In what sense? Yeah the basketball situation is horrendous but football has done well, programs like soccer and tennis are elite and facilities are incredible. Wake Will campaign seems to be progressing as expected. Many of us feel very satisfied with our education and have gone on to successful and fulfilling careers. When I meet people and they ask where I went to school they usually respond with “wow that’s a great school”. The reality is that the animosity toward Hatch and the rest of the admin is completely unnoticed on a national level and has zero impact to the university’s reputation.
You make some good points, but if you don't think this reeks of incompetence and that smell will be assumed to infect the part of the University that does not make headlines, you are mistaken.
People do not know how well the sociology department is run but they do see that the athletic department is a visible disaster with no accountability. Absent evidence to the contrary, the assumption will be that this is how Wake University runs.