So let me get this straight…Dino Gaudio takes over a struggling Wake Forest basketball program (32-33 over the two years prior) because of the untimely death of the well-liked Skip Prosser. He responds by going 61-31 over his 3 years and leads Wake Forest to their first #1 ranking ever. How do they reward him?

Well, by firing him of course! Athletic Director Ron Wellman’s reasoning?

“A pattern of late-season fades.”

You’re FIRING me!?

Excuse me? A pattern of late-season fades? Wake has only been to the Elite 8 one time since the tourny went to 64 teams. Their only Final Four was in 1962, way back when Billy Packer was in school. Ron Wellman has been the AD at Wake Forest for 18 years, so I’m pretty sure he’s aware of their long history of coming up short in the postseason. It took 12 years to fire Dave Odom. Even including 4 years of Tim Duncan he could only make the Sweet 16 three times and the Elite 8 once. Skip Prosser had 6 years with only one Sweet 16 appearance before his tragic death, and he didn’t get that until his 4th season. The Demon Deacons are perennial underachievers in March. That’s just what Wake Forest does. Everyone knows it…except Ron Wellman, apparently.

As soon as I heard of Gaudio’s firing, the first thing that came to mind was, “They want Brad Stevens.” NCAA basketball’s hottest young thing. He’s young, well spoken, and he just took Butler…yeah BUTLER…to the NCAA championship game. Plus he just looks like a Wake Forest guy. (Don’t ask me what that means because I’m not sure…he just does).

Then Stevens went and signed a 12 year extension at Butler. Probably a smart decision. In today’s game, unless you’re in the Hall of Fame, coaches at any major D-1 school are perpetually on the hot seat. If Brad Stevens goes to Wake Forest (or any other major D-1 school), his expectations immediately go through the roof. He saw what they did to Dino after the success he had. Why would he want the same thing to happen to him? After his impressive run this season, leading his team to an NCAA Runner-up finish, he’s now a legend at Butler. He’ll be treated like royalty there for the remainder of his time. I’d stay too!

So what does Wake do? Well, they hire Jeff Bzdelik, of course.

Wait…who?

Jeff Bzdelik has already perfected the “disappointed in his team” look through years of practice.

I had forgotten about him too, so I had to look up the details. His stellar coaching history includes a 73-119 record in two seasons as head coach of the Denver Nuggets and a 36-58 record in 3 seasons at Colorado. His only success? A two year stint at Air Force in the middle, where he went 50–16 in the abysmal Mountain West Conference. He did lead them to the NIT Final Four in his 2nd season, so I guess that was an accomplishment.

So why would they hire Bzdelik? The only thing I can think of is that in his second season at Air Force, they beat Wake Forest 94-58. Wake Forest was bad that year, finishing 11th in the ACC with a 15-16 record, but perhaps the clinic Bzdelik’s team put on in Colorado Springs stuck in Wellman’s head.

This turn of events makes no sense to me. They can say it was because of poor post season play (1-5 under Gaudio), but this was as good of a case as any of a guy who didn’t get a fair shake.

Skip Prosser would be very disappointed.

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Update (4/14/2010):  I’m not the only one who thinks this hire is bizarre! Check out this searing article from The Gazette in Colorado Springs. And here’s another article from The Gazette about his sudden departure from Air Force three years ago. It sounds like a he pulled a Mack Brown!