A little trip down memory lane courtesy of NC State...

[DCDeac]

Since when was firing Dino after his first season even a possibility? I honestly think you are revising history by continuing to bring that up as if it almost happened. Dino was not going to get fired coming off a 17 win season with the ATT class coming in. I had a front row seat from that entire season, along with other insights into the program and I have no idea where you're coming up with this.

Skip's passing was incredibly sad. It also wasn't that different than when a head coach gets sick, has family issues and has to leave suddenly, or gets caught cheating or there's a scandal and he leaves the program.

It's very common to have an assistant fill in for a year or half a year while the search for a true replacement is made. You really think that wasn't even considered? You think Dino's performance in his first year left everyone convinced he could really be the long term head of our program? Because the boards sure as hell didn't believe that. Even the extreme pro-Dino folks mostly focused on how much talent we had, assuming it wouldn't take a Prosser or a Stevens or a Shaka to win with them.

 

[ProbationDeac]

Let me put it another way and see if you agree. Let's say that Wellman was pretty much cornered into letting Dino take over after Skip's tragic passing. I think this is fair, because we were reeling as a school and a fanbase as was the team, and replacing the whole staff would have been brutal.

Now let's say Wellman watched our team and Dino that year and decided, as many of us did on the boards, that while we liked Dino he simply wasn't going to be the head of the Wake Forest basketball program.

Do you think there is any way on this earth that Jeff [Redacted] or anyone of his stature would have been chosen as Wake's next head coach when we had Teague, Johnson, and Ish returning with Aminu in the wings? I think the answer is obviously no. And I think that Dino's firing after year 3 when he actually won an NCAA game is proof that Wellman didn't believe he was our guy, and probably suspected it from year 1 despite being extremely supportive publicly (which is his job).

Nothing excuses the [Redacted] hire. But you set yourself up as an AD for a failed hire when you hire at a low point versus hiring when you return a strong team. My point is that I think Wellman suspected Dino wasn't the guy after year 1, I think we were in good shape then for an awesome hire at that point, and I think he balked. Then he pulled the trigger in year 3, gave a suspect explanation for why that pissed off the fans, talked himself into [Redacted] as a rebuilder who'd do things "the right way" and had NBA ties, and the rest is history.

I think you're reaching a little bit still. Dino's last year wasn't a great one but we were still an NCAA team that year (not a great one but still made the dance) and had a solid class coming in. Point being, I think we were still a very appealing job when Wellman fird Dino and hired Bz. I don't think Wellman hired Bz out of desperation. He may not have been his first choice (Brad Stevens) but I think Wellman wanted the guy.

 

[myDeaconmyhand]

Skip's passing was incredibly sad. It also wasn't that different than when a head coach gets sick, has family issues and has to leave suddenly, or gets caught cheating or there's a scandal and he leaves the program.

It's very common to have an assistant fill in for a year or half a year while the search for a true replacement is made. You really think that wasn't even considered? You think Dino's performance in his first year left everyone convinced he could really be the long term head of our program? Because the boards sure as hell didn't believe that. Even the extreme pro-Dino folks mostly focused on how much talent we had, assuming it wouldn't take a Prosser or a Stevens or a Shaka to win with them.

You just brought up the fact that Dino was hired to keep the Teague and Johnson class, and that [Redacted] was hired to keep Dino's last class, how in hell would we have fired Dino and let the ATT class walk? I wasn't posting on the boards then, but the faction of you all that actively wanted Dino fired after that first season are crazy. Dino wasn't an interim coach, as much as you want to go back in time and make him one.

 

[vtwhat etc]

Oct. 22, 2007
Preseason ACC Poll
1. North Carolina (64), 768
2. Duke, 653
3. NC State, 641
4. Clemson, 514
5. Virginia, 492
6. Maryland, 447
7. Georgia Tech, 389
8. Boston College, 332
9. Florida State, 284
10. Virginia Tech, 162
11. Wake Forest, 157
12. Miami, 153

As MDMH said, firing Dino after finishing 17-13 (7-9) considering this was the expectation/projection for his 1st season (not to mention the fact we had ATT coming in).... makes DC's posts ("Wellman's biggest mistake was retaining Dino after the 07/08 season") seem even more insane...

 

[OldGoldandGrobe]

Prosser was a great guy, but why does his untimely passing make everyone forget that his last two teams were really bad. He was one bad year from being fired.

Gaudio began bringing the team back from the abyss in 2007, improved in 08, and made his best tournament showing in 09. I still don't understand why people hated him so much. We were fools for running him off.

We truly have the worst fans in America.

 

[myDeaconmyhand]

DC's thinking is evidently just too deep for some people to follow....but he is dead-on in his analysis, whether some of you understand it or not.

Rock

Prosser was a great guy, but why does his untimely passing make everyone forget that his last two teams were really bad. He was one bad year from being fired.

Gaudio began bringing the team back from the abyss in 2007, improved in 08, and made his best tournament showing in 09. I still don't understand why people hated him so much. We were fools for running him off.

We truly have the worst fans in America.

meet hard place. I got nowhere to go.

