Wake Forest fires Dino Gaudio

ACC Teams Athletics Directors Big Four Rivals Coaching Carousel College Basketball166

After three seasons and two appearances in the NCAA Tournament, it looks like Dino Gaudio has been fired by Wake Forest. A press conference is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Check back later today for more and check out the forums for more discussion.

WXII: Gaudio out at Wake Forest

Wake Forest University head basketball coach Dino Gaudio was fired Wednesday after mounting a 61-31 record during his three seasons as head coach, sources at the university confirmed.

An announcement was planned for 4:30 p.m.

Gaudio coached the team to two NCAA basketball tournament appearances and one NCAA tournament win.

He was hired in 2007 after coach Skip Prosser died suddenly from a heart attack

Gaudio, 53, joined Prosser in 1981 at a Central Catholic High School in West Virginia, and the native of Yorkville, Ohio, took over the program at tiny Wheeling Central in 1985 when Prosser left to join Xavier’s staff.

Here’s the release from WFU, which was up immediately following Wellman’s press conference, which lasted about 25 minutes.

Wake Forest’s Dino Gaudio Released From Contract

Wake Forest University Director of Athletics Ron Wellman announced today that head men’s basketball coach Dino Gaudio would not be retained. A national search for a new basketball coach will begin immediately.

“I met with Dino this afternoon and informed him that he would no longer be our basketball coach,” said Wellman.

“Dino has made contributions to this program over the last 10 seasons. He stepped into a difficult situation at a very trying time when Skip Prosser passed away and he steadied the program.

“But from a competitive standpoint, it has been disappointing that we have developed a pattern of not playing well late in the season and in the postseason. Wake Forest has a proud history of basketball success but we have not been as competitive in the postseason as we would like.”

Wellman said there was no timeline for the hiring of a new coach.

ACC Teams Athletics Directors Big Four Rivals Coaching Carousel College Basketball

166 Responses to Wake Forest fires Dino Gaudio

  1. Wulfpack 04/08/2010 at 6:39 AM #

    “Never mind that it serves NO PURPOSE to do so because Sid has AT LEAST one more year. Maybe two. And well he should.”

    Your opinion. Not mine and not many others. I can guaran-damn-tee you that if we were ever fortunate enough to have an AD like Wellman, it wouldn’t be his opinion either and we’d already be headed in the right direction. Results-based business. Wellman made that very clear in his press conference. Dino went to two NCAA’s in 3 years while we haven’t come close to sniffing the field in 4 years. You do the math.

    “Sorry. I’m not sold on Stevens. When he is successful at a D-1 school in a top basketball conference, then I’ll be sold on him.”

    Butler is a D-1 school and they’ve been good for a long time. But this year was different, they were damn near dominant and took down giants in the NCAA Tourney. I don’t know how much more evidence you need. What the hell else could he have done for you to be convinced? If Wake gets Stevens and they start whipping our and everyone else’s tail, you won’t find me surprised.

  2. wolfmanmat 04/08/2010 at 7:33 AM #

    Anybody from Winston knows that Dino has had a very tough time in big situations. He got handed a job he wasn’t ready for when tragedy struck. He was the only place they could go with a top 3 recruiting class coming in that year(Al, Woods, Walker). he has had TONS of top talent. And now, he has nothing. Their starting lineup will SUCK next year. He hasn’t been able to recruit. This is why he is getting fired. While there are similarities between Dino/Sid in the hiring fashion(ie. last/only resort hiring), Dino took a top 10 talent program run by Skip and was not able to recruit any top talent himself. Sid is starting to recruit top talent to a program with NO talent when Herb left. Look at the last 2 years grads(ie Herb guys)…no talent there(Costner/Horn(love him, but not talented), Ferg, Farn)…at least Sid is showing he can recruit, which is 90% of coaching no matter what anyone says.

