Those who thought that Athletics Director Ron Wellman of Wake Forest returned from Indianapolis and the Final Four with a coach to replace Dino Gaudio should, from all indications, think again.
Coaches and staff members in and around the Deacons' basketball program said yesterday that no new coach is expected to be introduced in the next day or two. Given Wellman's schedule, if the replacement is not named by Sunday or Monday, the search will likely last at least 10 days.
Wellman will attend the ACC's annual spring meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday in Greensboro, as well as the meeting of the Wake Forest University Board of Trustees from Wednesday through Friday in Winston-Salem.
Wellman said he did not have a timetable to replace Gaudio, who was fired after posting a record of 61-31 over three seasons. Wellman is expected to be a search committee of one, at least in the earliest stages of the process.
"We will begin searching for a new head coach immediately," Wellman said at Wednesday's news conference to announce the change. "I have no idea how long that will take. It will be totally dependent upon the candidates' availability, what their schedules are and how my schedule and their schedule matches up.
"But we will move quickly and this will receive, obviously, my undivided attention until the task is completed."
One coach who will not be at Wake Forest any time soon is Brad Stevens, who became one of the hottest coaching commodities in the nation after leading Butler to the national-championship game against Duke. Stevens, 33, signed a new contract with Butler yesterday that runs through the 2021-22 season.
One coach who would like to be at Wake Forest is Jeff Battle, one of Gaudio's three assistants. Battle said yesterday that he will not apply to become head coach, but would like to talk with the new coach about remaining at Wake Forest as an assistant.
Rusty LaRue, another assistant, and Walt Corbean, the director of basketball operations, are also both expected to apply for positions on the new staff.
Wellman said Wednesday that he would like for the new coach to at least consider Battle, LaRue and Corbean.
"I can recommend those individuals very highly to whomever is going to be our new head coach," Wellman said. "Each of them has done a very, very good job in their particular areas.
"So I'm confident that they will perform admirably during this interim period for X number of days or weeks, and the head coach will have the opportunity to interview them once he is named."
In the balance is a five-player recruiting class that has been ranked among the top 10 in the nation. Tony Chennault, J.T. Terrell, Carson Derosiers, Melvin Tabb and Travis McKie have all signed national letters of intent, but could at least request to be released from those commitments.
Battle, LaRue and Corbean are attempting to keep all five in the fold.
"I spoke to all the recruits and their families," Battle said. "I just let them know that we've got to be patient in the process. I assured them that they can communicate through me, just to ease any tension, and that we just needed to take a step back and let things happen a little bit.
"(I told them) "The school hasn't changed. It's still Wake Forest. It's still a great academic school. The reasons you chose the school hasn't changed, and although I know you guys chose and signed to play for Coach Gaudio and myself and the rest of the guys, obviously that's not going to happen with Coach Gaudio not being here. But you owe it to yourself to at least see what direction they're going to go in and hear what has to be said.' "
Battle said their reaction was expected.
"They were all pretty much still in shock," Battle said. "They were going to sit back and process things. I'm going to touch base again with everybody and see where everybody's at. But I think for the most part they want to see what direction Mr. Wellman is going to go in."
Because Wellman is known for keeping his own counsel, and because he handles such a predominant role in the search himself, reliable information is rarely forthcoming whenever Wake Forest is searching for a new coach. Battle said he does not know who Wellman is considering, but names mentioned around the program included Tubby Smith of Minnesota, Brad Brownell of Wright State, Chris Mooney of Richmond, John Groce of Ohio University and Brian Gregory of Dayton.
dcollins@wsjournal.com
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