Letter to Hatch- don't send to Wellman/Canned Hatch repsonse

[RJKarl]

hatch@wfu.edu

There is no reason to send Wellman a letter. He won't do anything.

Here's mine to Hatch:

Dear Dr. Hatch:

In 1968, Lyndon Johnson allegedly said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” In this morning’s Winston-Salem Journal, Dan Collins’ headline is “Another Night, Another Debacle”. Dr. Hatch, if we’ve lost Dan Collins, we’ve lost Wake fans and alumni.

Although Dan isn’t a Wake alum, he is a strident fan and supporter of all of our teams. His access and knowledge brings together many of us who are far from Mother So Dear geographically but close in our hearts. If even the glass half full, perennial optimist Dan Collins is lost. Where are the rest of us?

Coach [Redacted] must go and we must start the search for a coach who will stay with the program for the next 20-30 years. Coach [Redacted] has failed. There is no way around this fact.

The coach’s own words show he needs to be fired,” "I've tried everything,'' [Redacted] said. "I'm not going to make any excuses. Tuesday is their toughest day academically. It starts at sun-up. I was aware of that, and I was trying to give them rest. I tried a different approach today, just giving them some rest. I don't know.”

By the way since the 2003-04 season, we are 20-15 on Tuesdays.

Would you keep any other employee who has publicly admitted such failure and the inability to discern a way to turn the failure to success?

It’s time to act.

 

[Liquid Karma]

Well said.

 

[WinkinDeac]

It's not just this game where we lost Dan, assuming we have. He said about the Iona game that we looked like a team without a coach.

 

[bym051d]

I read this quickly and didn't see any spelling errors.

 

[PhDeac]

Dan should have been lost a long time ago. He's part of the problem. He shoved the AD BS for years.

 

[ddeacs98]

:golfclap: And not one typo!

 

[thedeacfan]

hatch@wfu.edu

There is no reason to send Wellman a letter. He won't do anything.

Here's mine to Hatch:

Dear Dr. Hatch:

In 1968, Lyndon Johnson allegedly said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.” In this morning’s Winston-Salem Journal, Dan Collins’ headline is “Another Night, Another Debacle”. Dr. Hatch, if we’ve lost Dan Collins, we’ve lost Wake fans and alumni.

Although Dan isn’t a Wake alum, he is a strident fan and supporter of all of our teams. His access and knowledge brings together many of us who are far from Mother So Dear geographically but close in our hearts. If even the glass half full, perennial optimist Dan Collins is lost. Where are the rest of us?

Coach [Redacted] must go and we must start the search for a coach who will stay with the program for the next 20-30 years. Coach [Redacted] has failed. There is no way around this fact.

The coach’s own words show he needs to be fired,” "I've tried everything,'' [Redacted] said. "I'm not going to make any excuses. Tuesday is their toughest day academically. It starts at sun-up. I was aware of that, and I was trying to give them rest. I tried a different approach today, just giving them some rest. I don't know.”

By the way since the 2003-04 season, we are 20-15 on Tuesdays.

Would you keep any other employee who has publicly admitted such failure and the inability to discern a way to turn the failure to success?

It’s time to act.

That should be a comma after lost. And "Where" should not be capitalized. Just sayin...

 

[ImTheCaptain]

Dan should have been lost a long time ago. He's part of the problem. He shoved the AD BS for years.

i feel like you have a very specific beef with Collins compared the rest of the fanbase (boards)

 

[VOTSdeac]

This was my email to the Deacon Club:

I wanted to send you an email that could hopefully sum up some of what I've been thinking about in regards to Wake Forest athletics. As you know, I've been a Deacon Club member for several years now (I think since I graduated in 2005), and I am probably one of the most avid WF fans you will meet. I enjoy WF sporting events because I love my school, and I will likely continue to go to football and basketball games regardless of the product that is on the field or court. Whether that means watching our football team get completely dominated in 30 degree weather by Vanderbilt, or watching our basketball team squeak by W&M and then get throttled by a terrible Nebraska team, I'll probably continue to buy tickets and support the team.

