In Praise of the Deacons

Today, nearly every North Carolinian (with the exception of our own Cardiff Giant) was a Deacon in spirit. As we watched Jim Grobe’s charges work their magic one last time – despite being far from their best, I hope all NC State fans learned a valuable lesson.

Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s “unrealistic” to expect championships. Your response to such people should be “Screw you, Wake just did it. In football, for God’s sake!” They also did it in the post-expansion era, when some people claimed just making any old bowl game should be the limit of our expectations. That’s complete crap, and Wake just proved it. With the right coach, pretty much any damned thing is possible. It doesn’t hurt to have a top-notch athletic director steering the ship, either. Ron Wellman deserves alot of credit, too. Without him, would Grobe even still be there?

Yes, talent is important. Yes, championships for the Wake Forests of the world will likely be less frequent than for the Ohio States and Floridas. But don’t ever let anyone tell you that it can never be done.

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General NCS Football

42 Responses to In Praise of the Deacons

  1. mwcric 12/03/2006 at 1:42 AM #

    Here’s a sobering statistic: the last two ACC champions from N.C. are Wake Forest and Duke (1989). Eeesh.

    That said, congrats to Wake for their first title since I was four months old!

  2. mwcric 12/03/2006 at 1:46 AM #

    BTW, SFN, maybe you guys could send some love Adrian Wilson’s way. He’s quietly having another banner year in the desert and is the subject of a couple of good articles this weekend:
    http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=79870; and
    http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061130/APS/611302595&cachetime=3&template=dateline.

    Sorry to post here, wasn’t sure how else to get in touch. Thanks!

  3. DixieBoy 12/03/2006 at 2:20 AM #

    Now another one of the basement dwellers from the 90’s has managed to win a league title in this decade! First the Twerps, now Wake. Pretty sickening to watch but I would rather have it be them then Tech. Ball is the worst 4 yr. starting qb of all time. He’s so short he seriously can’t throw over his line.
    With all the former bottom dwellers winning it though; there certainly isn’t any reason why we can’t. unless of course you use the lee fowler logic!

  4. Wolfpack4ever 12/03/2006 at 4:52 AM #

    DixieBoy Says: “there certainly isn’t any reason why we can’t. unless of course you use the lee fowler logic!”

    Help me here, what is the “lee fowler logic?”

  5. class of 74 12/03/2006 at 7:10 AM #

    Thank you for acknowledging Ron Wellman’s influence. He may be the best AD in the ACC. He found and secured Jim Grobe without the need of a search firm to do so. And by the way LF, your comment about facilities holding our programs down doesn’t hold water as usual, look at the Deac’s facilities pardner. Great job and my hat’s off to the Deac’s.

  6. graywolf 12/03/2006 at 7:46 AM #

    Wake has a great AD in Wellman and he found the right coach in Grobe. Congratulations to Wake and their accomplishments.

    Now its time for NC State’s administration to realize the same thing and go out to accomplish that goal….championships. If for some reason an administrator does not understand this concept then its time to move on to someone that does live by this premise.

  7. 86ncsu95 12/03/2006 at 8:18 AM #

    Let’s see if Wake repeats and then we will talk about how great they all are. One great season doesn’t make a dynasty. I have been through the flash in the pan years (1983 rings a bell). The greatness couldn’t be sustained under Casey or Valvano. Grobe is a good coach, maybe even a great coach, but the expectations of Wake fans are lower than what we have. Could Wellman thrive because one season the football team put together a great season? Does that really mean he is a better AD than LF (okay probably, but he is at a school a quarter of the size of ours)? We had Wake in our own house this year and blew it. That was our football coach and players, not our AD. Everybody wanted a nationally prominent b’ball coach and LF went after two of the best that were probably available. He has done what you wanted. I suppose you would rather have TT or LR back at the helm? Anyway, get off the LF slights during the search. I can tell you our reputation is sagging as a place. As a football coach I would think twice before leaving a secure position to come to a hornet’s nest like NC State not knowing that the AD who hired me would be around or not.

