Fox Sports: Wake to hire Bzdelik

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Wake reaches deal with Bzdelik

Wake Forest has agreed to a deal with Colorado head coach Jeff Bzdelik, according to multiple sources.

Bzdelik, 57, has been at Colorado for the past three years and spent two seasons in the NBA as the head coach of the Denver Nuggets from 2002-04. He will replace Dino Gaudio.

He and Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman, a former college baseball coach, have a relationship that dates back to when both were at Northwestern.

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35 Responses to Fox Sports: Wake to hire Bzdelik

  1. Rochester 04/11/2010 at 6:49 PM #

    Doesn’t have the same cachet as Brad Stevens. Suddenly Wellman doesn’t look like a super genius anymore.

  2. highstick 04/11/2010 at 6:55 PM #

    Think they’d like a package deal and get Fowler???

  3. Rufftown Wolf 04/11/2010 at 6:56 PM #

    Seems like a downgrade to me. Yeah Dino lost steam at the end of the year, but what a classy guy. The real problem was when they should of let Ish Smith sit and let Jeff Teague continue to play point. They would have finished a lot better that year and probably saved his job. Maybe Wake will take our place as basement dweller.

  4. PackHooligan 04/11/2010 at 7:54 PM #

    It looks like Wellman ousted Dino to bring in his buddy. If I were a wake fan, I would be livid.

  5. tvp1 04/11/2010 at 8:53 PM #

    We are having a spirited discussion of this in the forums: http://www.statefansnationforums.com/topic.php?id=1541

  6. Avid109 04/11/2010 at 9:31 PM #

    I spoke with a guy who’s a big Wake fan earlier today, and he is not happy about this hire. He seemed to think that Wellman had a bigger “name” coach in mind, but once that choice fell through, Bzdelik was the fall-back candidate.

  7. packof81 04/11/2010 at 10:20 PM #

    Sounds like Wellman made a play out of the Foul-up handbook. I reckon we won’t be the only angry fanbase.

  8. MatSci94 04/11/2010 at 10:30 PM #

    This hire is *nothing* like the Fowler playbook. The hire was made within a week, and the new coach has college experience, as well as HC experience in a major program.

  9. wufpup76 04/12/2010 at 12:17 AM #

    Bzdelik is a system coach – a pretty good one, but still just a system coach. This hire is … interesting.

  10. Wulfpack 04/12/2010 at 6:40 AM #

    Well Sid and Bzdelik have one thing in common — they were both horrid NBA coaches. I guess the ACC is the new place for NBA failures. Hell, mine as well be with all the one-and-doners, etc.

  11. Dogbreath 04/12/2010 at 7:44 AM #

    “This hire is *nothing* like the Fowler playbook. The hire was made within a week, and the new coach has college experience, as well as HC experience in a major program.”

    …Not to mention said coach has a college degree and doesn’t have to wait until late summer to meet that prerequisite for starting the job.

  12. PoppaJohn 04/12/2010 at 9:15 AM #

    Smart that he got it done fast, we’ll have to give it a couple of seasons to judge the quality of the hire.

  13. choppack1 04/12/2010 at 9:17 AM #

    I don’t know if this is finalized yet. An article in the Winston paper indicated that Bzdelik was having second thoughts…a lot of conflicting info out there.

    Secondly, Dogbreath is right on point here. This would only be a Lee Fowler-esque type search if Bzdelik had only those years w/ the Nuggets and no college degree – and you’d been turned down by every coach w/ a pulse in public.

    I don’t think this move was made w/ Bzdelik in mind. I imagine that Wellman is on Plan C here.

