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. packfan03 04/12/2010 at 3:45 PM #

    Granted, you are the one who says forcing the other team to shoot a 75 foot three to beat you is a tactical error, so I will take your response with a grain of salt.

  2. choppack1 04/12/2010 at 4:08 PM #

    packfan03 – Apparently, you and Lee Fowler agree on a lot.

    I’m sure he thinks Sidney Lowe was a great coaching candidate, is confident Lowe will right the ship and I’m sure he thinks that Sidney was doing the right thing by fouling your opponent when you’re still in the one and one.

    *I thought it was the height of stupidity, when you’re team is in the 1 and 1 and has been struggling from the foul line, to embrace a strategy that requires them to make foul shots in order to avoid the potential to lose the game. I thought it was stupid of Coach K to intentionally miss the foul shot last Monday.

    To me, the smart strategy is the one that makes it most likely you’ll win. Lowe’s strategy resulted in us losing. The fallout from that strategy may have cost us a few more games.

    Funny how Arizona was able to react properly to us tying a close game w/out breaking down. I guess Lowe didn’t have that confidence – he chose the “I’ll at least make it likely that someone will win this game in regulation” tactic. (It’s kind of like trying to kick a FG w/ a 1 point when you’re 4th and 1 and your FG kicker stinks w/ about 2 minutes left.) A first down wins the game, a FG which you aren’t good at, doesn’t really guarantee you anything.

    *As for as Lowe or Bzdelik – I wouldn’t hire either. I think that hiring Bzdelik is a bad move. However, I’d rather have Wellman making these choices. I think that Wellman sees himself as “ahead of the curve” on the hiring of this guy. Time will tell. Personally, I think he’ll flop at Wake.

  3. 61Packer 04/12/2010 at 4:12 PM #

    Is this hire official yet? Everyone seems to assume that it is. But I haven’t seen anything yet that confirms it. This site seems to have a lot of people who are convinced that Lee Fowler was gone but he ain’t.

  4. rtpack24 04/12/2010 at 4:58 PM #

    Apparently this is going to happen. I have met Jeff and he is very sharp and nice guy. Coaching record and age does not make sense for this to be Wake’s guy. He and Wellman go back aways but this one baffles me.

  5. Gene 04/12/2010 at 7:56 PM #

    Bzdelik had some success at Air Force 20+ years ago.

    Colorado improved from the last couple of years. UC had some decent teams at the start of the decade. They were 7-20 the year before he took over, though they did go 20-10 the two years before he took over, making the NIT.

    I don’t follow UC sports at all, so I have no idea what to make of his coaching stint there. He went 15-16 last year, so there was improvement but whether the team met expectations, underachieved or overachieved I have no idea.

    It’ll be interesting to see, if he left enough of a team for his successor at UC to win off the bat with because if he did leave a solid team behind at UC, he may do better at WFU than his record indicates and just needed one more season to “turn the corner” at UC and build a program there.

  6. ADVENTUROO 04/12/2010 at 8:45 PM #

    I’d rather LOSE with LOWE than WIN with HWSNBSOHA….so, I guess I can also add JEFF to that list. This is a truly Bizarre situation…..Wellman was GOD a few days ago….

    Could it be that, like certain residents of a large residence on PA Avenue in D.C., we find that Wellman doth NOT have the credentials for his present position….

    MY MY…twill be interesting….Jeff is coming to WAKE, you don’t set up a Buddy….Oh WAIT, you do….Lavin did it to FUF…..

    Thank god for the drama….

  7. PackerInRussia 04/12/2010 at 10:01 PM #

    Don’t forget that WF (and most other schools?) operates from a different paradigm. Our coaching hires are more like marriages whereas other AD’s will make a move one or two years later if the current coach isn’t working out (yeah I realize that that could describe many people’s approach to marriage as well, but humor me). At State, we like to stick things out as long as possible and try to make things work and look at the bright side even when they appear to be headed in the wrong direction.

  8. packfan03 04/12/2010 at 10:22 PM #

    Chop…

    eh, too much effort.

    Go State!

  9. Wulfpack 04/13/2010 at 6:46 AM #

    Rick Stansbury shuns Clemson. The ACC has quickly become a joke. What the hell is going on?

  10. Wulfpack 04/13/2010 at 8:58 AM #

    Clemson set to hire Brad Brownell from Wright State (formerly of UNCW). Great hire.

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