Interesting hire.
I doubt that he's got a lot of East Coast contacts, but comes with a good rep as a bench coach.
Credit Wake with getting it done pretty quickly - which will help in retaining that excellent recruiting class they have coming in.
Welcome to the new Wake Forest coach.
Can someone do a phonetic spelling of Bzdelik for me please?
Or will he be referred to as Coach B?
I understand that if Coach B has good success his first season that Huck is going to change the spelling of his name to Williamz.
Coach Dub?
hud
Interesting hire.
I doubt that he's got a lot of East Coast contacts, but comes with a good rep as a bench coach.
Credit Wake with getting it done pretty quickly - which will help in retaining that excellent recruiting class they have coming in.
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
Per The Baltimore Sun, the phonetic spelling is buzz-Del-ick.
There are going to be a lot of frustrated Wake fans. There isn't a lot of proven head-coaching success here. I'm not saying it's a bad hire... just that it doesn't look compelling on the surface.
Lotsa coaches on the market....this doesn't seem to be an earth shaker, but we shall see...
Welcome to the ACC, coach...
No reason Wake can't have a very successful program. They've been able to recruit well over the last few years, but needed in upgrade in coaching strategy and style.
Frankly, I hope the new coach brings a less physical style of play. Some of our games with Wake have been extremely rough. After getting pushed around, and beat a few times, Coach K has had the team fired up for combat in recent meetings with Wake.
Hope AD Wellman didn't put all his eggs in the Stevens basket with the timing of Gaudio's firing and is in some ways settling here. Remember just a few years ago Air Force was stylish pick to make some noise in the NCAA tourney. They had good teams there for stretch. Like previous posts have stated we has an excellent rep as a bench coach but recruiting will be the biggest question mark. His NBA experience may be a plus for some recruits. Retaining a good incoming class will be priority one.
Welcome to the ACC coach B! Good luck!
Any indication on how he'll do in holding on to Wake's recruits for this year? That had a pretty good class coming in.
Maybe not a huge name, but I think he is a very good basketball coach. Will be interesting to see how he recruits though.
I checked out his picture. He sure has a long neck, bless his heart.
Love, Ima
I'm not a Wake fan, so maybe I don't have a right to comment. But let me say that as an ACC fan, I think this is a terrible hire. If I WERE a Wake fan, I'd be outraged.
Let's break down the hire:
-- Bzdelik is 57 years old. That's pretty old to start building something at Wake. It's not too old for an established coach, but I would hardly rate this guy as an established coach.
-- Bzdelik has built his career on the Princeton offense -- when he was successful at Air Force, he ran an extreme version of it -- they were one of the lowest scoring teams in the nation. I'm not saying that can't work -- Georgetown has had success with that style and Herb Sendek has had at least some success with it -- but it makes it very difficult to recruit. Few top prospects want to play that style. Bzdelik (like Sendek) has tried to sell the idea that when he gets talent, he'll run a faster version ... that pitch didn't work at Colorado ... maybe it will at Wake.
Throw in that this guy has spent the last decade in the Mountain West area -- hardly a prime recruiting ground for Wake Forest. Like Tony Bennett, he's going to have to scramble to establish his credentials in the East.
-- When Wellman fired Gaudio, he talked about Dino's postseason meltdowns. Well, Gaudio has more NCAA wins than Bzdelik -- 1-0. Think about that -- this is a 57-year-old coach who has never won an NCAA game! Not sure what his record is in conference tournaments (but he definitely didn't win the Mountain West Tournament at Air Force). At Colorado, I'm pretty sure he's never won a Big 12 Tournament game. He did have a run to the NIT Final Four, if you want to hang your hat on that.
-- When you look at his record, you see two great seasons at Air Force (24-7, 26-7). That's good, but remember that two years before his arrival, Air Force won 22 games and the Mountain West Conference title (something Bzdelik never did) under coach Joe Scott. Bzdelik won with Scott's players, then left before the impact of his own recruiting became evident.
-- At Colorado, he inherited a tough situation -- a program coming off a seven-win season. BUT it's not hopeless -- two years before his arrival, Colorado won 20 games. They played in the NCAA Tournament twice in the 10 years before his arrival. It's not like it's impossible to win there. Bzdelik did improve the program slowly -- to 12 wins to nine wins to 15-16 last season. Did they finish strong (one of Wellman's requirements)? That depends on how you figure it -- they did win three Big 12 games in a row late, but they also finished the season 5-10, including a first-round loss in the Big 12 Tournament.
That's not exactly turning it around at light-speed.
-- To me, the most impressive thing on his resume is his brief stint with the Denver Nuggets. He did improve the team a lot ... or maybe it had something to do with adding a rookie named Carmelo Anthony (plus adding a foreign star named Nene). But if he was so great, why was he fired to quickly? It's a bad sign that the Nuggets have actually been better since Bzdelik left.
Frankly, I don't understand this hire. I understand that records can be misleading -- I still remember the guy from Army with the losing record that Duke hired three decades ago. But there's a big difference between hiring Coach K as a 33-year-old and hiring this guy as a 57-year old.
I've always respected Ron Wellman, but this hire doesn't make sense. Wake Forest is a good job. Gaudio's teams have melted down late, but he's also got a strong recruiting class coming it. If you've got a great hire in your pocket, fine ... let him go. But to fire Gaudio to hire this aging clown???
I hope I'm wrong. I hope Bzdelik comes in and does a great job -- I think the ACC needs strong coaches behind K and the Williams Brothers. I just don't see it in this case.
strange hire. were this duke, i would be angry.
as has been pointed out, our skinny guy was only 33 years old. not to say the guy can't coach, but i'd never be too happy if my school hired anyone who i though was likely to retire in less than ten years. to me, the joy of watching duke these past 30+ years has not just been the success; it's been watching the greatest coach in the history of the college game grow and adapt as the game changed, while producing wonderful teams, and turning kids into outstanding young men.
granted, any coach could leave any program, and there is no guarantee that anyone will stay. there is no guarantee of a legacy, but as a fan, i'd hope for the possibility of one.
i could eat my words a few years from now, and i hope that i do.
On a toss ball reationships carry the day...at the end of the day (take note all job seekers). Build your network. AD, Ron Wellmon and Bzdelik worked together at Northwestern for several years when Wellmon was the head baseball coach and Bzdelik was an assistant basketball coach. They are old friends. He may be a great hire for Wake. I certainly hope so.
I live in Colorado and my two passions are Duke baskeball and University of Colorado sports. I don't need to explain the failures of C.U. football and basketball in recent years. My wife's sister is good friends with the Bzdelik family so I know a bit about their personal situation.
Here's my thoughts. Jeff is a really good coach. He is an excellent X and O guy. He is a man who is bright and has great character. I am very sorry to see him leave Boulder and head to Wake.
He took a miserable C.U. program and showed good improvement. I have never questioned his coaching ability but his ability to recruit big time players has not yet been proven. It is probably far easier at Wake than at C.U. but I am not convinced that he is able to recruit the players needed to succeed at an A.C.C. - Wake level.
I like him and wish him well, except when they play Duke. He is an honest, bright guy who doesn't tolerate much bad conduct or bad attitude from his players. He's the anti-Calipari.