The Dino Gaudio File:
Full Name: Dino Joseph Gaudio
Birth Date: March 30, 1957
Birth Place: Martins Ferry, Ohio
Hometown: Yorkville, Ohio
Wife: Maureen
Daughters: Kaylan (25) and Alyssa (18)
Alma Mater: Ohio University, 1981
Degree: Accounting and Secondary Education
Graduate School: Xavier University, 1991
Master's Degree: Secondary Education
Hometown: Yorkville, Ohio
High School: Buckeye South High School in Tiltonsville, Ohio
Coaching History:
Seasons as Wake Forest Head Coach: 3
Overall Seasons at Wake Forest: 9
Overall Seasons as Head Coach: 10
2007-10: Head Coach, Wake Forest
2002-07: Associate Head Coach, Wake Forest
2001: Assistant Coach, Xavier
1998-2000: Head Coach, Loyola (Md.)
1994-97: Head Coach, Army
1988-93: Assistant Coach, Xavier
1985-87: Head Coach, Central Catholic High School in Wheeling, W.Va.
1981-84: Assistant Coach, Central Catholic High School in Wheeling, W.Va.
Gaudio Bio:
Entering his third season at the helm of the Wake Forest basketball program, Dino Gaudio has thrived under the most unfortunate of circumstances. After taking over for his longtime friend and mentor Skip Prosser, who died suddenly of a heart attack in the summer of 2007, Gaudio has quickly elevated the Demon Deacons back to national prominence.
Gaudio posted a 41-20 record over his first two seasons as the head coach at Wake Forest, winning 67.2 percent of his games.
In each of the past two seasons, Gaudio has been recognized by a publication as being the ACC coach of the year. Rivals.com named Gaudio as its 2008 ACC Coach of the Year, while CBSSports.com tabbed Gaudio for the honor in 2009.
After debuting with a respectable 17-13 showing in 2007-08, Gaudio and the Deacons burst onto the national scene in 2008-09. Wake Forest finished 24-7 overall and 11-5 in the ACC.
The Deacons spent the entire season ranked in the top 25, climbing all the way to the No. 1 ranking on Jan. 19 before finishing No. 12 in the final Associated Press poll.
Putting his own trademark of a stifling defense on the program, Gaudio became the third-fastest ACC head coach to have his team ranked No. 1, and he led Wake Forest to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in four seasons.
The fact that Gaudio was able to accomplish all that he has the past two years is nothing short of remarkable. It has been a whirlwind ride that began with one of the most difficult tasks in college basketball.
Just two weeks after the passing of Prosser, Gaudio was chosen as the next head coach of the Demon Deacon basketball program.
For Gaudio, it was yet another step on a long journey in coaching basketball--a journey that started alongside Prosser in 1981 in Wheeling, West Virginia, when the recent Ohio University graduate became Prosser's assistant basketball coach at Central Catholic High.
The two formed a fast and successful partnership. In four years together at Wheeling Central Catholic, Prosser and Gaudio won a state championship in 1982. After Prosser left to join Pete Gillen's coaching staff at Xavier in 1984, Gaudio was picked as Prosser's successor. Dino continued to build on Skip's success, making back-to-back trips to the state championship game and earning one title.
That Gaudio would once again be picked to succeed his mentor came as a surprise to no one.
"This is a very bittersweet moment for me," said Gaudio when he was announced as Wake Forest's 20th head basketball coach on August 8, 2007. "I love Wake Forest and I love the Atlantic Coast Conference. But I also love Skip Prosser and to become the head coach under these circumstances is not what I had envisioned. But I am also thrilled that I have been entrusted with the future of Deacon basketball by Ron Wellman."
Gaudio assumed the reigns of a storied program that was not only grief-stricken but one that featured a wealth of youth and very little veteran experience.
In each of his first two seasons, Gaudio featured the ACC's youngest starting lineup according to class year. That proved to be of little deterrence in the way of Gaudio and the Deacons' success.
In 2008-09, Gaudio returned almost his entire roster from the previous season--a roster full of players hungry to build on the prior year's work. The Deacons did that and then some, turning in one of the most successful seasons in program history.
Wake Forest finished the year 24-7 overall and 11-5 in the ACC to place second in the final conference standings.
The Deacons spent the entire season ranked in the top 25, beginning with a preseason ranking of No. 21 and ending at No. 12 in the final AP poll. Wake spent 12 weeks in the top 10 of each major national poll, including 10 straight weeks from Dec. 15 through Feb. 16.
Wake Forest ascended to the No. 1 ranking on Jan. 19, marking the first time since November 2004 and just the third week ever that the Deacons held the top spot in the nation. The ascension to the No. 1 ranking was the third-fastest ever by an ACC head coach, as Gaudio needed just 46 games at Wake Forest to take the Deacs to No. 1.
Gaudio also led the Deacons to their best start in program history in 2008-09, as the team won its first 16 games and stood as the last remaining unbeaten team in Division I that season.
The Deacons continued their dominance at home under Gaudio last season. Wake Forest went 14-1 at the Joel Coliseum to improve to 29-3 (.906) at home under Gaudio.
A significant factor in Gaudio's overall success the past two seasons has been his emphasis on defense. He and the coaching staff installed a new defensive system prior to the 2007-08 season with the goal of becoming one of the stingiest teams in the country. The change paid dividends as Wake Forest went from finishing last in the ACC in field goal percentage defense in 2006-07 to sixth in 2007-08 and third in 2008-09.