  8. jmrncsu1991 12/03/2006 at 8:38 AM #

    To add another feather in Wake’s athletics cap, their men’s soccer team narrowly lost in the Final Four yesterday. I wonder how they are managing such a high level of sucess with limited funds, limited facilities, and one of the smallest student bodies in the nation???? Effective leadership and great coaches???

  9. teacher 12/03/2006 at 8:42 AM #

    No one said Wake was a dynasty. But they did have a great season. They came in and beat us at home. They shut out FSU in Tal. They had a great season. Congratulate them. I don’t see them being much different next year. They had a freshman QB and played like 5 different RB’s. The thing about WF, is that JIM GROBE’S SYSTEM WORKS! We have no “system” to speak of here. We never had. Philip Rivers had his own surreal system. NC State football hasn’t had a “system” in years. A football system comes with much patience and discipline…which we have neither.

  10. choppack1 12/03/2006 at 9:06 AM #

    86ncsu – It is doubtful that Wake is building a dynasty. However, you can’t help but be impressed w/ what Wellman has done there.

    He’s found a football coach who can win a conference championship in a BCS conference. Note – this coach doesn’t compare himself to Frank Beamer when asked if his program is heading in the right direction. He actually arrived at a football program in WORSE SHAPE, with much less recent success, and in less time reached a pinnacle our guy couldn’t reach.

    Regarding the b’ball hire – he did a rather painless search and hired a well-respected HC in Skip Prosser. Now, I think Skip may be overrated – and is probably actually feeling some heat now, but his first 4 years were very rewarding for Wake.

    They have solid soccer programs, and have a women’s field hockey team that actually won a NC. Now, compare those results to Lee’s.

  11. class of 74 12/03/2006 at 9:15 AM #

    Bottomline: Wake has a Lexus of an AD and we have an Edsel, maybe a Yugo or Trabant. Always remember it’s people that make the difference not places or things (facilities)!

  12. oldflyingfarmer 12/03/2006 at 9:41 AM #

    Either way, congratulations to Wake on their win.

  13. OwenDorm83 12/03/2006 at 9:47 AM #

    Let’s see if Wake repeats and then we will talk about how great they all are. One great season doesn’t make a dynasty. I have been through the flash in the pan years (1983 rings a bell). The greatness couldn’t be sustained under Casey or Valvano.

    They have repeatedly kicked our tail in football. What’s our record against them recently?

    Flash in the pan years? Gimme a break. 1983 run was special, but V had some great teams in those years (1985, 1986, 1988, 1989). Really only had two years that were down (1984 and 1987). Other than that, you really didn’t want any of us (ask Kentucky, Louisville, SMU, etc.). Couple free throws from going to the final 8 again. The traveling call Corch/Mourning from going to final 8 again.

    Hope Sid can get us back to that flash in the pan level. Maybe the breaks will go our way again…

  14. OwenDorm83 12/03/2006 at 9:48 AM #

    PS – Congrats to the DEACS! Deac fans must be VERY proud of their team, coach, AD right now. They are the kind of team that would make anyone proud.

  15. 86ncsu95 12/03/2006 at 9:52 AM #

    Well, we don’t have field hockey, but we did dominate in Cross Country again – our dynasty – and we have a national champion swimmer. I’m not defending LF per se, I’m just saying now is not the time for this discussion. Wellman has been there 14 years. We’ve had 3 different ADs in 14 years. As teacher points out, patience.

    Wake had a great season….I’m not taking anything away from them, just saying this isn’t a dynasty in the making.

    The Wolfpack sports excellent declined significantly prior to LF and I think he has a real challenge in front of him. We haven’t won a FB ACC title in almost 30 years. LF didn’t hire CTC so that isn’t a hire we can blame on him. All I’m saying is it seems the man wouldn’t fire HS quick as soon as others wanted and we are after his head for that. I certainly can appreciate it would be difficult to release a coach who took a team with less than stellar talent to the NCAA tournament several years in a row. On paper, it didn’t make sense. To those of us with a little passion about the program, it couldn’t happen soon enough.

