Big East Coaching Stability.

[GB Warrior]

5 years is enough, first year does not count, other coaches talent or for MU lack of talent, then 4 years of his own talent.  Henry was good and bad for Wojo, a one done
freshman I believe is great for the program, but bad for him.  Puts Wojo behind the 8 ball.   The new arena once built should be an incredible asset to sell new prospects
on.  I have concerns in 2017 right now, that might change during the next few months.  2018 is critical for recruiting with 2 big players in the state, and Bailey hopefullly
coming.   To fire him, do not see it till 2019 or 2020 at best.  I believe he can recruit good players the next few years.

+1000.

Look, recruiting has been the strength of his administration, which is saying something given how badly we've sucked. He is developing as a coach, and hopefully this all coalesces in the next year or so. This will be another year of "promise"

[KampusFoods]

5 years is enough, first year does not count, other coaches talent or for MU lack of talent, then 4 years of his own talent.  Henry was good and bad for Wojo, a one done
freshman I believe is great for the program, but bad for him.  Puts Wojo behind the 8 ball.   The new arena once built should be an incredible asset to sell new prospects
on.  I have concerns in 2017 right now, that might change during the next few months.  2018 is critical for recruiting with 2 big players in the state, and Bailey hopefullly
coming.   To fire him, do not see it till 2019 or 2020 at best.  I believe he can recruit good players the next few years.

Word. The 2018-19 season will feature a roster of Wojo-Only players. Barring transfers, it will be led by 2 good senior guards in Haanif and Traci, along with junior guard Markus Howard. #guardsgame. Judging by who the staff is prioritizing right now, I'm confident two more good recruiting classes are on the way in 2017 and 2018. If we still suck in the 18-19 season, the seat gets hot pretty quickly.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Reading a lot of the posts here remind me of the same thinking, reasoning and rationale that a number of IU fans had for Tom Crean after his three seasons.  Crean preached time and patience, building the program the right way and building for lasting success.  After three seasons, those teams went 28-66 (much worse than what our teams have done post-Buzz).  After 8 years, Crean has made the tournament four times, with three Sweet 16s.  Now, IU fans have become so polar with him that his seat will always be hot regardless of whether he wins or not (mostly due to his tournament success).

As of today, we are continuing to get better and trend upwards.  We won 20 games last year, and narrowly missed a postseason appearance by a couple of games.  We are more balanced with talent next year, and should have better shooting and experience.  I'm not sure how many games we will win, but I am confident our team will be better next year.  Wojo has the team on the right track.

[HoopsterBC]

Reading a lot of the posts here remind me of the same thinking, reasoning and rationale that a number of IU fans had for Tom Crean after his three seasons.  Crean preached time and patience, building the program the right way and building for lasting success.  After three seasons, those teams went 28-66 (much worse than what our teams have done post-Buzz).  After 8 years, Crean has made the tournament four times, with three Sweet 16s.  Now, IU fans have become so polar with him that his seat will always be hot regardless of whether he wins or not (mostly due to his tournament success).

As of today, we are continuing to get better and trend upwards.  We won 20 games last year, and narrowly missed a postseason appearance by a couple of games.  We are more balanced with talent next year, and should have better shooting and experience.  I'm not sure how many games we will win, but I am confident our team will be better next year.  Wojo has the team on the right track.

Unfortunately, not sure as of yet, 2017 has no bigmen with any experience, so I am not sure Wojo is on the right track.  Needs to get at least one big man out of
the group they are trying to get. 

[brewcity77]

Yes but getting rid of a coach who's improving every year means extending that drought by another 3 years or more. People in charge know that. Add long as progress is being made, Wojos seat is ice cold. Now that means he will eventually make the NCAA tournament. But if we make step towards that the next two years but just fall short, Wojo isn't going to be fired.

I'm not saying he will be, I'm just saying that after the past decade or so, the angst from fans is understandable. We've become accustomed to winning. I can't blame anyone for wanting to see that continue.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I'm not saying he will be, I'm just saying that after the past decade or so, the angst from fans is understandable. We've become accustomed to winning. I can't blame anyone for wanting to see that continue.

Agree with that completely. As a fan I am epically frustrated that we are still in an NCAA. I don't blame others for being frustrated. I do blame others for thinking that the proper way to deal with that frustration is call for Wojos head when all the data wet have points to him being a solid hire.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

5 years is enough, first year does not count, other coaches talent or for MU lack of talent, then 4 years of his own talent.  Henry was good and bad for Wojo, a one done
freshman I believe is great for the program, but bad for him.  Puts Wojo behind the 8 ball.   The new arena once built should be an incredible asset to sell new prospects
on.  I have concerns in 2017 right now, that might change during the next few months.  2018 is critical for recruiting with 2 big players in the state, and Bailey hopefullly
coming.   To fire him, do not see it till 2019 or 2020 at best.  I believe he can recruit good players the next few years.

