Dino was fired because RW wanted to change the culture (kids with 5 star hearts who would stay 4 years and represent Wake well) and Dino thought you needed NBA talent to win in ACC (JJ, Teague, Aminu). The lack of post season success was the excuse he used publicly.
This is mostly true, it seems to me, but is a little black and white.
I think Ron and Bzd still think you need NBA talent to win the ACC and compete for a national championship, but you can do that with Big E, Josh Howard, Songaila, and of course CP3 types.
I think what happened was this:
* Skip went after NBA talent, but he started off going after the Big Es, CP3s, etc... and Skip was just a fantastic mentor/teacher.
* Skip then went after a guy he was sure were going to leave early maybe even after one year: Oden - a good kid he told himself, even if he may not be a committed student-athlete (maybe he would be). Conley came from a good family and nobody would have known out of the box he was going to be a one and doner, or even a 2-year player. Going after Daquen Cook maybe started a bit of a slide, but Skip probably told himself, I can be a mentor/father to Cook and Oden ...
* Teague and Johnson happen and Skip fully commits to NBA talent that may or may not be student athletes
* Walker, Woods, and Aminu happen, and the commitment to talent over student athletes maybe continues.
* Skip dies and all of our NBA talent lose much more than their basketball coach. They lose the one guy that will connect them to learning at the university level.
* Dino takes over and he's just not the same type of mentor.
* Dino takes a flyer on Ari (and CJ, a great local get in hindsight)
* Wellman sees Butler win with a team more in line with Skips Big E, CP3, Gray team or Howard, Songaila team, and he starts to question the direction of the program, student-athlete wise
* Wellman probably realizes that several players and to name one name, Ari, are likely very unprepared for the Wake Forest curriculum.
* Wellman tells Dino he's got to change; Dino says fuck no, I need horses and Wellman realizes Dino doesn't get it that you can get horses that will thrive or at least survive in the Wake Forest environment. Cans Dino
* Tabb and JTT enter along with Travis, Tony, and Carson and it becomes clear that Tabb has more problems than Ari. Woods happens, Walker is sucked into the black hole that is Tabb and bzd is left with a team that wins 8 games
* At the end of which, only Walker really survives to graduate (??). Our commitment to Walker may be partly due to the shit storm he has had to endure. If Walker graduates, he should get a standing ovation. Truly. He's matured, but I really would have liked to see what he could have done with Skip as his mentor.
But anyway, there's your culture change. Dino just didn't understand the difference between say Big E and Ari, or even Aminu and Ari - leaving aside whether he could coach or not.
As frustrating as this season (at times) and last season have been, just remember, it is not our future NBA power forward turning the ball over and over as he leads fast breaks, it's our point guard, who will likely become a back up next year. In an odd way, I am more content watching a struggling point guard turn the ball over on a fast break than a unique talent who shouldn't be leading a fast break to start with, considering HIS point guard is in the NBA too.