Wake Forest Basketball Demise in the ACC Will Change Under Danny Manning

In the state of North Carolina, basketball is rich in tradition, success and fan allegiance. When you think of basketball in the ACC, the common analogies of tobacco road come up with the Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels combining for many championships. While not as dominant on the hardwood, the North Carolina State Wolfpack hold two national championships, including arguably the most famous moment in college basketball history when Lorenzo Charles put back a Dereck Whittenburg air ball to defeat the heavily-favored Houston Cougars 54-52 in the 1983 NCAA championship. You might also remember late head coach Jim Valvano storming onto the court after looking for a player to hug in celebration.

Bringing up the hysteria in the state is the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The Deacons simply don’t have the same resume as the rest of the “Big Four.” The school has not won a national title and holds only one appearance in the Final Four (1962). However, the school saw a fair amount of recent success, starting in the mid-1990s with now-NBA star Tim Duncan. The former Deacon finished with more than 2,000 career points and 1,500 rebounds while being named a two-time ACC Player of the Year and the Naismith Player of the Year in 1997. The school enjoyed back-to-back 26-win seasons and berths to the regional semifinals and regional final from 1994-96.

The Deamon Deacon’s second great run, and perhaps its most consistent, came during the Skip Prosser era from 2001-07. Prosser went 126-68 in his six seasons as head coach, winning 20 or more games four times while reaching four NCAA tournaments. During that time, the Deacons were led by two future NBA players in Josh Howard and All-Star point guard Chris Paul. Howard was named ACC Player of the Year in 2003 after helping the school win its first outright regular-season championship in 41 years. A few seasons later, Paul was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 2004 and was a consensus First Team All-American as a sophomore following the 2004-05 season.

After Prosser’s sudden death in 2007 from a heart attack, the school appointed Dino Gaudio to the same position. The shadow of Prosser’s legacy gave Gaudio a tough challenge and a ultimately short stint in Winston-Salem. While going 61-31 in three seasons, Gaudio failed to lead the Deacons to postseason success. In his in 2009-10, Gaudio’s team finished 20-11 despite being led by future NBA players such as Jeff Teague, Ish Smith and Al Farouq-Aminu. The talented trio was eventually upset by Cleveland State in the second round of the NCAA tournament led by now-NBA player Norris Cole, ultimately closing out Gaudio’s time as head coach.

Ever since the shocking loss to the Vikings, the Deacons have been dismal. The school would suffer four straight losing seasons under head coach Jeff Bzdelik, who won a 51 games in four seasons as head coach. The 51 victories were  matched by 51 losses in ACC play as Bzdelik won just 17 league games in his tenure. Coming into the job, the hiring of Bzdelik was questionable considering his previous stint as the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes saw him finish with a 36-58 career record.

While the Bzdelik hiring was perplexing, the school might have hit a half-court buzzer beater with the hiring of former Tulsa head coach and 1988 Naismith Player of the Year Danny Manning of the Kansas Jayhawks. Manning has the Deacons off to a pedestrian 9-8 start, but the pedigree of Manning in the long run will be a tremendous upgrade in wins down the road.

Manning will bring a winning culture back to Winston-Salem both internally with his current players and externally on the recruiting front. As a legendary name in college basketball, Manning’s presence will affect the program on every level. Manning has won on the highest level, winning the 1988 championship with the Jayhawks. Players will gravitate to that success and work hard for someone like Manning who has been there before, achieving the pinnacle of all things a college basketball player could ask for.

At Kansas, it was “Danny and the Miracles” through the team’s run to the national title. At Wake, Manning wont need a miracle to turn around Wake Forest, just a bit of time and patience from Deacon fans.