  3. Wulfpack 04/08/2010 at 7:40 AM #

    Wolfmanmat, Brad Stevens agrees that coaching college basketball is 90 percent recruiting…

    Dino’s recruiting has been fine. He was one of the reasons Prosser’s recruiting was so good. Wellman made it very clear that this was a results based decision and nothing else. He said it over and over again.

  4. Rick 04/08/2010 at 8:07 AM #

    “This is why I’m starting to hate my alma mater.”

    Unfortunately this is the truth.
    We sit by and suck, suck suck. Wake at least makes the tournament and is unhappy with their results. I am sickened by it. We are a joke and a laughing stock.

  5. LRM 04/08/2010 at 8:11 AM #

    “Glad they don’t have a penny of my money in 2010. Better late than never to wake the hell up.”

    To be honest BJD, based on experiences relayed to me by several folks in my tailgatin group, it will be sometime around 2012 before anyone in the WPC figures that out (2013 if you hadn’t sent the letter).

  6. PackHooligan 04/08/2010 at 8:13 AM #

    Dino has actually recruited very well, they have a good class coming in next year. The past two years Wake’s most talented players (Johnson, Aminu) have been head cases.

    I agree with whoever said that Wellman probably realized the inevitable: that Dino was never going to have Wake challenging for championships. Instead of waiting for the inevitable, he made a decision.

    I have a somewhat hard time believing that Stevens will leave Butler, since all the core guys on that team are coming back. If it were me, I would want to try for another championship run. But if someone offers him a boatload of money . . .

  7. Rick 04/08/2010 at 8:14 AM #

    “Sid has AT LEAST one more year. Maybe two. And well he should”
    “Sorry. I’m not sold on Stevens. ”

    You are “not sold” on a coach that took a group of sophomores to the NCAA tournament game in his third year but think a coach who has peaked with a ninth place finish (one game out of last) should get another year.

    I tell you some people have lost all perspective when it comes to Lowe. He has done NOTHING to deserve to stay one more year. The only reason I do not want him gone is because Fowler would run the search and he is so incompetent he might hire Bennie Bolton. But to indicate that the “anti Sid crowd” is wrong to think the basketball is not headed in the right direction is just plain idiotic. If you want to think that, fine, but you need to realize you are basing that on nothing but hope and supposition because there is no real reason to think Sid will ever succeed. He might but there is no proof that he ever will and odds are severely stacked against him.

  8. blackdom 04/08/2010 at 8:25 AM #

    Unreal if Stevens, Drew, Barnes etc take jobs in the league we are in big trouble. It is amazing how so many are stunned when other programs look for and demand results. Here already we are not only hearing year 5 of WTNY there are rumblings now about well maybe WTNNY?
    “Not sold on Stevens” Have you seen Butler play? Can you see a structure in both their offense and defense?

  9. Tampa-Pack 04/08/2010 at 9:00 AM #

    Hello, my name is Tampa-Pack, and I too am “beginning to hate my alma mater”. There I said it, and it feels sort of good, kind of like therapy. Unlike some of you, I haven’t been lucky enough to live through any highest levels of success at NC State. I moved to NC around 1987, so my best memories of being a state fan on the court include Fire and Ice, Gugs, and Jules. The furthest I remember going in the tournament was our most recent sweet 16. Maybe things will change (I do have high hopes for the new Chancellor – first time since MAF) or maybe we are just stuck in this “groundhog’s day”. It really sucks to see teams we should easily compete with win championships and others make big changes when they don’t….

    No wonder we continue to finish so poorly in the Director Cup standings…….

  10. LRM 04/08/2010 at 9:03 AM #

    Frankly, you’re nothing but obtuse if you’ll argue against Stevens and for Sid.

  11. JEOH2 04/08/2010 at 9:16 AM #

    I don’t know if anyone posted this…but it sounds very familiar to us…

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_glockner/04/07/gaudio.wake/index.html?eref=sihp

  12. Rick 04/08/2010 at 9:18 AM #

    LRM,
    That is a far nicer word than I would use for it.