Gaudio's tenure has not come without individual success as well. He oversaw the development of Jeff Teague, who went from an underrated guard to All-American last season. Teague burst onto the national scene to become the program's 13th All-American and enter the conversation for national player of the year.
Forward James Johnson also thrived under Gaudio, earning All-ACC honors in each of his two seasons on campus, while guard L.D. Williams became Wake Forest's first player to earn first team ACC All-Defensive honors since Josh Howard in 2003.
In his first season at the helm of the Deacons in 2007-08, Gaudio led Wake Forest to a 17-13 overall record. Along the way, a young Deacon squad managed to craft victories over No. 2 Duke and buzzer-beater wins against Virginia Tech and Miami.
The 17 wins represented the fourth-highest win total ever by a Wake Forest first-year coach and the second-most in the ACC era.
The upset of Duke was Wake Forest's first victory over a top five team since the 2004-05 season. The Deacons also improved in ACC play from 5-11 in 2006-07 to 7-9 and a tie for seventh place in 2007-08.
Gaudio's Deacons were stingy on their home court, finishing the season 15-2 at the Joel Coliseum. The mark was the fifth-best home record in the history of the venue. Wake Forest also went a perfect 9-0 in non-conference home games, including a win over NCAA Tournament team BYU.
Wake Forest accomplished all of this despite having the youngest lineup in the ACC. Gaudio's starting five regularly consisted of three sophomores and two freshmen. The Deacons had a combined 138 starts by underclassmen, the highest such total in the league.
Gaudio's two top freshmen, Johnson and Teague, proved to be a pair of the biggest impact rookies in the country in 2007-08. Both were named to the ACC All-Freshman Team, and Johnson earned third team All-ACC honors and was named a Freshman All-American.
A veteran of 27 years of coaching, Gaudio joined the Wake Forest staff as an assistant coach in 2002 when Prosser was named head coach. After three seasons, Gaudio was promoted to associate head coach.
During his six years on the Deacon staff, Wake Forest compiled a record of 126-68 and reached postseason play five times including four straight NCAA Tournaments from 2002-05.
Gaudio coached alongside Prosser for 17 years including 13 years at the college level. The pair combined for a 283-125 record in college, a winning percentage of .694.
In 22 years at the college level, including nine seasons as a head coach, Gaudio has helped his teams compile a 392-269 record, a .593 winning percentage. Of his 22 collegiate teams, 12 have reached the postseason including 11 NCAA Tournament berths and a pair of Sweet 16 appearances.
Gaudio's nine years of head coaching experience at the Division I level include four seasons at Army from 1993-97 and three years at Loyola (Md.) College from 1997-2000.
At Army, Gaudio inherited a team that had gone just 4-22 the year before his arrival. In his second year, Gaudio led the Black Knights to a 12-16 record. His 19 wins in his first two seasons were the most by a West Point coach in more than a decade. Gaudio helped the Knights win the only two Patriot League Tournament games in the school's 17 years of membership in the conference.
While at West Point, Gaudio coached Mark Lueking who concluded his career as Army's third all-time leading scorer with 2,032 points.
Gaudio followed in the footsteps of two legendary coaches, Bob Knight and Mike Krzyzewski, at Army. For a military academy competing as a mid-major in the NCAA, success is often hard to come by. Gaudio's final year at West Point resulted in a 10-16 record. Knight's ledger in his final season was 11-13; Krzyzewski was 9-17.
Gaudio was named the head coach at Loyola in 1997 and posted 12 wins in his first year and 13 in his second. The 25 victories in his first two campaigns marked the best start by any Greyhound coach over the previous 26 seasons. Gaudio's top player at Loyola, Jason Rowe, is the fourth-leading scorer in school history with 1,703 points.
Gaudio broke into the college ranks at Xavier in 1987-88, serving as an assistant coach alongside Prosser and under the tutelage of Pete Gillen. In six years, Gaudio helped the Musketeers to a 136-49 record, five 20-win seasons and five NCAA Tournament berths. Xavier won four Midwestern Collegiate Conference regular season crowns, three MCC Tournament titles and made the school's first trip to the NCAA "Sweet 16" in 1990.
While at Xavier, Gaudio helped develop many players for the NBA including Tyrone Hill, Derek Strong, Aaron Williams, Brian Grant and David West (New Orleans).
At Wake Forest, Gaudio has worked with NBA stars Josh Howard (Dallas), James Johnson (Chicago), Chris Paul (New Orleans), Darius Songalia (New Orleans) and Jeff Teague (Atlanta).
Gaudio left Xavier following the 1992-93 season for Army. He later returned to Xavier as an assistant under Prosser in 2000-01.
Gaudio's association with Prosser began in 1981 when he served as an assistant coach at Central Catholic High School in Wheeling (W.V.) while Prosser was head coach. The two combined to lead Central Catholic to the 1982 state championship. Gaudio was Prosser's assistant for four seasons until Prosser left to become an assistant coach at Xavier in 1985. Gaudio was then promoted to head coach at Central Catholic.
Gaudio guided the Maroon Knights to the state championship game in his first season. The next year, Gaudio directed Central Catholic to a 22-4 record and the state AA championship.
A 1981 graduate of Ohio University, Gaudio earned double bachelor's degrees in accounting and secondary education. He received a master's degree in secondary education from Xavier in 1991.
Gaudio, a native of Yorkville, Ohio, and his wife, Maureen, are the parents of two daughters, Kaylan (25) and Alyssa (18).
Kaylan is a 2006 graduate of Wake Forest, where she was a member of the dance team, and is now attending law school at Elon University. Alyssa is a freshman at Wake Forest.