    Bzdelik is an interesting hire. The chances for his success don’t look good on its surface, after all, in his 3rd year, his conference record was 6-10……

  14. rky 04/12/2010 at 10:53 AM #

    The poll on the main online page for the W-S Journal is pricesless:

    Who do you think should be the next coach at Wake Forest?
    Dave Odom
    Bob Knight
    Brad Stevens
    Johnny Dawkins
    Isiah Thomas

  15. PoppaJohn 04/12/2010 at 12:49 PM #

    Pulled from the W-S Journal comments …

    “This guy is coming from a bigger pile of ashes. I agree that Dino wasn’t a very good X’s and O’s coach, but he did have a winning record. I don’t want to see Wake Forest do the same thing State did. They got rid of a good coach and hired a former player…not a coach. That’s a thought, see if you can get Herb from Arizona State.”

  16. BassPacker 04/12/2010 at 1:03 PM #

    One of my good friends graduated from Colorado U. He now lives in Denver and follows the Buffs religously. He is absolutely amazed anyone, specially an ACC school would hire Bzdelik. He said there has to be some kind of ties to Wake for them to even consider him. I told him of the past friendship with AD Wellman. He still says that its a bad hire……..good for his Buffalos, bad for Wake.

  17. ADVENTUROO 04/12/2010 at 1:07 PM #

    WOE AM ME….

    I lost my forutne betting on Stevens for WFU, based on the idle prattle here….then I borrowed and bet on Barnes….to recover my fortune…

    As the bloggers on the N&O Site said…..now, we can be as thankful for WFU as Alabama is for Mississippi…

    This “hire” has all the makings of PLAN F…as in FOWLER….

    I will give Wellman credit….he did figure out that he was in deep doo-doo and decided that ANY coach NOW was better than a May hire as FUF did.

    Gotta love it….

    I suppose that I will have to make a cardboard sign that says….”Need Help…Destitute….Bet on WFU coaching selection” and hang out on Blue Ridge for the game next weekend…Please bring small bills….

    Thanks,

  18. gso packbacker 04/12/2010 at 1:14 PM #

    I feel badly for Wake fans. They were on tv the other day saying that they understood why they let Gaudio go and they felt like it was a good move. I’d like to hear what they’re saying now.

  19. wolfmanmat 04/12/2010 at 1:21 PM #

    This is a bad hire. He has NO ties to W/S, no ties to WF, no ties to ACC, no “positive” coaching experience(ie. not winning)..that makes this a worse hire than Sid. At least Sid is an alma matter(okay, no degree, but he went here and his name is in the rafters); he has ties to NC; he won a title here….Wake would have been better off with Rusty La Rue.

  20. TOB4PREZ 04/12/2010 at 1:25 PM #

    LOL, Wellman’s so overrated it’s scary!!
    I seem to remember a few that were singing his praises a short time ago…. wherefore art thou now?
    Good Luck Deacs….

    ^^^agree with wolfman^^^ that LaRue would have been much better.

  21. kyjelly 04/12/2010 at 1:39 PM #

    IMHO I think this guy is just keeping the seat warm for LaRue.Makes more sense than having Monte teaching Sid the ropes.

  22. packfan03 04/12/2010 at 2:24 PM #

    Even those who dislike Lowe have to admit that this hire, at best, equals that of the Lowe hire. I understand we have to wait to see if this works out, but on the surface this looks like a downgrade from Dino.

  23. newt 04/12/2010 at 3:01 PM #

    This isn’t over yet…

  24. choppack1 04/12/2010 at 3:32 PM #

    “Even those who dislike Lowe have to admit that this hire, at best, equals that of the Lowe hire.”

    You’re looking at the Sid hire again thru Lee’s glasses. In order for this to be worse than Lowe he’d have to do the following:
    *Go 4 seasons and do no better than 6-10 in conference.
    *Have ZERO college basketball coaching experience
    *In his first 4 seasons, failt to match Dino’s worst season.
    *Not have a college degree when hired.

    Hiring this coach now would be like hiring Sidney Lowe now – if Sidney had been a successfull college coach somewhere else. So, it’s really a reach that only a state fan could make to say, “This is just barely equal to hiring Sidney.”

  25. packfan03 04/12/2010 at 3:43 PM #

    chop, you really would prefer bzdelik to Lowe?

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