I don't disagree at all. If we improve every year for Wojos first five years than we will be in the tournament. My comments are directed towards those who think his seat is getting hot after year three.

[HoopsterBC]

I don't disagree at all. If we improve every year for Wojos first five years than we will be in the tournament. My comments are directed towards those who think his seat is getting hot after year three.

I agree, he works hard at his craft, and he is all over the country for recruits.  I would like him to be more in the midwest as a guy like Galen Alexander out of Louisianna
is hard to get.  Howard was because of Stan Johnson's long relationship, that takes years for that to happen.  Hope Stan is here for years.  If he can not make it here,
not sure who will be better.  The administration does not want to go back to JC kids again.

[jsglow]

Weren't some calling for Jay Wright's head when he was missing the tourney?   

Wojo knows he needs to win.  I expect that he will.  We're all frustrated but 2 years of the recent 'slump' have exactly zero to do with Wojo.  Btw, that doesn't mean that ticket sales won't be down again this year.  They will.

I'm actually expecting us to be better this year and to surprise some people.  More experience and less standing around waiting for an inefficient Henry to salvage another possession.  Just think of the difference between the Belmont game and later in the year against quality opponents.  Night and day.  Occasional relapses?  Sure.  DePaul comes to mind and was God awful.  More frequent big performances?  Yep.  Creighton out there and GTown at home.  The kids were growing up.  It'll show this year.

[MU82]

Weren't some calling for Jay Wright's head when he was missing the tourney?   

Wojo knows he needs to win.  I expect that he will.  We're all frustrated but 2 years of the recent 'slump' have exactly zero to do with Wojo.  Btw, that doesn't mean that ticket sales won't be down again this year.  They will.

I'm actually expecting us to be better this year and to surprise some people.  More experience and less standing around waiting for an inefficient Henry to salvage another possession.  Just think of the difference between the Belmont game and later in the year against quality opponents.  Night and day.  Occasional relapses?  Sure.  DePaul comes to mind and was God awful.  More frequent big performances?  Yep.  Creighton out there and GTown at home.  The kids were growing up.  It'll show this year.

I concur, and I like your optimism. It is not wild, misplaced, pie-in-the-sky optimism, but the kind of reasonable optimism a fan of a team should have.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I'm actually expecting us to be better this year and to surprise some people.  More experience and less standing around waiting for an inefficient Henry to salvage another possession.  Just think of the difference between the Belmont game and later in the year against quality opponents.  Night and day.  Occasional relapses?  Sure.  DePaul comes to mind and was God awful.  More frequent big performances?  Yep.  Creighton out there and GTown at home.  The kids were growing up.  It'll show this year.

I tend to agree.  Looking forward to less freshman mistakes, more poise and let's hope better defense than we played down the stretch last year.

[MUfan12]

Looking forward to less freshman mistakes, more poise and let's hope better defense than we played down the stretch last year.

And excellent outside shooting tends to cover up deficiencies in those areas.

Gonna see more space and pace with this roster, and the shooters at Wojo's disposal.

[#UnleashSean]

Reading a lot of the posts here remind me of the same thinking, reasoning and rationale that a number of IU fans had for Tom Crean after his three seasons.  Crean preached time and patience, building the program the right way and building for lasting success.  After three seasons, those teams went 28-66 (much worse than what our teams have done post-Buzz).  After 8 years, Crean has made the tournament four times, with three Sweet 16s.  Now, IU fans have become so polar with him that his seat will always be hot regardless of whether he wins or not (mostly due to his tournament success).

As of today, we are continuing to get better and trend upwards.  We won 20 games last year, and narrowly missed a postseason appearance by a couple of games.  We are more balanced with talent next year, and should have better shooting and experience.  I'm not sure how many games we will win, but I am confident our team will be better next year.  Wojo has the team on the right track.

But weren't IU coming off sanctions having a number of awful years before crean and have their name in the mud?

Plus crean was a proven head coach. Wojo is  not

[dgies9156]

Good thing the administration doesn't make decisions based on what fans think. Fans are shortsighted and have irrational ideas like competing for the NCAA championship every year being still possible for Marquette in this day and age.

Progress is what's important. As long as there is positive trajectory Wojos seat will remain ice cold. It doesn't matter if fans are impatient with the speed it is going. Wojo improved greatly last season and all signs point to an improved team this season. Not sure why anyone thinks that's a sign of a soon to be hot seat.

