Read online:
Internet era much tougher on coaches, by Brett Friedlander of the
Wilmington (N.C.) Star News via his ACC Insider blog l Feb. 15, 2011
image: courtesy of
www.web30inc.com; photo courtesy of
Wilmington Star News
As the losses continue to mount for the Wake Forest basketball team, so does the criticism of first-year head coach Jeff Bzdelik and the man who hired him, athletic director Ron Wellman.
Thanks to the blogosphere, internet message boards, Twitter, radio call-in shows and any number of other electronic media, there are ample outlets for unhappy fans to voice their displeasure over how their team is playing.
An example comes from an anonymous poster identified only as MrScism, who Tweeted recently that "Wake Forest should save itself years of anguish and go ahead and get rid of Ron Wellman and Jeff Bzdelik."
It's a form of expression that has helped shorten the grace period coaches get at the start of their
tenures ... and in many cases, drastically shortened the tenure itself.
I'm not saying that's going to happen to Bzdelik (
pictured, right), though he's clearly off to an ominious start and he doesn't seem to be taking the criticism all that well. Rather, I'm just wondering how might have ACC coaching legends Mike Krzyzewski and Dean Smith might have handled the same kind of heat had the internet and talk radio been around during their lean early years?
It seems crazy to think about now, considering that the pair of Hall of Famers have more than 1,600 career wins and six national championships between them. But there was actually a time during both of their careers in which their respective fan bases wondered if maybe someone else couldnt' do their jobs better.
Smith was once burned in effigy after returning home from a losing road trip, even though in restrospect, his record wasn't all that bad.
The former assistant to former Tar Heel coach Frank McGuire, Smith went 8-9 in his first season - one in which UNC was on probation. He followed that up with a 15-6 record and a 12-12 season before finally taking off.
Coach K had an even rougher start. An unknown out of Army, his first three Duke teams compiled a record of 38-47 (13-29 in the ACC) and inspired little confidence that he would go on to become one of the greatest - if not THE greatest- coaches in college basketball history.
The point here is that while Bzdelik's hiring was, in fact, a curious one and this season clearly isn't much fun if you're a Wake fan, 25 games is way too soon to judge the new coach's performance.
While it's okay to vent all you like on the message boards, call in shows and other forms of social media, it might not be a bad idea to cut Bzdelik just a little bit of slack. sometimes these things take time.
Sometimes these things take time. Just ask Coach K and Dean.