  13. Daily Update 04/08/2010 at 9:36 AM #

    If we could hire Stevens, then we should do it immediately. If there is any other coach that is a “must hire” type of name that would take our job, then we should hire whoever that coach is immediately. However, I consider any of these candidates unlikely possibilities at this time because our top donors know nothing about college athletics.

    Unfortunately, our top donors decided to position NC State so that it was impossible to replace Sidney Lowe at the end of this year when they continued Lee Fowler’s employment past last school year. Fowler should have been replaced last Spring with Purcell as interim AD and we should have shopped the job last off-season to guys like Sean Miller. If that didn’t work out, then we would be in position to make a change this year.

    As it stands, Sidney is being retained for two reasons and neither has anything to do with belief in his abilities to be successful at NC State:

    1. Retaining Sidney significantly upgrades our talent.

    2. The top donors at NC State retained Lee Fowler last year.

    I really don’t see why people argue over Sidney’s abilities as a coach. His coaching abilities aren’t why he is being retained. Not to mention, I would consider the odds greater than 50% that he won’t be our coach 12 months from now.

  14. LRM 04/08/2010 at 9:58 AM #

    Nice (depressing) insights, Daily.

    It befuddles me that Big Donors can be so content and reactive, especially knowing they most surely didn’t get to the position of Big Donors by being that way.

  15. BJD95 04/08/2010 at 10:19 AM #

    The sabermetric community (baseball) has a good term – “wishcasting” – which applies to us. It’s the opposite of making hard, ballsy decisions to actually take control of your destiny and make something happen.

  16. choppack1 04/08/2010 at 11:12 AM #

    I’ve come to the conclusion that our “PTB” are so risk averse that they won’t make a decision until things have gotten so bad that it’s obvious to everyone that a change needs to be made.

    The PTB’s worst fear seems to be that we could look bad in the national limelight as a result of an athletic department that skirts the rules and/or is subject to the whims of its fanbase.

    It’s as if they want to say:
    We want to be known as an academic institution that doesn’t really emphasize athletics like traditional large schools do.

    Yet – they also want us to have first-rate facilities and want their alums to pony up the money. That our big money donors continue to pony this money up is probably what kills us.

    I can tell you right now – that if things don’t change – when I retire and when I’m dead and buried – zero dollars will be going to NC State University.

    I’ll continue to buy season football tickets – but I’m disgusted about our athletic department right now.

    I was in a good mood until I heard Dino was fired…It’s one of those moments that really brings things home. You realize that you graduated from a school that if it succeeds – it will be a fluke.

  17. DRW 04/08/2010 at 11:55 AM #

    Does anyone know if the public is allowed to make comments at BOT meetings? I almost want to do it and ask them why they continue to accept mediocrity.

  18. Rochester 04/08/2010 at 12:15 PM #

    First off, I think there’s zero chance we get Brad Stevens. Good things like that don’t happen to us. But anyone who would rather have Sid, well, you’re crazy. The defense we heard for our low expectations all year was we didn’t have the top talent to finish any better.

    Stevens came within a clank off the rim of a national title with a roster made up of three 3-star recruits and a bunch of 2-star recruits. His starting lineup: Matt Howard (3 stars), Gordon Hayward (2), Shelvin Mack (2), Ronald Nored (2), Willie Veasley (2). Either the recruiting rankings are a joke (possible) or someone coached these boys up. They played incredible team defense, which if you listen to some people on this site shouldn’t be possible with anything less than a roster full of 5-star players.

    If Brad Stevens had our roster this year, we would have finished a hell of a lot higher than a game out of last place.

  19. choppack1 04/08/2010 at 12:31 PM #

    Rochester – I do think it’s fair to say, “Just because he succeeded at Butler doesn’t mean he’ll succeed in a major conference.”

