney Monroe, I believe) for baseline bunny. Bob should have appeared on Hee Haw to sing "Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me," especially for the part "if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all." Yeah, Staak drank. We all would have. And did.

Best thing Staak did was recruit Chris King, who discovered some displaced swimmer while playing pick-up in the V.I. Staak was gone by then and Odom benefited.
 
Biff is trolling.

Tacy resigned in 1985. At the time WF just finished 15-14 and was facing a rebuild. WF had just missed on some key recruits (Tom Hammonds being one), and WF was not offering an contract extension. He was 52 at the time, and think he just felt like it was time to get out. He never got into basketball again, but stayed in W-S, owning a handful of frozen yogurt franchises.

Here is a link to an article about Tacy's resignation with Hooks' comments as well: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=t8ERAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tukDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6870,79496&dq=carl-tacy

If Tony Karasek had stayed, Tacy would never have walked away!
 
This as well. Dennis Scott was the 1st player I remember who would have the ball passed to him on the wing on a fast break, and he'd back up and take the 3. Cremins was the opposite of Tacy - good personality and recruiter but not the sharpest tool in the shed. GT was probably every ACC fan's 2nd or 3rd favorite ACC team after their school.

Someone pointed out to me at the time that when GT called timeout, the players huddled around an assistant coach with clipboard for the X and O instruction. Cremins would just yell at the ref for 2 mins.
 
It was commonly observed that the ideal coach would be a combination of Lefty Driesell’s recruiting and Carl Tacy’s in-game coaching. The inverse would’ve been horrifying!
 
What I heard at the time was that Tacy didn't get along with the players too well. Kenny Green would not stay if Tacy was there, and Tacy would not stay unless Kenny Green stayed. Both left Wake at the same time, and the Staak years followed.

Staak may be the most snake-bit coach of all time. The guy could not catch a break. Star player got homesick and transferred. Stud recruits get season ending knee injuries (Keys, Siler). There were times after bball practice, you would see more guys on crutches than able-bodied. Lost to State in the final seconds in identical situations (2 pt lead, 3 secs left) by 3 pointer, and after intentional foul (made one, missed one, got rebound put-back ftw). The damn rebound gripped the inside of the rim and swung out at a 90 degree angle from the foul shooter, and fell into a boxed-out State player's hands (Rodney Monroe, I believe) for baseline bunny. Bob should have appeared on Hee Haw to sing "Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me," especially for the part "if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all." Yeah, Staak drank. We all would have. And did.

Best thing Staak did was recruit Chris King, who discovered some displaced swimmer while playing pick-up in the V.I. Staak was gone by then and Odom benefited.

Everybody thought Staak would be a force of personality like V. When he was hired he said he’d have a beer with the players, few if any of whom would have been legal. Much was made of his tendency to take off his coat and throw it down. We had no idea how good we had it with Coach Tacy.

I’ll give Staak credit for one thing. He had Muggsey front Len Bias at the Maryland game in Greensboro. It worked beautifully and may have caused bias to turn to drugs.
 
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