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Now that the Season is Over - From a Long-Time Supporter

Well spoken Deke 73. Thanks for your opinion and delightful summary. I encourage you, with the clout you have as a floor level donor, to write this exact text in a letter and send it to both Hatch and Wellman.

This madness needs to stop before they have to give away courtside seats next season. I cannot stress how much I miss Deacon bball. :(
 
RacerDeac said:
The man has never stayed anywhere long enough to build anything...yet he lectures our fan base consistently on what it takes to "build something." What a tool.
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That's not fair, he built a program at Colorado that had two NBA players on it. Didn't even make the NCAAT though...
 
jaybone said:
He will in a few weeks. The Dan interview was a mistake. I suspect he'll either go around Dan or do a different format - read more from a prepared statement. Triad journalists tend to use straight quotes which often makes the respondents sound bad. Remember the josh howard interview? Most good journalists I know take the extra step of cleaning up quotes and sending for confirmation. You run a greater risk of conflict that way because the respondent can try and change their own quote. That's why lower tier journalists don't do it. But then you run these gotcha quotes.
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Dan Collins: Mr. Wellman, Dan Collins here.
Ron Wellman: Oh, hi Dan. How are you today?
DC: Doing fine, hope you are as well.
RW: I am, how can I help you today?
DC: I was just going over the tape from our interview and I thought I would give you a chance to clean up some quotes.
RW: Such as?
DC: When I asked if Coach [Redacted] would be coming back next season you said, "oh heavens, yes!" That might come off as a bit 1940s southern grandma to the reader.
RW: Hmmmm, good point, Dan. Let's change that.
DC: To what?
RW: Heavens to Betsy! But of course!
DC: ....
RW: NAILLLLLEDDDD IT!
DC: I gotta go.
 
You have to wonder how much better shape we would be in, if we had conducted a legitimate search process after the Gaudio dismissal. Clearly there were/are a number of accomplished college coaches, with a winning tradition and the personality and charisma to energize the fan base. Wellman took a flyer on an unaccomplished dullard, who has proven to be a horrible fit. We could have/should have done so much better, when the opportunity was there. I believe a change, with a good choice, could move us pretty quickly back in the right direction. Allowing [Redacted] to continue his charade as a head coach will inflict further damage on our program. The rebuilding process needs to start immediately, but it cannot begin until a real coach is in place.
 
I still think we should have had a search post Skip, but that's neither here nor there.

Its just another reason why we are LOWF and will never get to the mountaintop.
 
Deke 73 said:
You have to wonder how much better shape we would be in, if we had conducted a legitimate search process after the Gaudio dismissal. Clearly there were/are a number of accomplished college coaches, with a winning tradition and the personality and charisma to energize the fan base.
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How do you know there was not a legitimate coaching search process?

Are you asserting no other coaches were contacted/considered for the job?
 
Dino Gaudio was fired on the 7th of April.
The first reports of [Redacted] being the hire came out on the 11th, I believe.
[Redacted] officially signed on the 13th.


That must have been one hell of an exhaustive coaching search!
 
deacvision7 said:
That must have been one hell of an exhaustive coaching search!
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To be fair, Wellman was in the game for the 1st half, but he was "exhausted" coming out of the half and that's how we ended up being blown out with Bzz.
 
jaybone said:
He will in a few weeks. The Dan interview was a mistake. I suspect he'll either go around Dan or do a different format - read more from a prepared statement. Triad journalists tend to use straight quotes which often makes the respondents sound bad. Remember the josh howard interview? Most good journalists I know take the extra step of cleaning up quotes and sending for confirmation. You run a greater risk of conflict that way because the respondent can try and change their own quote. That's why lower tier journalists don't do it. But then you run these gotcha quotes.
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Link to this particular interview?
 
Colonel Angus said:
How do you know there was not a legitimate coaching search process?

Are you asserting no other coaches were contacted/considered for the job?
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Of all the head-scratching coaching hires/fires this offseason, few came with more raised eyebrows than Wellman's decision at Wake. First he fired Dino Gaudio after just three seasons, explaining that Gaudio's 1-5 record in the postseason was more damning than his 61-31 overall record was inspiring.

Then he hired the 57-year-old [Redacted], whose college postseason record is 4-7, with just one NCAA tournament berth and one NIT appearance on his résumé.

So, what exactly was Wellman thinking?

"The last three years we did not do well in February and March, and that's the critical time of the year,'' said Wellman, who met [Redacted] at Northwestern in the 1980s. [Redacted] was an assistant basketball coach and Wellman was the head baseball coach. "That's when we should be peaking but in fact, we were going the wrong way. Jeff's teams traditionally play their best basketball at the end of the year, and that's what we needed.''
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http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=5512936



By the way, here are Jeff [Redacted]'s teams records in February and March:

Air Force, 2005/06 season: 7-4, first round loss to a lower seed in MWCT, first round loss in NCAAT. 7-4 is a 64% winning percentage. Overall that season Air Force won 77% of their games.
Air Force, 2006/07 season: 7-6, first round loss to a lower seed in the MWCT, 3-1 in NIT. 7-6 is a 54% winning percentage. Overall that season Air Force won 74% of their games.