    The timing is just wrong. Let the man bring his coach in and let’s see.

  16. BJD95 12/03/2006 at 9:54 AM #

    I love the saying about luck being the confluence of preparation and opportunity. You can call it a fluke or a flash in the pan – but Wake was prepared and seized their opportunity. We were NOT prepared, and in the SAME weak ACC, turned a 2-0 start into 2-6 overall, better than only winless Duke.

    Nobody is saying that Wake will be a perennial power. But when opportunity knocks again, would you bet against them taking advantage? That’s something to be celebrated, not derided.

  17. KChill 12/03/2006 at 9:56 AM #

    Who cares about a dynasty? I just want to win one!!!!

  18. BJD95 12/03/2006 at 10:07 AM #

    We are coming up on the 20th anniversary of NC State’s last revenue sports championship – one achieved by one of V’s WORST teams. We can’t look down our noses at any flashes in the pan.

  19. Wolfpack4ever 12/03/2006 at 10:12 AM #

    jmrncsu1991 Says: “To add another feather in Wake’s athletics cap, their men’s soccer team narrowly lost in the Final Four yesterday.”

    If narrow loses put a feather in your cap, Amato would be wearing an indian headdress after this year.

  20. Barry Saunders 12/03/2006 at 10:13 AM #

    I don’t know fellas. Is it really reasonable to expect a championship in football when we have to complete in the same media market with Duke and UNC? We should just be happy with our rightful place in the backseat.

    -Lee Fowler.

  21. Cardiff Giant 12/03/2006 at 10:23 AM #

    I admire Jim Grobe immensely and the Wake football team as well, though a little less so than the former. What I can’t stand are their girlish internet fans, as rattly a collection of tools as can be seen throughout the virtual world.

    Congrats to Grobe and his team. As for Wake fans, you still suck.

  22. Cardiff Giant 12/03/2006 at 10:24 AM #

    “Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s “unrealistic” to expect championships. Your response to such people should be “Screw you, Wake just did it.”

    This was a SPECTACULARLY accurate comment.

  23. Buddygreen 12/03/2006 at 10:26 AM #

    Valvano, Flash in the pan? NCAA championship, final 8, sweet sixteen, and two ACC Championships! In what eigth years. 83 was not a flash in the pan.

    Congrats to Wake. Shows what red shirting, player development, recruiting smart disciplined kids, recruiting football players not just athletes, and good coaching can do. Very happy for Wake Forest and a great post. Don’t let anyone tell you what you CANNOT do!

    One thing I have noticed with many successful coaches that accept other jobs, they bring their entire staff with them. Grobe and Sheridan come to mind. I hope we look to someone that brings an entire team of respectibilty with them like Wake Forest did. Our next coach will need to be someone that brings a staff with them or can recruit a great staff. Very important.

  24. wolfonthehill 12/03/2006 at 10:32 AM #

    The fact that a program with as solid a history as NC State hasn’t even fluked its way to a revenue championship in ~20 years is staggering.

    Maryland has gone to the Orange Bowl. Wake’s going to the Orange Bowl. As referenced above, DUKE has won a more recent revenue championship than the Pack. Ga Tech, which was horrid in football for much of my lifetime, has won not only a conference but a shared National Championship in football. Maryland has won ACC titles and a National Title in basketball.

    And we’re told that we expect too much. “Screw you!” should indeed be the appropriate response to that tripe from now on…

  25. tvp 12/03/2006 at 10:33 AM #

    I’m with CG. This sucks.

    But if this doesn’t sell people on Paul Johnson for our HC, I don’t know what will.

    Knowing our AD, Grobe will get hired away, Wake will quickly snatch up PJ while we dither, and in January we’ll finally hire someone after we’ve lost the entire recruiting class.

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