• 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’s Exit

WFU1977 said:
Gene Hooks was an idiot.
Click to expand...

Hooks was an awesome AD. He did all he could at Wake with absolutely no money. James Ralph Scales gave him nothing for the athletic department and back then there was nothing coming from any TV contracts and such like there is today. We literally were on a shoestring budget. My college roommate was our leading hitter & ACC leading hitter on the 1977 ACC champ baseball team and when they won the title they were wondering where the money was going to come from to actually go to the Regionals. If they had beaten South Carolina down in Columbia to win the title, who knows how they would have paid to go to Omaha back in those days?

Also, thank goodness for Thomas Hearn as our new school President who came in after Scales retired in 1983, because on our 3rd attempt, Hearn helped lead the charge to get us a new basketball arena. We put in $5 mill of the $25 mill it took to build it. Got concessions from the city and WSSU and got the great building built. Otherwise we might still be in the Quonset Hut in front of 8000 people sitting on top of an ice rink. Hearn wanted an overall well-rounded school and all Scales cared about was the fine arts. Hearn & Gene Hooks teams up to get us started on spending some money in athletics! Plus Gene hired as his first couple of asst AD's great folks like Jon Lecrone who moved on to be an Assoc Comm of the ACC & has been Commish of the Horizons League for years and also one Ben Sutton, who came in right out of Wake Law School and started helping Dr Hooks negotiate TV contracts when that stuff was just getting started.
 
If Hooks needed help with contracts from a rookie lawyer, he was in fact an idiot.
 
chill43 said:
Zinger was lead recruiter for Hammonds, and was about to commit to Wake. His Dad was in the military and Hammonds decided he wanted to wait until his Dad returned from overseas. During that time he started to waiver and Zimger went to Tacy and begged him to get involved. Tracy didn't, and when Hammonds committed to Ga Tech Tacy lost it with Zinger. That is when he got fired.
Click to expand...

yep, but Mark prefers "Dinger" as in Freidinger. Coach Pop or Betty may call him Zinger for their own different reasons.
 
WFU1977 said:
If Hooks needed help with contracts from a rookie lawyer, he was in fact an idiot.
Click to expand...

Hooks has an undergrad degree from Wake and a doctorate in Ed and Phys Ed from George Peabody College. Why is it surprising that someone with that background, while perfectly suited to be an AD, would need need to consult with an attorney, rookie or otherwise, to negotiate TV contracts?

Do you think there is a college AD anywhere on the college landscape who negotiates TV deals without the help of council?
 
In addition to Hammonds, Wake had a very good shot at Robert Brickey but lost out to Duke. Those 2 guys would have been a nice combo to rebuild around, assuming Tacy still had the desire/energy to do so.
 
Shorty said:
Hooks has an undergrad degree from Wake and a doctorate in Ed and Phys Ed from George Peabody College. Why is it surprising that someone with that background, while perfectly suited to be an AD, would need need to consult with an attorney, rookie or otherwise, to negotiate TV contracts?

Do you think there is a college AD anywhere on the college landscape who negotiates TV deals without the help of council?

Shorty, Shorty, one doesn’t have to dislike or disrespect Hooks to be able to acknowledge his shortcomings. Sometimes maybe you protesteth too much when it comes to Hooks? The moron reference was uncalled for, particularly for a fellow Deac.
Click to expand...
 
Shorty said:
Hooks has an undergrad degree from Wake and a doctorate in Ed and Phys Ed from George Peabody College. Why is it surprising that someone with that background, while perfectly suited to be an AD, would need need to consult with an attorney, rookie or otherwise, to negotiate TV contracts?

Do you think there is a college AD anywhere on the college landscape who negotiates TV deals without the help of council?
Click to expand...

Of course not. But I would pick an attorney that actually had some experience. I suffered through the mid 70's of football at Wake. Hooks was an idiot.
 
DownEastDeac said:
In addition to Hammonds, Wake had a very good shot at Robert Brickey but lost out to Duke. Those 2 guys would have been a nice combo to rebuild around, assuming Tacy still had the desire/energy to do so.
Click to expand...

Another stud we were close but no cigar. The nature of recruiting. Drove Dinger to Fayette Nam one night after practice to recruit Brickey so he could sleep on the way down and back. Those assts burned some midnight oil.
 
DownEastDeac said:
In addition to Hammonds, Wake had a very good shot at Robert Brickey but lost out to Duke. Those 2 guys would have been a nice combo to rebuild around, assuming Tacy still had the desire/energy to do so.
Click to expand...

Tacy was 53 when he retired. Younger than Forbes and [Redacted] were when they were hired, 3 years older than Prosser and Gaudio were when they were hired, and 5 years older than Odom and Manning were when they were hired.
 
Shorty said:
Hooks has an undergrad degree from Wake and a doctorate in Ed and Phys Ed from George Peabody College. Why is it surprising that someone with that background, while perfectly suited to be an AD, would need need to consult with an attorney, rookie or otherwise, to negotiate TV contracts?

Do you think there is a college AD anywhere on the college landscape who negotiates TV deals without the help of council?
Click to expand...

[insert Wellman joke here]

I will second the sentiments about Hearn. I loved Hearn and believe he is the person most responsible for Wake's elevated profile over the last 30+ years. He was also a great guy personally. I have never met Hatch but from all accounts he seems the opposite of Hearn personality-wise.
 
It could be possible that there was more than just a recent law grad looking at contracts for the AD.
 
WFU1977 said:
If Hooks needed help with contracts from a rookie lawyer, he was in fact an idiot.
Click to expand...

There really wasn't a lot to negotiate from an individual school standpoint. The ACC had its own network beginning in 1957.

Castleman DeTolley ``C.D.' Chesley put together the first ACC basketball broadcasts and established a network of stations that showed the games. That arrangement, for two ACC "games of the week" lasted until 1981. Pretty sure the league office in Greensboro managed that contract. Wake only needed to review to make sure they got their fair share of revenue and television appearances. Based on that, it is unlikely that Wake Forest, alone, was involved in high level, difficult technical negotiations with a TV network. So it seems pretty reasonable that a young lawyer could handle the review. "Wake getting the same cut as everybody else?"


 
1976Deac said:
Sail With The Pilot, All The Way.
Click to expand...

And the ACC did, for 24 years.

C.D.Chesley ->Raycom/Jefferson Pilot

Made ACC basketball a "must watch" event twice a week all over the southeast.
 
In addition to everything else, Tacy had some of the worst facilities in the ACC. The "Quonset Hut" for a home court. Not attractive on the outside, not much better on the inside.

Practice in Reynolds gym, shared with lots of other activities and PE classes.
 
BiffTannen said:
It could be possible that there was more than just a recent law grad looking at contracts for the AD.
Click to expand...

Ben Sutton has lost spent more money on one trip to Pebble Beach than I will ever make, but he was not a legal scholar. He joined to athletic dept. because he never passed the bar. No way he was involved in any business decisions early on in his time in the athletic dept. Of course, failing the bar turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Ben found his niche in college athletics and sports marketing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top