Colorado, 2007/08 season: 3-9, 1-1 in Big XI tournament, no other post season. 3-9 is a 25% winning percentage. Overall that season Colorado won 38% of their games.
Colorado, 2008/09 season: 0-11, first round loss in the Big XI tournament, no other post season. 0-11 is a 0% winning percentage. Overall that season Colorado won 29% of their games.
Colorado, 2009/10 season: 4-6, first round loss in the Big XI tournament, no other post season. 4-6 is a 40% winning percentage. Overall that season Colorado won 48% of their games.


During no season in the previous 5 years of coaching had Jeff [Redacted]'s team had a better winning percentage in February and March than overall for that season. They were always getting worse.



"Jeff's teams traditionally play their best basketball at the end of the year, and that's what we needed.''
- Ron Wellman


Overall [Redacted]'s teams went 21-36 in February and March from Feb 2006 to March 2010. Meaning they won 37% of their games. His teams as a whole during those 5 seasons won 53% of their games.


Good call, Ron.
 
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Colonel Angus said:
How do you know there was not a legitimate coaching search process?

Are you asserting no other coaches were contacted/considered for the job?
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On the one hand, you could argue the search process was legitimate in that Wellman allegedly contacted, either directly or via back channels, Tubby Smith, Steve Alford, and Brad Stevens. Taking this as true, Wellman considered other candidates prior to hiring [Redacted].

On the other hand, you could argue that the search process still lacked legitimacy in that (1) Wellman was apparently the only person either within or external to the athletic department to be a part of the search, and (2) there were likely numerous candidates less risky and more ostensibly qualified between the Smith / Alford / Stevens level and Jeff [Redacted].

Either way, we'll never really know anything about the search other than the final result.
 
"Someone said to me the other day, 'This seems to be your mission in life, Jeff,'" [Redacted] said. "I inherit jobs no one else wants and then just when things get going, like a fool, I leave before it all starts to happen. It's like building the house and never getting to live in it.''



QUICK! Somebody tell [Redacted] that things are just about to get going here at Wake Forest. He'll fuck right off if we do that.
 
deacvision7 said:
Dino Gaudio was fired on the 7th of April.
The first reports of [Redacted] being the hire came out on the 11th, I believe.
[Redacted] officially signed on the 13th.


That must have been one hell of an exhaustive coaching search!
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I believe it was actually the 9th that we first heard word of [Redacted]. No later than the 10th for sure. The press conference was on the 14th.

I do believe that [Redacted] was much higher up on the list than he should have been, but I also think Ron contacted multiple other coaches and just didn't get enough interest to pursue them further. You can make a lot of phone calls in two days.
 
KidA23 said:
On the one hand, you could argue the search process was legitimate in that Wellman allegedly contacted, either directly or via back channels, Tubby Smith, Steve Alford, and Brad Stevens. Taking this as true, Wellman considered other candidates prior to hiring [Redacted].

On the other hand, you could argue that the search process still lacked legitimacy in that (1) Wellman was apparently the only person either within or external to the athletic department to be a part of the search, and (2) there were likely numerous candidates less risky and more ostensibly qualified between the Smith / Alford / Stevens level and Jeff [Redacted].

Either way, we'll never really know anything about the search other than the final result.
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What gets me is that Tubby was apparently interested but we couldn't afford him or weren't willing to pay him enough. Now if you aren't looking to spend $2mm+ why would you even bother calling Tubby Smith?
 
TBR said:
I believe it was actually the 9th that we first heard word of [Redacted]. No later than the 10th for sure. The press conference was on the 14th.
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Went with this article for his hiring date: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/coll...04-13-wake-forest-colorado-jeff-bzdelik_N.htm
And this for the rumor: http://www.accsports.com/blogs/jim-young/201004117624/reports-wake-to-hire-jeff-[Redacted].php Although I know there was that one from the FoxSports guy (Goodman?) that was before this. Just didn't feel like searching for it.


ETA: Katz on [Redacted] to Wake on the 10th, 3 days after Dino was fired. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5072624

Discussions apparently began the day after Dino was fired:
He may have found his choice in Colorado's Jeff [Redacted]. Wellman and [Redacted] have been friends for decades and over the past two days have been discussing a deal that would move the Buffaloes coach to Wake Forest, according to multiple sources.
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Looks like [Redacted] was damn near the top of the wanted list.

Again, good call, Ron.
 
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Here's what I found (Goodman was the first one to break it IIRC, but I don't care enough to find it):

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basket...-Forest-would-be-a-perplexin?urn=ncaab,233322
 
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