Wake Forest fires Dino Gaudio

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.

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166 Responses to Wake Forest fires Dino Gaudio

  1. RTPMedic 04/07/2010 at 3:16 PM #

    Wow…

  2. Rochester 04/07/2010 at 3:21 PM #

    That’s 25% of the ACC coaches turning over already this offseason with Oliver Purnell and Al Skinner gone. Purnell quitting surprised me the most, but this one is right behind it.

    So if a .663 winning percentage isn’t good enough at Wake Forest, how long would someone with barely a .500 overall record last? And do fans at Wake Forest, Clemson and BC have no expectations to be competitive for five years now because of these changes?

  3. LKNpackfan 04/07/2010 at 3:22 PM #

    Dino’s record at WFU:
    2007-2008 17-13 (7-9) T-7th
    2008-2009 24-7 (11-5) T-2nd NCAA 1st Round
    2009-2010 20-11 (9-7) 5th NCAA 2nd Round

  4. Derek Medlin 04/07/2010 at 3:22 PM #

    You have to wonder if something else is going on here…time will tell.

  5. Clarksa 04/07/2010 at 3:23 PM #

    Double wow…any doubt Wellman is one of the best in the biz?*

    …and Derek is right, may be more to this than a firing on performance.

  6. StateFans 04/07/2010 at 3:25 PM #

    I will tell you what else is going on here…Ron Wellman rocks and doesn’t put up with failing to live up to standards and under performing.

    How much do you want to bet that he is already prepared and this ‘search’ will be smooth? (if there is a search at all).

  7. LKNpackfan 04/07/2010 at 3:27 PM #

    ^ search lasts 1 week, tops.

  8. StateFans 04/07/2010 at 3:27 PM #

    I just got a call from Augusta on this. You will be sick when you hear on whom ‘the chatter’ focuses for this job.

    BTW…I’m also hearing a lot of interest from Clemson on Scott Drew. I can promise you if he can recruit to Waco, he would be able to recruit to Clemson.

  9. hoop 04/07/2010 at 3:30 PM #

    The numbers don’t add up to being fired.

    IIRC, a 2nd place ACC finish and a 5th place ACC finish, 2 NCAA tournament appearances, and he gets fired?

    There’s no way it’s for underperforming.

  10. hoop 04/07/2010 at 3:31 PM #

    ^^Sick of hearing about…. hmmm…. must be Rick Barnes?

  11. StateFans 04/07/2010 at 3:37 PM #

    We had this converastion on a thread on the message boards the last couple of days — if Ron Wellman (insert AD here) is able to secure a coach that is clearly better than Dino Gaudio – regardless of Gaudio’s numbers – would/should he pull the trigger on that improvement?

    IMHO, it doesn’t matter what the historical numbers support if you can clearly do better. In the humble of opninion of the lazy morons in West Raleigh, nothing matters.

  12. StateFans 04/07/2010 at 3:37 PM #

    All you need to know is in the entry about the man who doesn’t make excuses.

    ^This is why you read SFN

  13. Clarksa 04/07/2010 at 3:38 PM #

    Maybe we need to start hiring coaches who are jackasses instead of nice guys so it is easier to fire them? Think Doherty/Amato/Leito?

  14. PackMan97 04/07/2010 at 3:38 PM #

    My worst nightmare…Brad Stevens announced as the new head coach at Wake Forest.

    Of course, Scott Drew or Rick Barnes would also rate high in the “sleep lost” category.

    There is no doubt that a competent AD is always looking to upgrade talent if the current crew isn’t getting it done. Sadly, Fowler is not competent.

  15. jbpackfan 04/07/2010 at 3:39 PM #

    If Wake hires Rick Barnes, we should march on NC State’s campus and have Lee Fowler physically removed from his office.

  16. PackHooligan 04/07/2010 at 3:45 PM #

    From what I hear, there are a lot of parallels between Dino and Amato in how they “work” with their staff members. My guess is that Wellman already has someone pretty much lined up for the position, and its probably not Rusty LaRue.

  17. tvp1 04/07/2010 at 3:50 PM #

    holy crap.

  18. Wolfman300 04/07/2010 at 3:51 PM #

    I recall hearing that Wake only hired Gaudio as coach because the players fought really hard for him to replace Prosser. I heard that Wake didn’t really want to hire him but gave into the players wishes. Anyone else remember this or heard anything similar?

  19. sbas2 04/07/2010 at 3:52 PM #

    eye catching news, but not that surprising. at backing the pack i commented more than once about how Dino’s teams performed poorly at the end of the season. he did recruit well though.

  20. StateFans 04/07/2010 at 3:52 PM #

    Rumors in college basketball circles at this moment are focused on the individual featured in this link.

  21. Wulfpack 04/07/2010 at 3:53 PM #

    This begs the question, what’s the better job between Wake and Clemson?

    Boy is the ACC going to look a lot different next year, for better or for worse. Something tells me Wellman is going to make a great hire.

  22. Derek Medlin 04/07/2010 at 3:54 PM #

    Wake is better…and it’s not even close.

  23. jbpackfan 04/07/2010 at 3:55 PM #

    ^^f&*k

  24. PackHooligan 04/07/2010 at 3:55 PM #

    Wake is a way better job imo

  25. Prowling Woofie 04/07/2010 at 4:01 PM #

    Given his performance at a small, high-academic-standards school, I would have to think Brad Stevens is at the top of WFU’s list.

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