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Larue, Battle, Childress

birdman

birdman

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Its hard to keep up but I haven't seen any threads or post about the assistants. I know we are all elated that Bz is gone, and that we all have varying opinions on the quality of his staff, but I think Rusty, Chill and Jeff Battle deserve our gratitude for being with our program through these very tough times. Their contribution to our program as coaches is hard to measure because the team has struggled mightily under Bz's leadership, but I do feel regret that those guys have to (most likely) loose their jobs over this. Absolutely the basketball program needs a fresh start and an entirely new staff, but I wish the assistants (and their families) the best of luck in their careers. I hope they know that the Wake community will always praise them for what they did for our program in the past.
 
Best of luck to them in their future endeavors and I'm sure all will land on their feet rather quickly. However, we need to completely clean house at Wake and bring in a brand new staff to start anew.
 
I'm sure Childress and Larue will have spots in the AD if they want them.

Battle gets to leave all this mess behind and move on somewhere as a HC or perhaps as assistant to his friend at Providence and enjoy basketball again. I am happy for him. Fly, Jeff Battle. Fly!
 
Chill will likely go back to being the special advisor to the AD on basketball or whatever his previous title was before he became an assistant if he is not retained on the future coach's staff.

Future coach should choose his own staff period. That being said, I think it would be foolish for a new coach at Wake Forest to not seriously consider Randolph Childress for an assistant coaching position. Chill is Wake basketball
 
Hope Battle gets a shot at running the show, if that's what he wants, and hopefully finds some joy out there.

LaRue and Chill should get a chance to stay on with the AD if they want. It's nice to have an alumni connection around the program.

Putting them on the bench is LOWF, though. Sucks that RW used them as human shields in that regard.
 
While Bz gets and deserves the lion's share of the blame for the train wreck that has become WF basketball, Battle, Larue and Childress were on the staff and were at least partially responsible for administering the mess that has become WF basketball. Loved Rusty and Randolph as basketball players and will always hold them near and dear to my heart for being part of the best run of WF basketball in my time as a WF fan. Have heard only great things about Battle. Regardless, the program failed during the time that they played roles as assistant coaches. Impossible to excuse that fact.

I wish all of them the best, and would love it if either Randolph or Rusty proved to be a successful enough coach elsewhere to become a future WF coach, but it is time for an entirely new chapter of WF basketball.
 
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There is nothing that says these guys won't be retained. The new coach may decide to keep one, some or none of them. I do believe the new coach should have FULL choice on his staff though.
 
I think RW said yesterday that the new coach will be responsible for selecting his staff...although who's to believe what he says.
 
With a good coach and 2 other assistants, I wouldn't mind having Chill as a 3rd assistant. Think he will develop into a good recruiter and obviously loves Wake so he could sell it.
 
Chill doesn't want to work in the AD. Can't say whether Rusty does. Chill wants to be a coach though.
 
Pilchard said:
While Bz gets and deserves the lion's share of the blame for the train wreck that has become WF basketball, Battle, Larue and Childress were on the staff and were at least partially responsible for administering the mess that has become WF basketball. Loved Rusty and Randolph as basketball players and will always hold them near and dear to my heart for being part of the best run of WF basketball in my time as a WF fan. Have heard only great things about Battle. Regardless, the program failed during the time that they played roles as assistant coaches. Impossible to excuse that fact.

I wish all of them the best, and would love it if either Randolph or Rusty proved to be a successful enough coach elsewhere to become a future WF coach, but it is time for an entire new chapter of WF basketball.
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I too wish the assistants nothing but the best as they pursue other endeavors next year. If one or more of them is selected by the next Wake head coach, so be it. So long as they are selected on their own merit and not just because they are at Wake and two of them are Wake grads.

We may never know the full extent of how much Jeff Battle helped the players and others get through the difficult summer following Skip's death, all the while dealing with his own wife's health issues. For those efforts, Jeff Battle, a great big thank you.
 
I hope their wagons aren't hitched to Buzz at this point. I know they think he's a great guy, but I want to see them work on a different staff. (Not that I think it's likely Buzz ever works a head job again.)
 
I could see the new coach keeping Childress as the 3rd assistant. Odom kept Wainwright from Staak's coaching staff. It would provide a bit of continuity for the players and help the new coaches learn about the players.
 
Wish them all the best, but they did roll the dice. By accepting a position on buzz's staff, they got elevated to a position way above what their coaching resume deserved. Had it worked out well, they would have skipped lots of steps on the ladder. Since it didn't, they are back where they were, maybe better with acc coaching experience and all of the RW praise.
 
dubs21 said:
Chill doesn't want to work in the AD. Can't say whether Rusty does. Chill wants to be a HEAD coach AT WAKE IMMEDIATELY though.
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FIFY. IMO he needs to go somewhere else for some seasoning and come back as a top assistant later before he'll really be able to have a good shot at what he wants.
 
Say Hey Deac said:
I'm sure Childress and Larue will have spots in the AD if they want them.

Battle gets to leave all this mess behind and move on somewhere as a HC or perhaps as assistant to his friend at Providence and enjoy basketball again. I am happy for him. Fly, Jeff Battle. Fly!
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Raleigh paper had top coaches on wishlist as Smart,Howland and the coach at Providence. If it Drops to the Providence coach I would expect Battle and Childress to return
 
I read in the Raleigh paper try again! Ever thought 2 NC papers might run the same story?
 
Wasn't telling you to try again. Was telling the N&O.
That hire would make negative amounts of sense.
 
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