Try to read without getting a little sick to your stomach...

[Goose]

Sultan--Wouldn't you miss the TC threads?

[Pakuni]

Maybe...then again, the rumors in this article are pretty strong about mutual interest.  Either someone is lying or their is truthiness to it.

"Tom Crean has accepted the Illinois job."
- Gery Woefel, circa 2003

Sometimes "strong" rumors are "wrong" rumors.
I have no clue what Buzz is thinking or what he will do after the season ends April 4 ( ), but what I do know, from experience, is that unnamed sources aren't always right. No matter how strong they are.

[MUfan12]

There is a lot of smoke...lots of smoke...if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.  The good news is that we might see less TC threads.

When it's cold outside, hot air looks like smoke.

[StillWarriors]

If you take a step back for a minute, what a difference a week or two makes. When we lost those last two reg season games, the ship was sinking and the heat was starting to ratchet up on Buzz a bit. A win over Providence and a good but not great WVU team in the B EASt tourney; we barely get in the tourney and play well in beating Xavier, squeak by Syracuse (a bounce here or there it goes the other way), and all the sudden Buzz is among, if not the, hottest coach on the market. I dare say an early flameout in either tourney would have given rise to completely different comments on this board and little interest from the outside.

The margin between success and failure for these guys is so small in any given game and in a season. No wonder Buzz doesn't get any sleep.

[Goose]

Pakuni---Of course strong rumors can be wrong rumors and are more often than not. Doesn't it bother you that see ourselves in a similar situation we had TC's last few years? When do we decide to make this a destination job? Strong leadership in the AD department is a perfect starting point.
I believe you put the fire out before other people see the smoke. That job falls flat into Cottingham's lap. I realize Buzz is from that way and the job opportunities make sense. But, if we lose Buzz to OU shame on us. The AD is responsible to pull everything together to make these situations not happen.

I have my fingers crossed that Cottingham has does not his job. But wish I had my fingers crossed a big Warrior win tomorrow would have J.P. Tokoto looking at us again.

[Boone]

Pieces falling into place for the Sooners to land Marquette coach Buzz Williams
A
Text Size

By Mike Jones / Special contributor

Published 24 March 2011 02:35 PM
Related items

Mike Anderson’s hiring at Arkansas should be good news for Oklahoma fans hoping athletic director Joe Castiglione will hire Marquette coach Buzz Williams.

Sources on both sides have indicated strong mutual interest, though no official contact has been, nor will be, made until after the Golden Eagles are through playing in the NCAA Tournament. Marquette, seeded 11th, faces No.2 seed North Carolina Friday in the round of Sweet 16 at 6 p.m. in Newark, N.J.

Reports of Williams’ buyout at Marquette, placed at more than $3 million, are way over the top according to a source with knowledge of that situation. A standard buyout clause is usually a year’s salary, which in Williams’ case is likely around $1.5 million, give or take.

Arkansas might have also held interest for Williams, a native of Texas who graduated from Oklahoma City University. As the OU job would, coaching at Arkansas would have enabled him to better tap his recruiting ability in Texas. Four Texans are on his roster at Marquette.

The Arkansas job would also have afforded Williams a much-more attractive fan base than that of the blasé core at Oklahoma; though Williams’ enthusiasm and ability to stir up support likely would at least initially provide an immediate attendance boost.

The need for Oklahoma to bring in a coach with strong Texas ties soared when Texas Tech finalized its deal with Billy Gillispie. The price of poker in the Big 12 South has gone up.
 

[Goose]

Still Warriors--This is fickle business and you have to be quick on your feet. Buzz went from unemployed to becoming MU coach to hot commodity in quick fashion. AD's cannot be asleep at the switch.

[brewcity77]

Yeah that writer even according to the next post on that board is just trying to sell papers...I wasn't a big time follower of Marquette basketball when the Crean stuff hit the fan. Was it the same rumors going around?

It was different with Crean. He definitely got red-hot after the Final Four run, and it seemed every year he was off to Illinois, or Kansas, or whatever job was about to open. And as his name came up, he'd go back to the negotiating table and sign a new and more lucrative contract with Marquette. I think when he left his contract ran through the 2017 season, 10 years beyond the time he departed. But when he did leave, it was news to all of us. It seemed that the "Crean to..." rumors had finally started to die down and that he would stay at Marquette, and suddenly we were all reading on ESPN (including players and Marquette officials) that he was the new head coach at Indiana.

That's why there's still so much vitriol on this site when TC's name comes up. He seemed to constantly parlay open jobs into a bigger contract here, but when the job finally opened that he did want, he didn't even give Marquette a chance to counter the offer. Years later, I think many of us get what he did, that it was more about the legacy of Indiana and the recruiting base that he sought to take advantage of, but it still rubs some the wrong way that he left the way he did.

If this were the days of TC, I'd have no worries about these Oklahoma rumors. When the rumors were loudest, the odds of him leaving were the slimmest.

