Wake Forest Basketball: 5 candidates to replace head coach Danny Manning

1. Wes Miller (UNC Greensboro)

If you’re looking for a candidate with coaching success as well as familiarity, then look no further than Miller. He’s become the winningest head basketball coach at UNC Greensboro, and his parents are longtime donors at Wake Forest. The other names on this list absolutely deserve attention, but Miller is one of those no-brainer type hires that the Demon Deacons could make tomorrow and get right.

Miller played for the nearby rival Tar Heels, winning the 2005 NCAA Tournament title. He’s spent his entire coaching career in the state of North Carolina. He took over as head coach at UNC Greensboro in 2011 back when he was just 28 years old. Despite his age, he’s done a fantastic job making the Spartans one of the SoCon’s best programs. Over the past four seasons, UNC Greensboro is 104-31, with an NCAA Tournament bid along the way.

While there’s similar concern from the transition from SoCon to ACC (though Mike Young at Virginia Tech is off to a more than solid start), there are plenty of reasons that hiring Miller works well for both sides. He’d lead the Demon Deacons in the practice facility named for his father. The young energetic coach would bring a boost to the program, both on the court and with alumni. This is the kind of opportunity for a jump that Miller most likely could not refuse if offered to him.

We’ve taken a close look and ranked the top five candidates for the Wake Forest head coaching job. Who will the Demon Deacons bring in to replace Manning and can they make this a contending program in a very difficult ACC?