    And that’s true – Lickliter was just run out of Iowa very quickly. However, the opposite is certainly just as likely to be true…I see him more likely to be a Rick Pitino or Rick Barnes than a Todd Lickliter.

    Unfortunately, I have a feeling that we’ll get to find out. You know that both Clemson and Wake are going to making a full-court press for this guy. Speaking of which – has University of Nike-West made their hire yet??

  20. Rochester 04/08/2010 at 12:39 PM #

    Chop – you are correct. There are no guarantees. But he sure beat some major conference teams to a pulp over the last few weeks.

    I really hope he stays at Butler. He gets almost everyone back and should have another great season there. The only key players they lose to graduation are Veasley and Avery Jukes. Usually when a mid-major makes a great run they do it with a senior-laden lineup. This was not the case for Butler.

  21. bradleyb123 04/08/2010 at 12:51 PM #

    Hmm… of Butler and NC State’s common opponents, who fared better? State beat Duke, Butler lost to Duke. Butler was good, but they feasted on weak opponents for most of the season, then got hot in the tournament. The so-called good teams that they beat were either not that good (Michigan State), or they were faltering late in the season (Syracuse).

    And if Butler had been in the ACC, would they have gotten a 5-seed? Would they have gotten in at all?

    Everyone needs to stop worshiping at the altar of Brad Stevens. He may be good. He may not be good. He has proven nothing. Everyone would be better-served to stop worrying so much about him.

  22. choppack1 04/08/2010 at 12:51 PM #

    If he stays and can do it next year – that would remove any doubt that I have about his abilities.

    It’s one thing to do what they did this year – it’s another to do it when you have bulls-eye on your jersey – and they will.

    This actually was the run the NCAAs were looking for for a long time. They’ve had some mid majors seeded pretty highly before, but none made a run like this. It shouldn’t be terribly surprising for a 5 seed to make a run (essentially, they are only “shocking the system” for a few games) – but what made Butler’s run unusual was the perception of them as a traditional mid-major.

    I don’t think that’s quite accurate. They’re really much closer to a Gonzaga or Utah (when Majerus was the coach) than a George Mason, Cleveland State or Richmond.

  23. Thinkpack17 04/08/2010 at 12:57 PM #

    Michigan State is not that good? We as State fans should never be allowed to say a team that made the final four…in ANY year…is “not that good.”

  24. LRM 04/08/2010 at 1:05 PM #

    “He has proven nothing.”

    Seriously?

    Personally I thought Stevens’ coaching job in the NCAAT was nothing short of pure brilliance. He had a team that, without a true PG or a dominant big man, couldn’t hit FTs (68%) or block shots (seven total in six games), and played the entire tournament with an eight-man rotation that lived in foul trouble.

    Yet Brad Stevens limited the damage from this handicap by playing swarmy, aggressive half-court defense — Butler forced 14.8 turnovers per game against only 9.8 of its own, and held opponents to 42% from the floor — that made every single offensive possession count. His Butler team allowed 60+ points only to Duke.

    And his Butler team beat Syracuse, Kansas State and Michigan State, and then played the ACC Champion to the final shot…and yet there are people that need more proof Stevens can coach at the highest level?

  25. LRM 04/08/2010 at 1:18 PM #

    “It’s no surprise that the anti-Sid crowd is using these coaching changes as an opportunity to bash Sid. Never mind that it serves NO PURPOSE to do so because Sid has AT LEAST one more year. Maybe two. And well he should. The basketball team IS heading in the right direction — every bit as much as the football team, and maybe more so.”

    Bradleyb, let’s be very clear here: I’m not anti-Sid, I’m anti-losing. And for four years that’s all Sid has done. You’re obviously not a fan of Stevens because he hasn’t proven anything to you.

    So I’m curious what Sid has proven to you and why you feel he deserves another year (or two).

1 … 3 4 5 6 7

Leave a Reply