• 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!

Bob Staak vs. Jeff Bzdelick

RangersboysWFBB

RangersboysWFBB

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
672
Reaction score
140
I have no Agenda with this thread. I created it out of pure curiosity.

A lot of posters compare BZ's tenure to the Staak years. I was not around during the Staak years and really know nothing about his tenure except that he lost a lot of games and never had a winning season just like BZ. I guess what I am asking for is context. How do the tenures compare?

I know the ACC was a lot more competitive during his years. So specifically:

1. Was he routinely blown out in ACC games?
2. What was his personality like? Was he socially awkward and standoffish or was he engaging?
3. What was our OOC like? Did we play competitive teams? Did he ever have any OOC waterloo's like Bz's Stetson or Presbo?
4. What was recruiting like?
5. What was attendance like?
6. How was Odom able to turn things around so fast, record wise?
 
#2: He was a pretty engaging dude. It has been joked here that Village Tavern wept when he was fired. And he was doing a cheerleader at one point; think Bz could come close to pulling that off?

Attendance sucked but not fair to compare since we played our "big" games in GSO and the others in a then dumpy Memorial Coliseum.

I felt like we competed; the Staak era sucked but the Bz era is much worse in my opinion.
 
Last edited:
qcdeac said:
#2: He was a pretty engaging dude. It has been joked here that Village Tavern wept when he was fired. And he was doing a cheerleader at one point; think Bz could come close to pulling that off?

Attendance sucked but not fair to compare since we played our "big" games in GSO and the others in a then dumpy Memorial Coliseum.

I felt like we competed; the Staak era sucked but the Bz era is much worse in my opinion.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. And overall, the ACC was so much stronger during the Staak era. Duke was starting its greatness under K, UNC was UNC, NCSU was strong under V, GT was always tough, Clemson was in it's Cliff Ellis glory years, UVa was not bad. Only the Bob Wade era at Maryland was subpar.

Imagine Buzz trying to coach in that time. The ACC is so much weaker now.
 
I hear this Bzdelick dude is the GOAT. Don't know why you're comparing him to Staak.
 
In Staak year 3 we lost to Sienna, Furman and Coastal Carolina.
 
Bob Staak was the boss. I don't think he cared that much about coaching. But the man loved the perks. And he gave us Muggsy, which made the whole thing bearable. It was exactly like being a Lions fan. At least I had Barry Sanders to get me through Sundays. Bzz is giving me nothing to love. Nothing.
 
Bob Wade and Bz are the better comparison.
 
RangersboysWFBB said:
I have no Agenda with this thread. I created it out of pure curiosity.

A lot of posters compare BZ's tenure to the Staak years. I was not around during the Staak years and really know nothing about his tenure except that he lost a lot of games and never had a winning season just like BZ. I guess what I am asking for is context. How do the tenures compare?

I know the ACC was a lot more competitive during his years. So specifically:

1. Was he routinely blown out in ACC games?
2. What was his personality like? Was he socially awkward and standoffish or was he engaging?
3. What was our OOC like? Did we play competitive teams? Did he ever have any OOC waterloo's like Bz's Stetson or Presbo?
4. What was recruiting like?
5. What was attendance like?
6. How was Odom able to turn things around so fast, record wise?
Click to expand...


You know we've got a winner as a coach when these are the metrics we're judging him on right now.

BTW - this is a great question. As an '05 grad, I've been curious about this myself.
 
Muggsy was Tacy. He was a frosh on the 84 final 8 team.

Staak came at a time when the cupboard was truly bare. Tacy had left a few ACC quality players and that was it.
 
DirkTheDeac said:
Bob Staak was the boss. I don't think he cared that much about coaching. But the man loved the perks. And he gave us Muggsy, which made the whole thing bearable. It was exactly like being a Lions fan. At least I had Barry Sanders to get me through Sundays. Bzz is giving me nothing to love. Nothing.
Click to expand...

Muggsy was recruited by and played his first two seasons for Gentleman Carl Tacy.
 
Staak beat UNCW when they had future Hornet Brian Rowson {sp?}. But lost to Stetson when the had ?????????
 
I worked with a young lady who said she was at a bar, small place off Healey Drive IIRC, and Staak spent much time bumming cigs off of her. Thing about it was, she smoked those skinny girly cigs called Eve, for the ladies. He smoked them anyway.
 
1. Was he routinely blown out in ACC games?
Click to expand...

Yes. As mentioned above it was a different ACC and the competition usually had multiple future NBA players. You can find specifics here http://sportsstats.com/bball/game.results/WFU by looking at results from 86-89.

2. What was his personality like? Was he socially awkward and standoffish or was he engaging?
Click to expand...

Many times a coach is hired to NOT be like his predecessor and Staak's personality was part of what was sold to us, that he would bring energy and animation to the sideline, a la Valvano and Cremins.

3. What was our OOC like? Did we play competitive teams? Did he ever have any OOC waterloo's like Bz's Stetson or Presbo?
Click to expand...

ChrisL answered this above. We did have some bad losses, though probably not as many.

4. What was recruiting like?
Click to expand...

Better than Bz, but closer to Bz than his competitors. Player rankings below the top 25 were hard to come by back then. Staak never brought elite guys, no one on the top 25 lists. Sam Ivy was probably as big a get as he got.


5. What was attendance like?
Click to expand...

Answered above.

6. How was Odom able to turn things around so fast, record wise?
Click to expand...

Rodney Rogers gave us legitimate high level ACC talent on day 1 (Coach Odom's year 2). His classmates also helped (see Childress, R), but not with the immediate effect of RR.
 
Staak was at least as horrendously bad as Buzz. Remember there were no message boards or internet back then, so no communal bitching. It was all pretty much done in isolation. I remember Staak's last year I was rooting against late season Wake wins -- just as some are doing with Buzz -- fearing that he'd salvage his job if he did. There was absolutely no hope with Staak, and the situation is very similar to Buzz, except that I believe Staak at least had prior success at X so it wasn't a patently bad hire (although he wasn't our first offer, he was a fallback).
 
SkinsNDeacs said:
Not really. Bob Wade coached the greatest high school team of all time. That in itself dwarfs Bz.
Click to expand...

Bob never looked comfortable under the bright lights. He was brought in to clean up a (legit) mess. His tenure was abject misery waiting for its merciful termination.
 
jhmd2000 said:
Bob never looked comfortable under the bright lights. He was brought in to clean up a (legit) mess. His tenure was abject misery waiting for its merciful termination.
Click to expand...

And he left it almost as big a mess than it was when he came. He was really brought in as a FU to Lefty more than anything.
 
Bob Staak was snakebit. The dude could not catch a break anywhere, anytime, about anything. Charley Thomas transferred to New Mexico. Mike Scott got homesick. Robert Siler blew out his knee, as did Daric Keyes. Staak had to start walk-on Alan Williams. He was up 3 with :03 left on NCSU, and played them straight up - Vinny Del Negro drains a 30 footer to tie, and they beat us in OT. Later, in ACC tournament, we are up 3 with :03 left on NCSU and this time we foul them before the shot. They make and miss a FT, and the rebound rims out parallel to the baseline where Rodney Monroe swishes the game tying shot. We lost in 3 OT (or was it 4?). No wonder he drank. The best thing Staak did (outside of beating highly ranked UNC and Duke) was recruit Chris King, who later found Duncan for Odom.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top