Sorry for a new thread, but I wanted to post some of my most thoughts and observations surrounding the sad state of our basketball program.
I have consistently supported the Deacon Club and attended almost every home basketball game for the past 43 years. Even though there have certainly been lots of ups and downs over this vast time period, I believe many of us older, or more seasoned Deacs, have consistently looked forward to each basketball season and generally enjoyed attending the games. Unfortunately that changed two years ago, and the anticipation has turned to dread, and the enjoyment has turned to misery. We do not mind fairly significant contributions to the Deacon Club, and have not minded paying quite steep prices for some prime seats in the Joel. But for the first time in decades, many of us have become frustrated and disenfranchised because we expect more from our head coach and ultimately, our administrators.
I felt like removing Gaudio was a good move for a number of reasons. But Ron Wellman took quite a gamble on not conducting a thorough search, and made a quick decision to hire his friend. A friend with no history of college success and clearly a friend with absolutely no personality or charisma. He gambled and clearly lost. I could handle making a mistake, even though we should have had a more thorough, formalized search. But what I, and many of us are having a real issue with, is Wellman's long-term strategy to defend and promote a coach who is clearly a horrible fit for our program. Many of you will remember the many, nauseating, cheerleading sessions Wellman conducted on the post-game radio shows after the first season of futility. He clearly got the word indicating that strategy did not work, and more recently he has chosen to provide written support with patronizing statements such as he could not be happier with the direction of our program, [Redacted] is doing everything right, he is confident we are on the right track, etc., etc. I have been shocked that Ron Wellman, who prior to the [Redacted] fiasco had a good reputation and wonderful legacy at Wake Forest, has chosen to risk all of that in order to blindly support a friend who has made a farce in two years of our basketball program. I would have thought Wellman, by now, would have taken ESPN's advice and admitted a mistake and moved on. But he has now backed himself into an ugly corner and is apparently determined to blindly support his friend until the bitter end. I initially understood his public support, but it now insults and frustrates many of us.
I have been a part of ownership and management of my company for 27+ years. I have often thought that if I hired a divisional manager, and after two years, and losing the company tremendous amounts of money, running off good employees, having no clue how to effectively motivate or communicate, how in the world could I repeatedly tell my employees what a great decision I had made to hire this person.
Initially Wellman said he fired Gaudio and hired [Redacted] because of Gaudio's Feburary/March performance. This was clearly not the case. Then came the culture change justification, which has been a bit of a joke. The main culture change I have seen in two years is a lot less fans and one-time prime time games at home with the likes of Carolina and Dune now being played on Tuesday nights, at 9:00 on ESPNU. Now it as all about the great success with the incoming recruiting class. It is my understanding that this recruiting class is primarily due to the efforts of Coaches Battle and LaRue. If you recall, [Redacted] had a good chance to close the deal with a local McDonald's All American and starting point guard for Oak Hill, but one of [Redacted]'s first acts as head coach was to back off the verbal to Tyler Lewis, and by the time he re-issued the offer, Tyler was miffed and signed with NCSU. We will see how that works out vs McIntyre.
This recent surge of transfers is most troubling. These three transfers are supposedly some of the good guys that were part of the [Redacted] "culture". In my opinion, the primary reason for the transfers is disillusionment with their head coach. Two of the transfers had significant minutes this past year and were in line for significant minutes next year. Once Chenault announced his decision, Fields would have been the back-up next year. Fields was one of [Redacted]’s first three recruits and after one year, he decided to move on. There are clearly serious issues at the core of our program, and merely passing this off as wanting to be closer to home and wanting more playing time is just another insulting act of patronization. The apparent consideration to transfer by Travis McKie is yet another indication of extreme issues between the coach and his players.
We desperately need a head coach that can rally the students, the fans, and the players. Jeff [Redacted] has not done that, and never will. Our program has become a joke and laughingstock in the world of college basketball. I cannot remember any program taking such a nosedive, void of NCAA violations, etc. Both insiders and outsiders are incredulous as to how we are allowing this debacle to continue. More time for [Redacted] is not the answer. Allowing the hole to be dug deeper and deeper makes no sense, and it is past time we get someone to be our head coach who can begin digging out of this hideous hole and restoring or program to a level of respectability.
