Hall of Famer will now have a seat on the Demon Deacon bench and he will join another Wake Forest basketball great, Rusty LaRue, as Wake looks to the past to build, to build their future……
from www.wakeforestsports.com:
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest has elevated Hall of Famer and former Demon Deacon All-American Randolph Childress to assistant coach, as announced by head coach Jeff Bzdelik on Tuesday.
Childress spent the past season as the program’s Director of Player Development. He will now move into an on-court role as one of Bzdelik’s three assistant coaches.
“I’m excited to have Randolph move into an expanded role as one of my assistant coaches,” said Bzdelik. “Randolph is a tremendous representative of Wake Forest and has done a great job of mentoring our players over the past two seasons. I’m confident that his experience, personality and energy will be an asset to our staff both on the basketball court and in our recruiting efforts.”
Childress, who retired from playing professional basketball in 2011, is entering his third season in the Wake Forest athletic department in 2013-14. He joined the basketball staff fulltime prior to last season after serving in an administrative role within the athletic department in 2011-12.
During his collegiate playing career, Childress spent five seasons with the Wake Forest basketball program from 1990-95. He earned All-American honors as a junior in 1994 and again as a senior in 1995. He earned ACC Tournament MVP honors in 1995 after leading the Deacons to their first conference title in 33 years.
Childress is the school’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals and ranks fifth in ACC history with 329 3-points field goals made. His 2,208 career points ranks second in Wake Forest history. Childress’ No. 22 jersey is one of 10 numbers retired by the basketball program.
The Clinton, Md., native played professionally for 16 seasons, including two seasons in the NBA with the Portland Trailblazers and the Detroit Pistons, who drafted Childress with the 19th overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft.
As a result of Childress’ elevation, assistant coach Walt Corbean will not have his contract renewed. Corbean spent six seasons at Wake Forest, including the past two as an assistant coach. He was the program’s Director of Basketball Operations for his first four years at the University.
“Walt is an excellent basketball coach and an even greater person,” said Bzdelik. “This was a tough decision to make, but we felt it was necessary to bring in a fresh perspective to our coaching staff on the court. Walt has made great contributions to the program, and we wish him nothing but the best.”