I can tell you, from a common sense standpoint and from having experienced it firsthand, I am in the minority. During the second half of the Vandy game, we estimated about 1500 people remained in the seats. At the Nebraska game last night, there couldn't have been more than 5000 people there.

There are a lot of adjectives that describe how it feels to see this: embarrassed, sad, angry, frustrated. But when I look at all this in regards to the current (and likely future) college sports landscape, I think the most appropriate adjective is "afraid." The fear stems from the fact that all over sports right now, conferences are either dissolving or expanding, and teams are either getting plucked up or left by the wayside. The ACC is certainly in limbo with Maryland already having left, and I worry that Wake, by a function of the size of the school, is low in the pecking order. Now 5-7 years ago, I wouldn't have had this fear because we were not only a small school with good academics, but we were unique and sought-after because we had good football and basketball programs. Fast forward to today, and I think that if something were to happen to the ACC, we would become just another Davidson or Richmond.

As a layperson, I would expect that the Athletic Department would realize this and have a sense of urgency to get things corrected. Unfortunately, I've seen none of that. Obviously, basketball is the most glaring example. I was surprised when we fired Gaudio a few years ago, but I wasn't opposed to the firing. He was an ok coach and a good recruiter, but he was not on the same level as Prosser or even Odom, and he wasn't getting the job done at the end of the season. When he got fired, I suddenly became almost giddy with excitement, because I felt sure that we must have a couple of prospects lined up to take our program to the next level.

Then came the bombshell that we were hiring [Redacted]. I had never heard of him. I looked him up and found that he was old and had basically never had any success anywhere. I figured that maybe Wellman knew something I didn't, but sure enough, he gets here and literally has the 2 worst basketball seasons in Wake Forest history, while continually making excuses for the product on the court and being completely out of touch with the fanbase. And here is where I really get upset. Wellman gets interviewed about how the program is doing, and he just makes comments that there is nothing at all wrong. He think [Redacted] is the man for the job (never mind the fact that he's never shown indication that he can win at the college level) and he thinks our program is in the right hands. You would think that he could at least say, "Look we are not in a good place right now, and Jeff is going to have to do a better job." Saying that everything is just fine really makes me angry.

So here we are, year 3 of the program and the team is still just absolutely terrible. Down 41-5 against Iona!? There is zero excitement around the program, and I am confident there will be no excitement until [Redacted] is gone. Let's say a miracle happens and we get to 15 wins this season. Where does that leave us? It likely would mean another season for [Redacted] to ruin because I'm sure Wellman would say, "hey he won more games than last year...we're moving up". I go to the games and I just don't see how any recruits could want to play here. [Redacted] has never had any extended success at any school, and he is old and probably close to retirement age. There is just no upside! Fans are not going to get excited until we have a new coach. Period.

I'll try to be less long-winded about football, but essentially we have been on a downward track since the Orange Bowl. I don't expect our football team to compete for the ACC championship every year, but I do think we should at least be able to be competitive each year. I love Jim Grobe, but we made a mistake in paying the money to keep him here after 2006. We are not a program that should be paying that money to a football coach, because it's not realistic to think that we can sustain the success that would be required to justify that kind of payout.

There is almost as little excitement around the football program as there is the basketball program, and I don't think that's going to change until there is a shakeup somewhere. I'm not saying we need to fire Grobe, but I think something big needs to be done to show that we realize things aren't going well. Our offense has been putrid for many years, and maybe we could spark some excitement by reassinging Lobo...I don't know.

I do know that with the way things are going, I'm reconsidering my plans to go forward with the Seat Rights program. There is just no way that the demand for good seats is high enough that I need to pay extra money to get rights to seats. When you take into account that those rights would expire after 20 years, I'm just not sure it makes sense to continue paying for them. We'll see.

I also know that if [Redacted] is not fired, I will not buy season tickets next year. I'll buy single game tickets to the games I can make it to, but with my schedule, I have to miss too many games to make it worthwhile to pay the extra amount for the entire season package. And we all know it won't be difficult to get single game tickets.

Anyway, I'm sorry to have rambled on and on. I didn't plan on it being this long of an email, but I am just very frustrated and concerned about Wake Forest athletics. I don't want us to get dropped from the ACC or whatever next league there is going to be, and I think this is a dangerous time to be terrible in both football and basketball. I'm not arrogant enough to believe this email will engender any change, but I do feel that my voice as a donor should be heard.