 

[TBR]

Skip's last two seasons weren't even remotely close to as bad as [Redacted]'s first two.

 

[OldGoldandGrobe]

Skip's last two seasons weren't even remotely close to as bad as [Redacted]'s first two.

Bzz sucks. We should never have hired him.

By now, Dino would've had this program rolling, but a bunch of collar poppin' brats acted like the world was ending, because we lost in the second round of the NCAA tourney and the rest is history.

Wellman will never fire his little man.

 

[bmoneydeac]

there was a very small group (led by PH) that said, go ahead and slap the interim label on dino, results be damned. once he was made full time coach and completed his first season, there was literally no one on the boards that thought we should fire him at that point. in fact, when he beat duke and we were somehow on the bubble, people talked about how great his coaching was that game, especially on the defensive side. yes, the end of the year sucked, but dino greatly outperformed expectations that season.

 

[EatLeadCommie]

The funny thing is that Wellman had done everything right, up to the point that he hired Bzz. Dino needed to go, and he made the right call. He just totally fucked up every single thing that he did after that.

Yep. I thought there was no way we could downgrade, but we managed to somehow do that. I guess the phrase "Be careful what you wish for" has stuck around for a reason.

 

[ChrisL68]

Yep, you knew it was coming.

 

[RacerDeac]

Yep, you knew it was coming.

Only thing missing was the throwing of an e-chair onto the thread.

 

[ChrisL68]

The truth is the truth. You may not like it...but it's still the truth.

(Noticed that you didn't even make an attempt to refute anything I said....and I don't blame you for that, because everything I said is irrefutable.)

I have refuted it many times, like your mistaken belief that we were recruiting more scholarly athletes when Carl Tacy was here.

 

[myDeaconmyhand]

The truth is the truth. You may not like it...but it's still the truth.

(Noticed that you didn't even make an attempt to refute anything I said....and I don't blame you for that, because everything I said is irrefutable.)

barf. You are so full of shit.

 

[DCDeac]

there was a very small group (led by PH) that said, go ahead and slap the interim label on dino, results be damned. once he was made full time coach and completed his first season, there was literally no one on the boards that thought we should fire him at that point. in fact, when he beat duke and we were somehow on the bubble, people talked about how great his coaching was that game, especially on the defensive side. yes, the end of the year sucked, but dino greatly outperformed expectations that season.

1) It wasn't a very small group. There was a small group who were adamantly in favor of the interim tag, and a much larger group that doubted very seriously whether Dino was head coach material for a school like Wake.

2) "Literally no one" is nonsense. People questioned Dino's coaching all 3 years he was here, from the first day he walked on the court dressed in that 9 piece suit to the day he was fired.

3) If Wellman was convinced at any point that Dino had the chops to be our long term coach, I really doubt he fires him after year 3 and an NCAA win. He obviously had doubts all along. "Somehow on the bubble" is a crazy comment - we overachieved because Teague and Johnson were sick. They dropped 50 on that Duke team. Dino deserves all the credit in the world for recruiting those guys. But he coached them to zero postseason wins. Recruiting is only a part of the whole package.

I think Wellman learned the hard way that good recruiting doesn't necessarily make a good coach. Then he went the opposite direction with [Redacted], which is equally dangerous. Hopefully next time we get a coach who can win recruiting battles for top talent but also develop a team, both on and off the floor.

 

[bmoneydeac]

1) It wasn't a very small group. There was a small group who were adamantly in favor of the interim tag, and a much larger group that doubted very seriously whether Dino was head coach material for a school like Wake.

agree, small group that was outspoken in saying do interim tag. many folks (including me) had our doubts but supported the decision because we thought the hire was the right call for the state of the program. in hindsight, that was probably overly emotional but that's not a surprise when your coach dies. not sure that you are disagreeing with me here.
2) "Literally no one" is nonsense. People questioned Dino's coaching all 3 years he was here, from the first day he walked on the court dressed in that 9 piece suit to the day he was fired.

questioning coaching =/= wanting him fired. i can't remember a single person advocating to fire him at the point where you said it was a colossal mistake by RW to not fire him.

3) If Wellman was convinced at any point that Dino had the chops to be our long term coach, I really doubt he fires him after year 3 and an NCAA win. He obviously had doubts all along. "Somehow on the bubble" is a crazy comment - we overachieved because Teague and Johnson were sick. They dropped 50 on that Duke team. Dino deserves all the credit in the world for recruiting those guys. But he coached them to zero postseason wins. Recruiting is only a part of the whole package.

somehow on the bubble given the fact we were picked 11th. when teams are picked barely ahead of the DFL team in their conference, if they are on the bubble 80% through the season, that's viewed as a major accomplishment. hence the somehow comment. i don't know if RW ever had full faith in dino and never said as much. i just think your revising history by making it sound like it was even a possibility that dino should have been fired after the first year.
I think Wellman learned the hard way that good recruiting doesn't necessarily make a good coach. Then he went the opposite direction with [Redacted], which is equally dangerous. Hopefully next time we get a coach who can win recruiting battles for top talent but also develop a team, both on and off the floor.

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