TAMU, I enjoy reading your comments and I hope you don't take me the wrong way. We're in agreement more than we're not.

That said, you're dead wrong on this one. Progress is far less important than dollars and cents. If the cash cow that is Marquette Basketball is threatened by poor performance, then Coach Wojo's positioned will be threatened. I recognize he has a rebuilding period due to the train wreck the Hillbilly left, but the level of patience President Lovell will have has a .99 correlation to changes in basketball revenue. Period.

I'm as big a die hard as anyone on this Board. And I'm a big fan of Coach Wojo as well. I'm mildly optimistic for this year but I think either we win enough to be in the top half of the Big East and make the tournament or look for a drop-off in basketball revenue. I like our guys and I think they'll get it done.

Understand, I am not asking for his head. Quite the contrary. But I'm telling you that even at a Jesuit Catholic University, money doesn't talk -- it screams!

[Lennys Tap]

money doesn't talk -- it screams!

It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) - Bob Dylan

[GGGG]

TAMU, I enjoy reading your comments and I hope you don't take me the wrong way. We're in agreement more than we're not.

That said, you're dead wrong on this one. Progress is far less important than dollars and cents. If the cash cow that is Marquette Basketball is threatened by poor performance, then Coach Wojo's positioned will be threatened. I recognize he has a rebuilding period due to the train wreck the Hillbilly left, but the level of patience President Lovell will have has a .99 correlation to changes in basketball revenue. Period.

I'm as big a die hard as anyone on this Board. And I'm a big fan of Coach Wojo as well. I'm mildly optimistic for this year but I think either we win enough to be in the top half of the Big East and make the tournament or look for a drop-off in basketball revenue. I like our guys and I think they'll get it done.

Understand, I am not asking for his head. Quite the contrary. But I'm telling you that even at a Jesuit Catholic University, money doesn't talk -- it screams!

The point TAMU is making is that firing Wojo within the next two years would cost MU substantially.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

TAMU, I enjoy reading your comments and I hope you don't take me the wrong way. We're in agreement more than we're not.

That said, you're dead wrong on this one. Progress is far less important than dollars and cents. If the cash cow that is Marquette Basketball is threatened by poor performance, then Coach Wojo's positioned will be threatened. I recognize he has a rebuilding period due to the train wreck the Hillbilly left, but the level of patience President Lovell will have has a .99 correlation to changes in basketball revenue. Period.

I'm as big a die hard as anyone on this Board. And I'm a big fan of Coach Wojo as well. I'm mildly optimistic for this year but I think either we win enough to be in the top half of the Big East and make the tournament or look for a drop-off in basketball revenue. I like our guys and I think they'll get it done.

Understand, I am not asking for his head. Quite the contrary. But I'm telling you that even at a Jesuit Catholic University, money doesn't talk -- it screams!

I got all that and absolutely agree. But because money talks I think Wojo's seat is ice cold and will remain ice cold as long as the program is improving.

If Wojo is slowly improving the program but falls short of the NCAA you could fire him and would be absolutely justified doing so. Didn't make the deadline right? Of course this likely means that you lose multiple players to transfer, any recruits you were in on or had committed likely decommit, and the new coach is going to have to scramble to put together a roster. You likely are back to where Wojo was when he took over and all of the sudden you are multiple years away from another NCAA bid.

Now you should absolutely do that if you think Wojo won't get you beyond the NIT or will only manage one ncaa appearance before crashing. But if the program has improved every season and appears to be on the verge of an ncaa appearance or even a consecutive string of them, why the hell would you flush that down just because Wojo hasn't met some sort of fan decided deadline?

Fortunately, the people who sign the checks recognize this. They don't just look at what a coach has done, they look at what the coach is building.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The point TAMU is making is that firing Wojo within the next two years would cost MU substantially.

Bingo. Money talks is a reason why Wojo's seat is ice cold.

[bilsu]

I do not accept that the cupboard was bare when Wojo came in is a valid excuse for not making the tournament this year or next year.
2014-15 both Virginia Tech & MU finished last in their conferences.
2015-16 Virginia Tech receives an NIT bid and MU gets no bid.
The season may turn out differently, but early predictions are that Virginia Tech makes NCAA tournament and MU does not.
We can be happy with how MU players are performing off court and that is important. However, based on  MU history they are underperforming on the court.

[brewcity77]

I do not accept that the cupboard was bare when Wojo came in is a valid excuse for not making the tournament this year or next year.
2014-15 both Virginia Tech & MU finished last in their conferences.
2015-16 Virginia Tech receives an NIT bid and MU gets no bid.
The season may turn out differently, but early predictions are that Virginia Tech makes NCAA tournament and MU does not.
We can be happy with how MU players are performing off court and that is important. However, based on  MU history they are underperforming on the court.

