OFFICIAL Wake-Duke game thread

[Caturdayredux]

Say what you will about Wellman but the dude is smart. We're nowhere near rock bottom yet. Our only chance is Wellman wants to move on and take a position in the NCAA or ACC. If he's manipulated Wake this much I have no doubt he can pull just about anything off. Or maybe he could retire. But more likely, Wellman sticks around and Grobe finishes his contract. I'm all but certain [Redacted] will get an extension after this year. Then after next year Grobe retires, Wellman picks his replacement (someone with Grobe ties) and [Redacted] keeps on Bzzing.

 

[OvaltineJenkins]

Will current students even care when they become old alums or will they be LOWF?

Speaking for my group of ~15-20 friends who I keep in touch with regularly (all of whom finished between '08-'11) they just don't really care that much. I wouldn't describe them as LOWF--they just don't care enough to take action. They love it when we're playing well (i.e. football in 2006, basketball in 08-09), but they're not gonna go out of their way to camp out at a bar in NYC or DC and carve out a few hours of their day to watch a 4-6 Wake team play Duke in football...very fairweather, I know.

They know we suck now in both sports and believe that changes should be made, but they're not going to do much about it. Plus, they definitely couldn't tell you any of the damning stats/figures on Buzz or Grobe--they just know that both of them aren't right for the job, especially Buzz. However, if it's any consolation, they're definitely not going to donate to the Deacon Club/AD. If they make any monetary contributions, they'll donate to specific academic departments.

Small sample size, i know, but figured I'd share my two cents on my group of friends.

 

[sailordeac]

Part of me loves Wellman for the fact he's a total sociopath and pretty fucking smart.

Think about it...

He hires [Redacted] who knows how lucky he is to coach in the ACC so Bz will never be anything but totally loyal to Ron.

Grobe would get fired anywhere else but wants the payday and to protect Lobo's job. He's also indebted to Wellman.

Casstevens couldn't get a job as a manager at McDonalds with his background but Wellman gives him a nice 6 figure salary in return for his loyalty.

The rest of the management in the AD are relatively young Wake alums who want Ron's job and as such won't rock the boat.

Wellman kisses Hatch's ass, tells him how hard it is to win at Wake so even if Hatch decided he needed to make changes in the AD, Wellman has it so he'd have to completely overhaul the coaching staffs in both revenue sports as well as displace alums in the AD (some who are well connected).

Wellman also has the NCAA position which he can sell as a good thing for Wake's profile.

It's brilliant. Then Wellman sells a few big donors on culture and all of a sudden he's irreplaceable. He has no accountability, gets to work with his buddies/cronies and makes 7 figures. Fuck retirement, give me that job.

Call me old fashioned but I still think the goal of sports is to win. All this is completely unprofessional and constitutes little more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. You can call it cynical, yes. But smart, no.

 

[PhDeac]

It's smart if your goal isn't to win. Would someone with the goal of winning hire Bz? No.

 

[KidA23]

It's smart if your goal isn't to win. Would someone with the goal of winning hire Bz? No.

They might if their goal is to win in a manner that would make them look as smart and untouchable as possible were the hiring to actually work out.

I don't doubt that Ron wants Wake basketball (or football) to be good. That's the easy part. But it's obvious he wants those programs to be good in whichever way most fortifies his own personal legacy as an athletic director. He knew everyone would give a collective 'da fuh?' when he hired [Redacted]; his track record alone made that unavoidable. But he desperately wants [Redacted] to succeed to show us all that he (Wellman) was right all along. The same goes for Grobe.

It's just a classic case of wanting both (i) the result, and (ii) the credit for the result, but where the person in question wants (ii) so badly that it threatens to undermine (i). Of course, everyone except Ron himself pretty much agrees that that's already happened. Which is sorta the problem.