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Hypothetical: Who Replaces Bz at the end of the season?

WakeForestRanger

WakeForestRanger

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Let's say Bz is fired or resigns at the end of the season. Who should we hire to replace him? Make a case for your favorite candidate and why he's a realistic hire for Wake Forest.

1. Shaka Smart (turned down UCLA, not sure he's a realistic target anymore)
2. Gregg Marshall (makes 1.75 million, has turned NC State, South Carolina and other P5 level jobs, realistic candidate?)
3. Chris Mooney (doesn't have an exciting style of play)
4. Pat Kelsey (not proven at this level)
5. Brett Reed (can he recruit at this level?)

Here's a list of all the current college basketball coaches. Who should I pay attention to as the season progresses?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_NCAA_Division_I_men's_basketball_coaches
 
I've been a fan of Randy Bennett at Saint Mary's for awhile now, but he's had some run-ins with the NCAA over recruiting as of late.
 
Not sure how they fit or how realistic but I've been following these coaches:
1. Brett Reed
2. Dave Paulsen
3. Buzz Williams
4. Anthony Grant
5. Doug Wojcik

Plus the obvious (unrealistic?) Shaka, Greg Marshall, etc...
 
Greg Marshall is absolutely a realistic option. We are a much more attractive job than nc state or sc.
 
I think we're gonna win 16-17 games - hooray mediocrity. And the betting $$ I think is on Ron extending Buzzdick this year. Sorry.

But playing along with the hypothetical, I don't see any way Ron is able to lure guys like Smart, Marshall, Williams or even Grant, unless Grant feels he's hit a ceiling at Bama and needs to look elsewhere. You don't want Mooney. Good coach, but not exciting, and I don't think he'd be able to recruit at a high enough level to get to the upper echelon of the ACC. I've been bringing up Paulsen's name the last couple of years. I think he and Reed are the best we're gonna do, as uninspiring as that is.

How is it that we're able to hire a higher achieving and higher profile football coach than hoops coach? Same for the rest of the ACC. In our recent round of hires, BC, Wake, GT, Clem and VT made uninspiring to awful hires. MD and State made decent hires, but neither are great. Miami made a nice stopgap hire of an alum, but he'll only be there a few years. Really, only UVA made a very good hire vis-a-vis the level of hoops school they've been (better than Clemson but no MD, Wake or GT when you look at the 90s and 00s).
 
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Wrangor said:
Greg Marshall is absolutely a realistic option. We are a much more attractive job than nc state or sc.
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Before Ron screwed the pooch by firing Dino a year early (virtually none of us thought he was our long term coach, but it looked bad in the national media firing him after making the dance 2 years in a row) and making the disastrous hire of Buzzdick I would have agreed with you. Not now. Ron has really damaged us as a hoops school. As I alluded to in my previous post, Grobe raised our profile nationally in football, despite the last 4 years. And I think that helped Ron lure a relatively high profile guy like Clawson. Add to that, in the case of Greg Marshall, I don't think Ron's ego and Marshall's ego and personality will coexist at the same school. I hope I'm wrong and that we can lure a Marshall, Smart or Williams, but I'm not seeing it in the tea leaves.
 
bym051d said:
I think this is reality too.
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It's not just the marginally winning record that we'll likely have. After sending out feelers, Ron will prolly conclude he can't get 1 of those high profile guys and will think guys like Reed and Paulsen are no better than our current situation. Then the AD's spin team will go into overdrive telling us how great a job Buzzdick has done.
 
As I think I've made clear on other posts, I don't hate Buzz, I just don't think he's a good enough head coach to ever win in the ACC, and as long as he's here a middling season would be almost analogous to an Orange Bowl appearance in FB. That said - we have a winning record, the lower tier of the ACC is the worst I think I've ever seen, even a bzzouter like me has to agree there's been some improvement in player development, and the weakness of our SOS overall almost guarantees a much improved record. I've heard form some people that post-season is a must for Buzz to be able to keep his job. Maybe that's true, and who knows what defines "post-season" - would it strictly be NCAAs? I'm just not convinced the Era of Buzzyball is going to end after this season.
 
WinkinDeac said:
As I think I've made clear on other posts, I don't hate Buzz, I just don't think he's a good enough head coach to ever win in the ACC, and as long as he's here a middling season would be almost analogous to an Orange Bowl appearance in FB. That said - we have a winning record, the lower tier of the ACC is the worst I think I've ever seen, even a bzzouter like me has to agree there's been some improvement in player development, and the weakness of our SOS overall almost guarantees a much improved record. I've heard form some people that post-season is a must for Buzz to be able to keep his job. Maybe that's true, and who knows what defines "post-season" - would it strictly be NCAAs? I'm just not convinced the Era of Buzzyball is going to end after this season.
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A losing ACC record for four straight years should get any coach fired from Wake. And we went to the NCAA tournament 14 out of the 20 years prior to Buzz, so I'm thinking that getting there >50% of the time is a reasonable expectation of a WF coach. Buzz should be let go at the end of the year.
 
cville deac said:
Before Ron screwed the pooch by firing Dino a year early (virtually none of us thought he was our long term coach, but it looked bad in the national media firing him after making the dance 2 years in a row) and making the disastrous hire of Buzzdick I would have agreed with you. Not now. Ron has really damaged us as a hoops school. As I alluded to in my previous post, Grobe raised our profile nationally in football, despite the last 4 years. And I think that helped Ron lure a relatively high profile guy like Clawson. Add to that, in the case of Greg Marshall, I don't think Ron's ego and Marshall's ego and personality will coexist at the same school. I hope I'm wrong and that we can lure a Marshall, Smart or Williams, but I'm not seeing it in the tea leaves.
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How in the world has Wellman ruined us as a hoops school, especially in light of your comment that all of the ACC schools have not done well in coaching searches? What he might have done was hurt HIS reputation by doing that...but obviously that isn't really the case given Clawson.

It's easier to recruit and win at non-big conference schools in basketball than it was years ago because of TV exposure. That reduces the value of our program. I don't think Marshall is longing to leave Wichita because of that. He made the final 4 there didn't he? Why would he leave?

Clawson to Wake is almost a perfect fit....but like people were saying, being in a BCS conference is an advantage in fball so the pool of schools competing is getting smaller and the payouts for BCS schools larger. There is less pressure at Wake, and the likelihood of going bowling every other year is high given the number of bowls. You can schedule yourself to 4 wins OOC and only have to win 2 in conference. Wake had to show a $$$ commitment to fball, which they did.

We're just becoming more attractive in fball and less in bball over time because of changes in the competitive landscape...IMO.
 
Buzz Williams would be my clear #1. I would also love Anthony Grant and think he knows he's reached his ceiling at Bama, but I don't see it happening. Don't see Marshall or Travis Ford happening either.

I think you have to take the same criteria Wellman used in the fball search: HC experience, private school, values, whatever.

I think Kelsey gets a look for sure. Reed, Jim Crews (old but fits the bill), Amaker, Dave Rose, Cluess, Paulsen, Randy Bennett, Bryce Drew all fit that criteria as well. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot.
 
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I'd love Buzz Williams but that would be a lateral move for him. He could be in line for a top 10 job soon so I don't see why he'd come to Wake. I actually think Shaka is more realistic, just from the standpoint that he seems to go against the grain, so maybe he'd pick us?
 
Look at current head coaches with experience and success at private institutions who have non-abrasive personalities, and no baggage. No idea who is on that list, but that is who Wellman will look at.
 
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