Wake Forest recruits 'shocked' by Dino Gaudio's firing
If Wake Forest's decision to fire coach Dino Gaudio caught its fans by surprise today, imagine how stunned members of the Demon Deacons' highly touted 2010 recruiting class were when they heard the news.
Top recruit Carson Desrosiers learned of Gaudio's firing during athletic director Ron Wellman's news conference Wednesday evening when a Wake Forest official called his home to inform his family what had happened. The Lawrence (MA) Central Catholic center's father said his son was "shocked" by the news but will not try to get out of his letter of intent until he sees who Wake Forest hires to replace Gaudio.
"We’re going to sit tight and figure out what our options are," Andrew Desrosiers said. "The coaching staff at Wake Forest was very impressive to us, but we also liked the campus and the players especially. Two parts of that equation still exist."
Desrosiers is one of the jewels of a five-man recruiting class at Wake Forest that rivals.com ranked the eighth best in the nation. Keeping the group intact is critical for a Demon Deacons program that loses seniors Ish Smith and L.D. Williams and sophomore Al Farouq Aminu off a team that faded late last season and lost by 30 to Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Calls to coaches and family members of Travis McKie, J.T. Terrell and Anthony Chennault were not immediately returned Wednesday evening. Enloe High School coach Tommy Moore said he hadn't spoken to Wake Forest signee Melvin Tabb since Gaudio was fired but that he believed Tabb had also been caught by surprise by the news.
Wellman urged the five recruits to be "patient" while Wake Forest conducts a search to replace Gaudio.
"Don’t do something at a peak emotional that you would regret later on," Wellman said. "Let us hire the new coach, meet with the new coach and see where it might go."
