SF's Take Special Edition: The Futility of Anger, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Ball

So, another blowout loss has people understandably up in arms...again. People like me are telling people we need to wait...again. Honestly, I was rather furious at points last night. I was all but ready to say that if we don't at least make the NIT next year, Jeff Bzdelik's future probably shouldn't be with this program,

But today, I don't feel as upset about it. Don't misunderstand, my stance on Coach Bzdelik is largely the same. But that's not what I'm thinking about. I definitely still think Coach Bzdelik got dealt an immensely bad hand, and that there have been points in his tenure where he got criticism that, while not necessarily undue, was vitriolic to a level I didn't quite understand, or seemed like something that was (and frankly, is) a fixation for some.

However, I also concede that all signs point currently to Coach Bzdelik being in over his head and that he's more than likely not the long-term solution Wake Forest needs. But I'm gonna wait it out. Why? Not because I'm content with mediocrity (if you're being kind, frankly). Not because I necessarily think things are going to miraculously turn around next year, though I'd love to be proven wrong.

But I'm not getting angry. To the contrary, I'm smiling, at least a little. Why on Earth would that be the case when I'm suffering through this with the rest of you? What is my major malfunction, you may ask?

Find out after the jump...

I'm gonna start off by saying all of this is just my opinion and I'm not trying to force anything on anybody. Just trying to offer my personal perspective, Nothing more, nothing less. With that said:

I feel that it's pointless to be angry. Ron Wellman will not fire Jeff Bzdelik before his contract is up. No matter how snarky you get, no matter how much the statistics are mediocre right now, the fact of the matter is Jeff Bzdelik is going to be allowed to coach out his contract at the very least, and frankly with the class he has coming in he probably deserves a shot to try to make some waves with them.

And no, it's not worth uprooting the entire athletic department over. For what? A year or two? Look, as questionable a hire as the whole thing currently seems to be, Ron Wellman isn't dumb. If these sort of performances continue, he has no reason to extend the contract. Sure, Wellman likes the cut of Coach Bzdelik's jib, but frankly the way some people talk about the relationship between the two, you'd think they were brothers in a secret society or something. Now if next year features the same issues and Ron Wellman gives Jeff Bzdelik a Hewitt-esque contract, then get back to me. But for now? Some of it borders on conspiracy theory.

So for the sake of argument, let's just say things get better, but not much, next year. That'll leave our AD with a decision: extend Jeff Bzdelik's contract and possibly risk getting ousted, or look somewhere else. As bad of a hire as this appears to be, I don't think Ron Wellman would risk his own destruction for the sake of extending a "buddy's" contract. And if he does, well, then I really don't see people actually in a position to do something about it putting up with it either (depending of course on the conditions of the wholly theoretical contract).

The idea that being angry is an exercise in futility is only the first part of this though. The rest of it is much more pleasant.

I love basketball. I love the players that we have right now. They all seem like great guys who work hard. They want to win. They want success. They play for whoever coaches them. They don't have anything to do with this situation. So I choose to spend my energy cheering for them, rather than fixating on the coaching situation, or the administration, or things way above my pay grade. We can honestly open up this dialogue about coaches and contracts and whatever else somewhere down the line, but for now, if you ask me, it's pointless.

It's an echo chamber on both sides of the equation. What we CAN do is talk about games, monitor progress of players, talk about pros and cons, and yes, talk about coaching decisions, but making every single game into "Bzzwatch" is, if you ask me, excruciating, especially since nothing is really going to come of it for the time being.

I'm not trying to tell anybody they can or can't express anything they're feeling. I'm just gonna remind everybody of a few things, and make some humble suggestions:

We're all fans of the same team. We all love the same University. We all want our programs to succeed. We're all struggling to deal with the frustration of these dark days. But at the end of the day, it's BASKETBALL. Guys, I'm wildly passionate about sports, but this is supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be an escape from the otherwise difficult lives most if not all of us have. Be passionate about it. Wish for success. Temper expectations. But at least try to have fun with it.

Let's own Clemson on Saturday. That would be fun. Go Deacs.

--SF