 

[ibleedgoldandblack]

I think we are going about this all wrong. I don't think Hatch or Wellman are going to make the move. I think we need to immediately begin a letter writing campaign to Bz himself.

Maybe if he gets 100's of e-mails a day telling him how badly we want him gone, he'll resign himself.

 

[ddeacs98]

I think we are going about this all wrong. I don't think Hatch or Wellman are going to make the move. I think we need to immediately begin a letter writing campaign to Bz himself.

Maybe if he gets 100's of e-mails a day telling him how badly we want him gone, he'll resign himself.

You'll just get an OOO auto-reply with the following: Fuck you Buddy.

 

[Sportin' Woody]

RJ I am convinced Hatch is part of the problem and not the solution. This is an institutional commitment to a change in the hoops program

 

[BabyDeac75]

Bz knows how badly we want him gone. He has known for quite a while. He is sad, frustrated, and overwhelmed. However, short of a health concern due to stress or a professional misconduct meltdown, I dont see him resigning on his own. There is no upside for him. This will be his last job in basketball. He will not walk away on his own. A negotiated settlement is the only viable option at this point. If it is announced that he has resigned, be sure that is the public spin to cover a buyout that sends him into retirement.

 

[BabyDeac75]

RJ I am convinced Hatch is part of the problem and not the solution. This is an institutional commitment to a change in the hoops program

Hard to argue with this observation. It is amazing that the revenue freefall from lost ticket sales and the absence of any home court support from the most loyal Deacon fans has not sounded alarm bells long before now. They have convinced themselves they are right and seem hellbent on their delusional course that has run our once-proud team into the ground. I cant imagine how the staff will be able to recruit the talent we need to compete ... how do you bring a top recruit into the Joel and say, "look around, this is where you will want to play your college ball."

 

[Go]

I've gotten 3 calls from the Deacon Club and said every time that I will not give another dime to Athletics until BzzOut.

I decided to give that money to the ZSR Library, which is probably a more worthy cause anyways.

 

[marquee moon]

That's what you get for hiring a nerdy super religious dude to be your President.

Like Hatch gives two unwiped asses about sports.

 

[Liquid Karma]

Bz knows how badly we want him gone. He has known for quite a while. He is sad, frustrated, and overwhelmed. However, short of a health concern due to stress or a professional misconduct meltdown, I dont see him resigning on his own. There is no upside for him. This will be his last job in basketball. He will not walk away on his own. A negotiated settlement is the only viable option at this point. If it is announced that he has resigned, be sure that is the public spin to cover a buyout that sends him into retirement.

Good point. There aren't that many people that are willing to just walk away from a high six figure/low seven figure paycheck.

 

[Ralph Medlin]

Hard to argue with this observation. It is amazing that the revenue freefall from lost ticket sales and the absence of any home court support from the most loyal Deacon fans has not sounded alarm bells long before now. They have convinced themselves they are right and seem hellbent on their delusional course that has run our once-proud team into the ground. I cant imagine how the staff will be able to recruit the talent we need to compete ... how do you bring a top recruit into the Joel and say, "look around, this is where you will want to play your college ball."

It's gonna take a Rodney Rogers type gift from heaven to get the program back on track. That of course is assuming we hire a new coach worth a shit.

 

[marquee moon]

Skip Died

Dino Tried

Wellman Lied

Buzz Denied

Fanbase Cried

Program Fried.

 

[deacz]

Hard to argue with this observation. It is amazing that the revenue freefall from lost ticket sales and the absence of any home court support from the most loyal Deacon fans has not sounded alarm bells long before now. They have convinced themselves they are right and seem hellbent on their delusional course that has run our once-proud team into the ground. I cant imagine how the staff will be able to recruit the talent we need to compete ... how do you bring a top recruit into the Joel and say, "look around, this is where you will want to play your college ball."

Not arguing with you at all, but I still don't understand what the "course" is, other than [Redacted]. Seems like keeping him and losing are the only two goals (which are, of course, synonymous).