CAROLINAS COACH OF THE YEAR

Jim Grobe, Wake Forest

Athletic director Ron Wellman liked the rebuilding job Grobe did at Ohio under difficult circumstances when he brought him to Wake Forest, traditionally an outpost of football futility.

Mike Hamrick, ECU’s athletic director, played at Marshall for Grobe when Grobe was an assistant coach there. Hamrick knew Wake’s future was in good hands and so did Pirates coach Steve Logan, who had opposed Grobe twice in Pirates wins over the Bobcats.

Using talent recruited by his predecessor, Jim Caldwell, Grobe and a staff that came virtually intact from Ohio, Wake was  competitive in all but one game, a 48-24 loss at Florida State. The Deacons finished 6-5 with the other four losses by a touchdown or less, a drastic improvement from a 2-9 performance in 2000 in which the Deacons were routinely blown out.

Wins over East Carolina, Appalachian State, Virginia and North Carolina gave Deacons fans something to cheer about other than basketball.

Wake became the first ACC team to win in Greenville. The Deacons closed their series with the pesky Division I-AA Mountaineers on an up note. Wake got its first win at Virginia since 1981; its first win over the Cavaliers since 1983.

The Deacs came back from a 24-0 halftime deficit in Chapel Hill for an emotionally-charged 32-31 victory.

“If we’ve found out one thing about our kids, it’s that they don’t quit,” Grobe said after the triumph at UNC.

If we’ve found out one thing about Jim Grobe, it’s that he can coach.