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As the New Basketball Season Begins....

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Deke 73

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a long-time supporter of our program has had November anticipation of fun and excitement, increasingly replaced by feelings of frustration and disillusionment. For 40 plus years, I had always looked forward to the beginning of basketball season and the non-conference games slowly giving way to an exciting ACC season. Starting three years ago, all that changed. Without a doubt, over the past four decades we have certainly seen our share of ups and downs. But in previous downs, I had the belief that our administration was constantly evaluating the program and would make changes when clearly deemed necessary. We are in the midst of an unprecedented situation where our athletic director made a unilateral decision to hire his friend to be our head coach with no coaching search and no other due diligence one could reasonably expect when hiring someone to be the head Wake Forest basketball coach. Early on, we were told Gaudio was dismissed due to his post-season ineffectiveness. That was clearly not true, and that began a litany of distortions intended to mask the horrible decision to hire Jeff [Redacted]. We are entering the third year of [Redacted] and the lack of support for our program, both in attendance and donations, is mind-boggling. Thousands of alumnae like me have become increasingly disenfranchised and student support is almost non-existent. [Redacted] is a horrible fit as a head coach at Wake Forest, as he would be at about any college. He has no personality, whatsoever, and is a joke at public speaking events. He is as bad as anyone I have ever heard with the media, and he is a complete dud at fundraising, etc. I do not think the players can relate to him and he has no clue how to motivate. I cannot imagine him effectively recruiting any highly recruited player. We are very fortunate to have Jeff Battle, Rusty, Larue, Randolph Childress, and others on our staff who can recruit and can connect with recruits. But the problem is at the top, and in my opinion, until a change at the head coach level takes place we will continue to be mired in a miserable place as a conference doormat and a mere shell of what we used to be. I believe Ron Wellman is holding on, hoping that he will be able to eventually say we are improving, and that he told us so. Personally going from 12 to 10th in the conference or rising slightly above the 200 level in the Kenpom ratings, etc., is not what we need nor should be satisfied with. We need a head coach who can rally the students, the alumnae, and other supporters. We need someone who can bring enthusiasm and credibility to the head coaching position. Jeff [Redacted] is not the guy - never was, and never will be. The many levels of futility we have endured these past two years and will endure this year, are beyond belief. Struggling to beat Rollins in year three is totally unacceptable. It is hard to be patient, especially when you hit your 60's, but those of you in your 20's, 30's, 40's etc., should not be satisfied or patient either. The handwriting is clearly on the wall. We all deserve better, and we must have an athletic director and ultimately a President and Board of Trustees who recognize the damage that has been done and continues to be done, and will be pro-active in getting this program moving back to respectability.
 
I actually read this post and decided to assist with slight editing and certainly the ENTER key..... The post is actually quite good.

I am a long-time supporter of our program who has had November anticipation of fun and excitement, increasingly replaced
by feelings of frustration and disillusionment. For 40 plus years, I had always looked forward to the beginning of basketball
season and the non-conference games slowly giving way to an exciting ACC season.

Starting three years ago, all that changed. Without a doubt, over the past four decades we have certainly seen
our share of ups and downs. But in previous downs, I had the belief that our administration was constantly evaluating the
program and would make changes when clearly deemed necessary.

We are in the midst of an unprecedented situation where our athletic director made a unilateral decision to hire his friend
to be our head coach with no coaching search and no other due diligence one could reasonably expect when hiring someone
to be the head Wake Forest basketball coach. Early on, we were told Gaudio was
dismissed due to his post-season ineffectiveness. That was clearly not true, and that began a litany of distortions intended
to mask the horrible decision to hire Jeff [Redacted].

We are entering the third year of [Redacted] and the lack of support for our program, both in attendance and donations, is
mind-boggling. Thousands of alumnae like me have become increasingly disenfranchised and student support is almost non-existent.
[Redacted] is a horrible fit as a head coach at Wake Forest, as he would be at about any college. He has no personality, whatsoever,
and is a joke at public speaking events. He is as bad as anyone I have ever heard with the media, and
he is a complete dud at fundraising, etc. I do not think the players can relate to him and he has no clue how to motivate.

