THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200549
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: OPERATION ACC
First stop on a nine-day-tour of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. LENGTH: 81 lines
Jim Caldwell insists he was not surprised last winter when he was called into athletic director Ron Wellman's office and told he was being given a contract extension.
Elsewhere, though, it must have raised a few eyebrows.
Caldwell was coming off a 1-10 season and a dead-last, winless record in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
It was Caldwell's third straight losing record since taking over the Wake Forest program from Bill Dooley, who said farewell following an 8-4, bowl-winning season.
Under Caldwell, a former aide to Joe Paterno at Penn State, the Deacons had hit bottom, both in the standings and at the gate as the worst draw in the conference.
So, how could Caldwell not have been surprised when Wellman handed him a raise and contract extension instead of a pink slip?
``I think the people who are around this program see what is happening,'' Caldwell said Monday. ``They have been pleased with the way our student-athletes conduct themselves. We are doing it the right way. We are not taking any shortcuts.''
Wellman says he is pleased with the direction Caldwell is taking. He said Caldwell's mission was to build a solid program, not one that might field a winning team every five years or so.
``You don't do that overnight,'' Caldwell said. ``I know we have made progress, and that is the reason I was not surprised when I got an extension. I was appreciative, but not surprised.''
Wellman knows, too, that he cannot find anyone else who would work as hard at trying to make the Deacons competitive in the ACC and expand fan support.
Caldwell is a workaholic. He has not had a full night's sleep since taking the Wake job to become the league's first African American head coach.
``I wake up every hour on the hour,'' he said. ``The other night I went to sleep at 2:30 and woke up at 2:30. I thought my watch had stopped, but I had really slept less than minute.''
Caldwell says he inherited his sleepless nights from his father, Willie, who as a young man delivered milk in Mississippi.
Willie Caldwell was so fearful of oversleeping that most nights he took a blanket, went outside and bedded down beside the milk truck. He knew that if he overslept, the sound of the driver starting the truck's engine would wake him.
``I am not a comfortable man,'' Jim Caldwell said. ``You see me smiling, but you don't see the knot in my stomach. You don't know me like my family knows me.''
And the family doesn't know Caldwell all that well, either. They catch only glimpses of him, coming in late at night and leaving early in the morning.
``I am not a very good family man,'' he admitted. ``My wife, Cheryl, raised our kids. I was seldom there. I spend more time with my players than my own kids.''
Caldwell admits that the absence of what he calls ``external progress'' frustrates him at times.
``I know eventually the progress we have made must be reflected in wins and losses,'' he said. ``If we stay healthy, you will see this team make a climb in performance this season. In the next two years, we should be competing for the conference title. We have more depth. We are stronger, and we have more speed. I guarantee you will see a different Wake Forest team on the field this season.''
Last year, Caldwell redshirted 20 of 24 freshmen. He expects to redshirt 12 of 15 this year.
``That extra year makes a big difference when you are building a program,'' he said.
Wellman is not the only one who has faith in Caldwell. So do his players. Three straight years of losing have not dimmed their optimism.
Sophomore quarterback Brian Kuklick, who missed most of last season because of a broken right arm, said anything less than a .500 record would be unacceptable.
``The attitude on the team is unbelievably positive,'' Kuklick said. ``There were so many guys who didn't get a chance to play last year because of being redshirted. They expect to make a difference in this program.''
Kuklick describes Caldwell as the most intense person he has ever seen.
``He expects a lot from us and when he doesn't get it, I can understand why he doesn't sleep well,'' Kuklick said. MEMO: Coming Wednesday: The University of North Carolina. by CNB