Apples and oranges comparison. We know Buzz goes for the quick fix. JUCO heavy rosters, short term fixes, it certainly works and works faster, but the hope at Marquette is something that lasts longer.

We saw how quickly Buzz's method came tumbling down. He did a poor job recruiting four year players so when the JUCOs were gone the bottom fell out. He sustained one season with four year players, and saw the writing on the wall. No such restrictions at Va Tech.

Not surprised to see Buzz winning sooner. But the hope is that Wojo will keep winning for years to come, by which time Buzz will probably have a new address.

[MU82]

I got all that and absolutely agree. But because money talks I think Wojo's seat is ice cold and will remain ice cold as long as the program is improving.

If Wojo is slowly improving the program but falls short of the NCAA you could fire him and would be absolutely justified doing so. Didn't make the deadline right? Of course this likely means that you lose multiple players to transfer, any recruits you were in on or had committed likely decommit, and the new coach is going to have to scramble to put together a roster. You likely are back to where Wojo was when he took over and all of the sudden you are multiple years away from another NCAA bid.

Now you should absolutely do that if you think Wojo won't get you beyond the NIT or will only manage one ncaa appearance before crashing. But if the program has improved every season and appears to be on the verge of an ncaa appearance or even a consecutive string of them, why the hell would you flush that down just because Wojo hasn't met some sort of fan decided deadline?

Fortunately, the people who sign the checks recognize this. They don't just look at what a coach has done, they look at what the coach is building.

Superbly said.

[NorthernDancerColt]

Apples and oranges comparison. We know Buzz goes for the quick fix. JUCO heavy rosters, short term fixes, it certainly works and works faster, but the hope at Marquette is something that lasts longer.

We saw how quickly Buzz's method came tumbling down. He did a poor job recruiting four year players so when the JUCOs were gone the bottom fell out. He sustained one season with four year players, and saw the writing on the wall. No such restrictions at Va Tech.

Not surprised to see Buzz winning sooner. But the hope is that Wojo will keep winning for years to come, by which time Buzz will probably have a new address.

This!!!!!!!

[dgies9156]

Fortunately, the people who sign the checks recognize this. They don't just look at what a coach has done, they look at what the coach is building.

TAMU, you made a good point in your last post. Let me explain something very important -- being on the hot seat does not mean being fired. I think that is a distinction that has been somewhat lost in here.

Anybody who argues that we should fire our coach if we don't make the NCAA next year is insane. But the hot seat comes from evaluating progress, in wins and losses and in dollars and cents.

Being on the hot seat means you have a short fuse. It means that certain performance indicators are expected and that the consequences of not meeting the performance expectations are more dire and more dramatic.

I agree that if Coach Wojo for whatever reason does not work out, we go back to Square 1 and we've wasted three years -- or more. We also go back into the coaching market with a lot less cache that we had three years ago. But I also think that another mediocre year -- or worse -- means taking a good hard look at where we are, and aren't. The heat comes as a result of that evaluation.

My own view is we are a deeper and more experienced team than what we've seen since the departure of the Hillbilly. We'll learn to play defense and we'll make far fewer mistakes. We're more likely to play as a team and, while our conference is likely to be stronger top to bottom (and we do have the defending national champion in our conference), we'll be in the Top Half and a couple of Marquee wins will drive a 7 to 9 seed in the NCAA.

If I'm right, Coach Wojo should be Big East Coach of the Year and definitely NOT on the hot seat.

[wadesworld]

I do not accept that the cupboard was bare when Wojo came in is a valid excuse for not making the tournament this year or next year.
2014-15 both Virginia Tech & MU finished last in their conferences.
2015-16 Virginia Tech receives an NIT bid and MU gets no bid.
The season may turn out differently, but early predictions are that Virginia Tech makes NCAA tournament and MU does not.
We can be happy with how MU players are performing off court and that is important. However, based on  MU history they are underperforming on the court.

UCONN first year with Kevin Ollie no NCAA Tournament.
UCONN second year with Kevin Ollie NCAA Champions.
Obviously any coach in the world who doesn't have an NCAA Title by the end of his second season should be fired.

See how stupid that game is?

[Herman Cain]

UCONN first year with Kevin Ollie no NCAA Tournament.
UCONN second year with Kevin Ollie NCAA Champions.
Obviously any coach in the world who doesn't have an NCAA Title by the end of his second season should be fired.

See how stupid that game is?

U Conn was not eligible for the NCAA tournament  in Ollies first year. They still went 20-10  and 10-8 in Big East.