I cannot imagine him effectively recruiting any highly recruited player. We are very fortunate to have Jeff Battle, Rusty, Larue,
Randolph Childress, and others on our staff who can recruit and can connect with recruits. But the problem is at the top, and in
my opinion, until a change at the head coach level takes place we will continue to be mired in a miserable place as a conference
doormat and a mere shell of what we used to be. I believe Ron Wellman is holding on, hoping that he will be able to
eventually say we are improving, and that he told us so. Personally going from 12 to 10th in the conference or rising slightly above
the 200 level in the Kenpom ratings, etc., is not what we need nor should be satisfied with. We need a head coach who can rally
the students, the alumnae, and other supporters.

We need someone who can bring enthusiasm and credibility to the head coaching position. Jeff [Redacted] is not the guy - never was,
and never will be. The many levels of futility we have endured these past two years and will endure this year, are beyond belief.
Struggling to beat Rollins in year three is totally unacceptable. It is hard to be patient, especially when you hit your 60's, but those
of you in your 20's, 30's, 40's etc., should not be satisfied or patient either.

The handwriting is clearly on the wall. We all deserve better, and we must have an athletic director and ultimately a President
and Board of Trustees who recognize the damage that has been done and continues to be done, and will be pro-active in getting
this program moving back to respectability.
 
Last edited:
201103_122_Berlin_art.jpg


Ronald-Reagan-Berlin-Wall.jpg
 
Cliffnotes? I can't be bothered to read all of that. I'll just wait until it becomes a mediocre movie instead.
 
deacvision7 said:
Cliffnotes? I can't be bothered to read all of that. I'll just wait until it becomes a mediocre movie instead.
Click to expand...

[Redacted] sucks
Need a new coach
Need enthusiasm in the program
Handwriting is on the wall

Hire a new coach

P.S. Wellman is on thin ice as well.
 
coredeac said:
[Redacted] sucks
Need a new coach
Need enthusiasm in the program
Handwriting is on the wall

Hire a new coach

P.S. Wellman is on thin ice as well.
Click to expand...

If all of that happens, then I change my review of the movie from "mediocre" to "wet dream good"
 
well this is all news to me. We fired Gaudino??? But his daughter goes to Wake. At least we have a nice recruiting class coming in (JTT, Chennault, Desrosiers, Fields) and the cupboard is hardly bare (Stewart, Woods, Walker). At least if this Bzz guy is as bad as you say, he won't be here that long. I mean it's not like we'll be one of the worst in ACC history (LOL can you imagine?)
 
Unpredeactable said:
well this is all news to me. We fired Gaudino??? But his daughter goes to Wake. At least we have a nice recruiting class coming in (JTT, Chennault, Desrosiers, Fields) and the cupboard is hardly bare (Stewart, Woods, Walker). At least if this Bzz guy is as bad as you say, he won't be here that long. I mean it's not like we'll be one of the worst in ACC history (LOL can you imagine?)
Click to expand...

Compare that recruiting class with the current recruiting class...
 
JTT, Carson, Tabb, McKie, Desrosiers and Chennault were way more highly regarded than the current class. Obviously it would be tough for the current class to produce less than those did in Wake jerseys. [Redacted] is up for that challenge I am sure though, he finds new lows every year.
 
TheIshThatSaved WakeForest said:
JTT, Carson, Tabb, McKie, Desrosiers and Chennault were way more highly regarded than the current class. Obviously it would be tough for the current class to produce less than those did in Wake jerseys. [Redacted] is up for that challenge I am sure though, he finds new lows every year.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, I do recall that; but honestly TC was not comparable to CMM or even Jones at the PG position. Tabb did not have the game that Thomas has, not to mention Moto. McKie was the real deal. JTT lacked the skill set that CMM possesses. The fact that that class was ranked higher says much more about the ranking system than the respective classes.
 
mebanedeac said:
Now that you mention it, I do recall that; but honestly TC was not comparable to CMM or even Jones at the PG position. Tabb did not have the game that Thomas has, not to mention Moto. McKie was the real deal. JTT lacked the skill set that CMM possesses. The fact that that class was ranked higher says much more about the ranking system than the respective classes.
Click to expand...

Revisionist history. All of those players were great in high school, just like the current recruits, except that class had higher rated recruits with the exception at point guard.
 
I agree with this post but it was not the right move to keep Gaudio. [Redacted] was an awful hire but Wellman was right in firing Gaudio. I don't care what his overall percentage record was, he had a stacked team and still couldn't win in the tournament, both tournaments for that matter. And he had some awful non conference losses.

I say another 14 win season or less he is gone but who knows with Wellman. He has done a pretty pathetic job as of late.
 
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