Just watched HBO Real Sports on Brad Stevens

[kvilledeacon]

I fucking hate Stevens. And heres why:

I remember when we were #1 in the country. We had a solid coach. Nearly every game of ours was broadcast on basic cable. We made it to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. Things were going OK.

And then, thanks to ESPN, that handsome devil Brad Stevens became a media darling after a trip to the Final 4, and every WFU fan got a pseudo-sexual man crush on Stevens because he was "soooo cute!". He was young and handsome and had deep dark eyes, unlike our current plain-looking coach who was leading us to the NCAA tournament every year. And that started the whole "Fire Dino" movement.

And the administration caved. Firing Dino was so stupid that no competent coach would agree to come to Wake and be treated the way that we treated Dino, so we ended up with the only thing we could get: a mediocre journeyman at the end of his career. And we deserve what we now have. And we'll continue to suffer. Damn that Brad Stevens.

Firing Dino was not a bad decision. The handwriting was already on the wall. The next year would have been a disaster with Dino also.

Hiring [Redacted] so quickly was the bad decision.

 

[DCDeac]

You guys who mock [Redacted]'s "team first" quotes and such - you realize it is almost verbatim the exact mantra of Brad Stevens, right?

If I were to go to the trouble of posting 10 quotes from each about their coaching and recruiting philosophies, you would have absolutely no chance of distinguishing between them.

I get the [Redacted] doubt/hate due to his record and lack of college experience, that he's old, etc... But you can't childishly mock [Redacted]'s culture/team ideals and then suck on Steven's cock whenever his name gets mentioned.

At least, you can't do it and maintain any credibility...

 

[morrison2951]

I would assume most of its in jest, but our treatment of Dino was received negatively by at least some in the coaching community (witness Gonzaga cancelling the last two games in that series), and I do think it likely impacted the coaching search.

Dookie V certainly ran his mouth about it enough...

 

[DeacinBama]

Did Gonzaga really cut that series short because we fired Dino? If so, that's weak sauce.

 

[TBR]

Sure seems that way. It was a 4 game series that was inexplicably canceled prior to last season, but Gonzaga still had to return the home game.

ETA: And I don't think it was that we fired Dino, it that we were apparently sending out feelers all over the country for damn near a month all while Dino didn't have the slightest idea he was being let go.

 

[PhDeac]

The only reason so many Wake fans ever thought we could get Stevens was the timing of Dino's firing. If it had happened soon after Texas, people wouldn't have gotten their hopes up nearly as much. By waiting until after the Final Four, it made it look as if we were waiting for a specific coach to be done.

 

[DeacinBama]

Sure seems that way. It was a 4 game series that was inexplicably canceled prior to last season, but Gonzaga still had to return the home game.

Meh. Series get canceled all the time for myriad reasons. Unless there is a known relationship between Few/the Gonzaga AD and Dino, then I don't see the connection.

 

[Stormfury]

Yep. That was our big chance, and ron pissed it all away. Should have made it impossible for him not to accept the position.

I agree totally. Wish we had made an absolutely ridiculous offer that he couldn't pass up.

 

[Strickland33]

I agree totally. Wish we had made an absolutely ridiculous offer that he couldn't pass up.

I totally wish that the streets were paved with gold and that all water fountains were replaced with liquid chocolate and that I had like 25 horses, a masterati, and that I lived in a castle and that Ty Walker was an All-ACC talent!

 

[deaconson]

i completely understand that wake had zero chance at getting stevens. however, i would still be yankin my crank if we did.

 

[TBR]

Meh. Series get canceled all the time for myriad reasons. Unless there is a known relationship between Few/the Gonzaga AD and Dino, then I don't see the connection.

Fair enough, correlation doesn't imply causation. I swear I heard someone say that Few didn't want to play it even last season. Don't know why that would be since he doesn't shy away from tough schedules (of course, at this point I guess we're pretty much a lose-lose for quality mid-majors). I'm making a lot of assumptions though and that isn't fair.

I think it is fair to say that the process of terminating Dino did not play out like it should have. No reason he couldn't have been fired 2 weeks earlier.