I have consistently supported the Deacon Club and attended almost every home basketball game for the past 43 years. Even though there have certainly been lots of ups and downs over this vast time period, I believe many of us older, or more seasoned Deacs, have consistently looked forward to each basketball season and generally enjoyed attending the games. Unfortunately that changed two years ago, and the anticipation has turned to dread, and the enjoyment has turned to misery. We do not mind fairly significant contributions to the Deacon Club, and have not minded paying quite steep prices for some prime seats in the Joel. But for the first time in decades, many of us have become frustrated and disenfranchised because we expect more from our head coach and ultimately, our administrators.
I felt like removing Gaudio was a good move for a number of reasons. But Ron Wellman took quite a gamble on not conducting a thorough search, and made a quick decision to hire his friend. A friend with no history of college success and clearly a friend with absolutely no personality or charisma. He gambled and clearly lost. I could handle making a mistake, even though we should have had a more thorough, formalized search. But what I, and many of us are having a real issue with, is Wellman's long-term strategy to defend and promote a coach who is clearly a horrible fit for our program. Many of you will remember the many, nauseating, cheerleading sessions Wellman conducted on the post-game radio shows after the first season of futility. He clearly got the word indicating that strategy did not work, and more recently he has chosen to provide written support with patronizing statements such as he could not be happier with the direction of our program, [Redacted] is doing everything right, he is confident we are on the right track, etc., etc. I have been shocked that Ron Wellman, who prior to the [Redacted] fiasco had a good reputation and wonderful legacy at Wake Forest, has chosen to risk all of that in order to blindly support a friend who has made a farce in two years of our basketball program. I would have thought Wellman, by now, would have taken ESPN's advice and admitted a mistake and moved on. But he has now backed himself into an ugly corner and is apparently determined to blindly support his friend until the bitter end. I initially understood his public support, but it now insults and frustrates many of us.
I have been a part of ownership and management of my company for 27+ years. I have often thought that if I hired a divisional manager, and after two years, and losing the company tremendous amounts of money, running off good employees, having no clue how to effectively motivate or communicate, how in the world could I repeatedly tell my employees what a great decision I had made to hire this person.
Initially Wellman said he fired Gaudio and hired [Redacted] because of Gaudio's Feburary/March performance. This was clearly not the case. Then came the culture change justification, which has been a bit of a joke. The main culture change I have seen in two years is a lot less fans and one-time prime time games at home with the likes of Carolina and Dune now being played on Tuesday nights, at 9:00 on ESPNU. Now it as all about the great success with the incoming recruiting class. It is my understanding that this recruiting class is primarily due to the efforts of Coaches Battle and LaRue. If you recall, [Redacted] had a good chance to close the deal with a local McDonald's All American and starting point guard for Oak Hill, but one of [Redacted]'s first acts as head coach was to back off the verbal to Tyler Lewis, and by the time he re-issued the offer, Tyler was miffed and signed with NCSU. We will see how that works out vs McIntyre.
This recent surge of transfers is most troubling. These three transfers are supposedly some of the good guys that were part of the [Redacted] "culture". In my opinion, the primary reason for the transfers is disillusionment with their head coach. Two of the transfers had significant minutes this past year and were in line for significant minutes next year. Once Chenault announced his decision, Fields would have been the back-up next year. Fields was one of [Redacted]’s first three recruits and after one year, he decided to move on. There are clearly serious issues at the core of our program, and merely passing this off as wanting to be closer to home and wanting more playing time is just another insulting act of patronization. The apparent consideration to transfer by Travis McKie is yet another indication of extreme issues between the coach and his players.
We desperately need a head coach that can rally the students, the fans, and the players. Jeff [Redacted] has not done that, and never will. Our program has become a joke and laughingstock in the world of college basketball. I cannot remember any program taking such a nosedive, void of NCAA violations, etc. Both insiders and outsiders are incredulous as to how we are allowing this debacle to continue. More time for [Redacted] is not the answer. Allowing the hole to be dug deeper and deeper makes no sense, and it is past time we get someone to be our head coach who can begin digging out of this hideous hole and restoring or program to a level of respectability.
