ACC: Wake Forest Starts Over

In an article earlier this month I discussed a program that once held a high place in the ACC basketball hierarchy that had recently fallen on hard times. That program was Georgia Tech, but they are not the only school that fits that description. Tucked away and almost forgotten in North Carolina, the place comedian John Oliver recently described as the land of barbecue and tobacco, sits Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons have a rich history on the hardwood that includes four ACC tournament championships and four ACC regular season championships. The ’90s saw talented players such as Randolph Childress and Tim Duncan lead the team. The 2000s brought future NBA talents like Chris Paul, Jeff Teague, Josh Howard, Ish Smith, Al-Farouq Aminu, and James Johnson to Lawrence Joel Coliseum. As recently as 2010 the Deacs found themselves in the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

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In the 2000s they were a program to be feared and had replaced NC State as the third-best program in the state. Some might even argue they were on par with Duke and North Carolina for a better part of that decade.

Skip Prosser came to Winston-Salem from Xavier in 2001 to replace longtime Wake Forest coach Dave Odom who curiously left for South Carolina after a season in which the team made the NCAA tournament. Prosser proceeded to turn Wake Forest into one of the best teams in the ACC. He led the team to the NCAA tournament in each of his first four seasons and even competed for ACC titles.

Led by future NBA player Josh Howard, Prosser’s 2003 squad won the ACC regular season championship. The next season a freshman named Chris Paul came to town and led the Demon Deacons to a Sweet 16 appearance. Through most of his tenure, Prosser’s teams were fun to watch and competitive, even if they did not have elite postseason success.

Sadly, after the 2007 season Prosser passed away from a massive heart attack after jogging on campus. The Wake Forest community was saddened by the loss of a great man and a great leader. The university turned the basketball program over to longtime Prosser assistant Dino Gaudio.

Feb 1, 2014; Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons guard Codi Miller-McIntyre (0) goes up for a shot while Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets forward Marcus Georges-Hunt (3) defends during the first half at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /

Gaudio guided the team to NCAA tournament in the final two of his three seasons, but after the 2010 season he was fired. Athletic Director Ron Wellman cited poor late season play as the reason for Gaudio’s firing.

To replace Gaudio, Wellman elected to hire a friend and former Colorado and Denver Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik. Rather than only performing poorly late in the season, Bzdelik’s Wake Forest teams performed poorly all the time.

Bzdelik’s four year stint was characterized by losing seasons and poor recruiting classes. Wake Forest went 51-76 (17-51) during this time, only managing one winning season. That winning season came last season when the team went 17-16, but 6-12 in conference, good enough for 13th in the ACC standings.

Bzdelik was mercifully fired at the end of the season ending a bleak chapter in Wake Forest basketball history. After a long search Wake Forest tabbed former NBA player and Kansas Jayhawk legend Danny Manning as their next head coach.

Manning had been coaching at Tulsa, where he had just led the Golden Hurricane to a regular season conference championship and a trip to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Though he only has two years of head coaching experience, Manning clearly knows the game of basketball.

He was a four-year player for Larry Brown at Kansas, which culminated in an unlikely national championship during the 1988 season. During the ensuing NBA Draft, Manning was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers. After a 15-year career he returned to Kansas, where he would serve as an assistant until being plucked away by Tulsa.

Mar 5, 2014; Winston-Salem, NC, USA; Wake Forest Demon Deacons forward Devin Thomas (2) reacts during the second half against the Duke Blue Devils at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Wake defeated Duke 82-72. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports /

Manning walks into a situation with low expectations. Four consecutive losing seasons have made the fan base eager for any sign of progress. Last season’s squad may not have had much success, but they were a competitive bunch, knocking off Duke, North Carolina, and NC State.

Returning from 2014 is leading scorer and point guard Cody Miller-McIntyre, second leading scorer and primary post threat Devin Thomas, starting guard Madison Jones, and an assortment of little used role players such as Aaron Rountree and Andre Washington.

A poor recruiting class led by point guard Mitchell Wilbekin (brother of Scottie) will be aided by highly regarded redshirt freshman forward Greg McClinton who sat out last season after tearing his ACL during his senior year of high school. McClinton will be asked to take on a fairly large role in the offense and will likely be the third scoring option behind Miller-McIntyre and Thomas.

It will be an inexperienced group, and Manning will count on juniors Miller-McIntyre, and Thomas for leadership and carrying much of the scoring load. How they handle this responsibility and the development of these role players will play a large part in how far Wake Forest goes this season.

Manning has his work cut out for him, but results will not be the most important thing. This season is about rebuilding a once successful program into something Wake Forest can be proud of. Being the competitor that he is, I’m sure Manning will have much more lofty goals.

Don’t expect the Demon Deacons to make an NCAA tournament run this season, but as 21st century philosopher Kevin Garnett once said, anything is possible. Maybe Manning will bring “Danny and the Miracles Part 2” to the ACC.