[StillAWarrior]

If you take a step back for a minute, what a difference a week or two makes. When we lost those last two reg season games, the ship was sinking and the heat was starting to ratchet up on Buzz a bit. A win over Providence and a good but not great WVU team in the B EASt tourney; we barely get in the tourney and play well in beating Xavier, squeak by Syracuse (a bounce here or there it goes the other way), and all the sudden Buzz is among, if not the, hottest coach on the market. I dare say an early flameout in either tourney would have given rise to completely different comments on this board and little interest from the outside.

The margin between success and failure for these guys is so small in any given game and in a season. No wonder Buzz doesn't get any sleep.

Very true.  I don't know how these guys deal with it.  I guess that's why they get paid the big bucks.

[BrewCity83]

Redundant.

[Pakuni]

Pakuni---Of course strong rumors can be wrong rumors and are more often than not. Doesn't it bother you that see ourselves in a similar situation we had TC's last few years? When do we decide to make this a destination job? Strong leadership in the AD department is a perfect starting point.
I believe you put the fire out before other people see the smoke. That job falls flat into Cottingham's lap. I realize Buzz is from that way and the job opportunities make sense. But, if we lose Buzz to OU shame on us. The AD is responsible to pull everything together to make these situations not happen..

I agree with you to a very small extent ... if Buzz leaves, some of the blame could fall on Cottingham.
That said, I'm curious to know how you propose MU's athletic director prevent some writer in Dallas or Tulsa or Fayetville or anywhere else from saying Buzz Williams is a good candidate for Job X, Y or Z.

[StillAWarrior]

I agree with you to a very small extent ... if Buzz leaves, some of the blame could fall on Cottingham.
That said, I'm curious to know how you propose MU's athletic director prevent some writer in Dallas or Tulsa or Fayetville or anywhere else from saying Buzz Williams is a good candidate for Job X, Y or Z.

Put a horse's head in his bed?

[Clam Crowder]

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=26347.msg294091;topicseen#new

[Boone]

you're welcome

[Goose]

Pakuni--You can avoid that being a position of strength. The last handful of years MU has been at mercy of an employee's decision. I understand that is going to happen but believe the extent it happens here is greater than most, if not all, major programs.

UWM should worry about losing a coach not MU. There has to be something that rubs are guys enough the wrong way to not only listen but leave. I cannot say what it is completely but I stick with my premise from early in the week. We have an identity crisis and afraid to admit it. If OU gets Buzz this is their identity, we saw a guy at major program and went out and got him. In my opinion that attitude fires up alumni and gets their asses in the seats for games.

[Aughnanure]

Wow, almost every top-line thread at OUHoops.com is about Buzz now, including this asinine one. OU fan asking us to understand when a coach leaves (along with assuming we are all Packer fans)...has OU fan ever even experienced their coach leaving for another job?

http://ouhoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21121

Also, has any MU coach that left Marquette on their own gone on to increased success ever?

[jaybilaswho?]

http://ouhoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21118

They are rooting for UNC so Buzz can become available.  pretty boys.

edit: i did not type pretty boys. It was auto-corrected for me in place of the hole that is located south of your tail bone.

[ObballU]

I tried to tell you, most OU bball fans are down-right idiots. It's hard for me to even post on OUr own boards. They're like little school girls giggling over Buzz, someone they never heard of a month ago. I don't know if you'll ever find a more uneducated fanbase. I picture most of them having only a couple of teeth.

[texaswarrior74]

I'd believe that Buzz would be open with BCG (Billy Clyde Gillespie) since they are good friends....then again....could all be a case of trying to connect the dots....hope it's the latter.

[jaybilaswho?]

ObballU ---  Is it true that Sooner games only 2500 people?

http://ouhoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21119

[StillAWarrior]

Pakuni--You can avoid that being a position of strength. The last handful of years MU has been at mercy of an employee's decision. I understand that is going to happen but believe the extent it happens here is greater than most, if not all, major programs.

You keep saying this, but do you have anything to support your belief?  I "believe" that Marquette's experience in this regard is pretty typical.  KO and Crean left for what they thought were greener pastures.  That's two coaches in 34 years who left the program.  I guess it depends on how you want to define "major programs" but I suspect it's a fairly small number of programs that have had a better record in that regard over the same span.

[thekahoona]

What I need explained: If Buzz jumps to OU -- Why have three of the last four coaches bailed on MU as soon as they start to have success?  That pattern, to me, speaks of a crappy job.  And, it seems that everybody in the sports media knows it too.
 

[ObballU]

ObballU ---  Is it true that Sooner games only 2500 people?

http://ouhoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21119

On average, there were about 5000 per home game this season. That's actual people in the seats. Our biggest draw was against Texas (around 9000) and the lowest was Maryland-Eastern Shore (3311). The Kansas game had about 8500, but half were Jayhawk fans.

[Blackhat]

I will blame the city of Milwaukee, socialists and the climate.   Look forward to that diatribe if Buzz proves to have bamboozled the masses.  

[nyg]

On average, there were about 5000 per home game this season. That's actual people in the seats. Our biggest draw was against Texas (around 9000) and the lowest was Maryland-Eastern Shore (3311). The Kansas game had about 8500, but half were Jayhawk fans.

Thats what you get when you venture into football territory.  Thats pretty bad.