Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

What is going on at Wake Forest?

ACC Wake Forest Maryland Basketball

Wake Forest head coach Jeff Bzdelik watches play against Maryland in the first half of an NCAA college basketball first round game at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, Thursday, March 8, 2012, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

AP

Since Jeff Bzdelik took over the Demon Deacons eight players have either transferred or been kicked out of the program. And that’s in just two years. The latest casualties are starting point guard Tony Chennault, back up point guard Anthony Fields, and big man Carson Desrosiers.

This was a team which spent time at No. 1 in the nation just three years ago. In two years Bzdelik is 5-27 in the ACC.

The Star News addressed this today.

In the end, Bzdelik’s future at Wake will depend not only on how much improvement his team shows next season, but by how much of that team he manages to retain. If he’s the kind coach for whom players don’t want to play, then it’s probably time to start looking for a new coach.

The good news for Wake Forest fans is that Bzdelik has six of his own recruits (and potentially more) coming in with this recruiting class. The bad news is that Bzdelik hasn’t done anything on the court that gives much hope for any but the most optimistic fans. He had a pedestrian record at his previous stops, and many feel he had an inside track on the job simply because of his friendship with Wake’s Athletic Director.

Wake Forest has yet to find its footing since the tragic death of Skip Prosser. Dino Gaudio had some success, but was fired. And three of the players he recruited were later kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons.

So has Jeff Bzdelik simply been setting the stage for Wake’s resurrection by weeding out the players who won’t get him there, or is he running a program that is rudderless?