What was buzz about Buzz 4 years ago?

[Canadian Dimes]

I will look for some stuff when I get a chance...I do know he was making upwards of $500 k as an assistant at MU , that's dalonte hill type of money.

[Canadian Dimes]

Boy those threads remind one of how insufferable chicos is/ was.  

[Blackhat]

I was full time on the scout board at the time (man that sucked).   Myself and a few others over there (forget their handles) were adamantly in favor of hiring Buzz.  I had A&M connections and he was making HUGE waves and building quite a rep down south before coming to MU.   IWB then told of how his work ethic was second to none and he seemed like a tremendous prospect.

Cottingham is big on recruiting and that's what really intrigued him on Buzz (as you would see with all Cottingham's hires, young with a recruiting rep).   He took a lot of heat over it.  Lot of old timers wanted guys like Rob Lowery, Keno Davis, etc. (thank god that didn't happen).

[Blackhat]

In conclusion old MU people have the vision of a possum.

Whereas myself and a few of my kind are only rivaled over time by other visionaries like Muhammad and Al Gore.

[MUMac]

I was full time on the scout board at the time (man that sucked).   Myself and a few others over there (forget their handles) were adamantly in favor of hiring Buzz.  I had A&M connections and he was making HUGE waves and building quite a rep down south before coming to MU.   IWB then told of how his work ethic was second to none and he seemed like a tremendous prospect.

Cottingham is big on recruiting and that's what really intrigued him on Buzz (as you would see with all Cottingham's hires, young with a recruiting rep).   He took a lot of heat over it.  Lot of old timers wanted guys like Rob Lowery, Keno Davis, etc. (thank god that didn't happen).

I was one of those on the Scout board that was adamantly in favor.  I couldn't believe the abuse Cottingham and MU overall took for that hire.  Shows that fans always know best, though.

I heard the same from IWB, Mark Miller and others.  Felt really good about the hire at that time, because of what they were saying.  In retrospect, though, I think they may have even undersold his work ethic!

[Blackhat]

I salute you MUMAC.    Together we have taken this university far.

[Canadian Dimes]

love the search options ....here are some of my comments during the first week of April, 2008.  i went by the handle Mr. hayward back then....you can see i was pretty adamant that MU go hard after Buzz.  My #1 hope at the time was sean Miller, then Bennett then Buzz.  Both bennet and Miller have done really well since but actually Buzz has been the best of the three,  i favored the other two at the time due to their proven major D1 sucess. ...as one can see i was a huge believer in Buzz since day one!!!!!!!!



.......The nay sayers crack me up...i firmly believe in my heart and mind that Buzz will take this program to the next level.  And his first week or so on the job and he has done nothing but convince me of that more.


............TV director...i agree it was/is my opinion that MU would be so afraid that they had to make a flash/statement with this hire that they would fail to hire the best person for the job.  That they would be a fraid of Mu alums and national perception of hiring an assitnt that they would not give BUZZ a look.  Kudos once again to Cottingham and the BOT if they do indeed hire Buzz.  Some day people will look back at this and see that Crean laeving and us making this surprising/curois deciosn to hire Buzz as the gretest thing for Marquette basketball since Mu hired a seemingly head scratcher in Al McGuire!!



..........Site administartors!!

« on: April 07, 2008, 08:47:13 PM »

please archive all the chicken little comments for a few years down the road.  MU spent a week and selected Buzz anyone objecive would think that they thought long and hard and spoke to a weeks worth of people or intermediaries and selected the best candidate.  I for one felt the order should be Miller, Bennett and then Buzz.  I still beleive that to be the case.  Nevetheless, a vocal percentage of our fanbase wants to throw our administration under the bus despite admitting they know absolutely nothing about Buzz.  No different ahn Bennett or Miller or Crean or Dixon etc. before their first gigs.  All great coaches are great coaches because an AD at one point was samrt enough to hire that person before another school got him.  I am very very optimistic about the future of Mu BBall.  I will also add this many of the big donors felt the same way about Crean that you and I did that he was a complete jackass and treated many of them in that same way if you can beleive that.  They continued there support of Mu despite Crean.  Just because Crean at one time said Williams would be a good coach at MU dont beleive that has anything to do with why he got the job.  Give Buzz his due and the support he deserves as our coach.


...........Buzz is a fantastic candidate that needs an opportunity.  Tahnkfully MU is smart enough to see that.  If not he will go to IU and get a chance soemwhere else in a couple fo years and we will read you stupid posts about how inept Mu was to let him go.  he will be a greta coach somewhere soon!  he has all the attributes you look for.  Oh and by the way he is one of the best if not the best recruiter in the country, dont use this class for your evidence even thow it wasMu's 2nd best in 8 years, he was only on staff 3 months.  Look at the Texas A&M roster!!  The St. Johns of the Big12 before he and gillespie got there.  Oh and he did improve UNO while he was there, but he chose to leave because he was not receiving his pay check.  maybe you should take a day off from being an a-hole all the time.


........Crean knew how good he was and brought him to MU.  And i beleive he will do a great job given the opportunity.  and like other posters have stated I think t he Admin realizes that williams and Taylor are probably gone and are not simply hiring him to retain our recruiting class.  that type of comment is pretty silly and underanded.  I also do not think Mu is settling...Mu could get mccaffery, Lowery, Brownell, etc. but why?  seroiusly what have they proven apart from Brownell?  Cootingham hs seen Buzz auditon for a year and obviusly has a real good feeling about him as he should.



............Sorry PRN but Buzz has been an assistant for 13 years and you say he cannot do this, cannot do that...how in the He11 do you know?  How did you know Crean and Dixon could? Actually he can, and he was the #1 guy at Texas A&M with Gillespie before MU.  You like to focus on his Mu class, try focusing on his A&M classes when A&m was the last place anyone wanted to go.  the guy will be a great coach, his recruiting simply a bonus, he will be a great coach somewhere I hope we dont let him get away.  For a guy that hated Crean somuch becuase You "knew how he was"  it is unbeleivable you would hate on some one you know absolutely nothing about.  sounds like you are jsut a hater/loser


........................Ok and when Howland left Pitt they hired jamie Dixon and when heathcote left MSU they hired Izzo.  MU should hire Buzz.  He has more experience than either those two had.  he has more experience than Crean had.  He helped recruit the players taht took a doormat like Texas A&M to an Elite 8.  he has coached under Crean and gillespie, two guys that know how to run a program.  He helped sign the second best class Crean has signed since his first year.  the guy is a tireless worker and winning in college is 90% recruiting.  Buzz will get it done.  He has proven he can recruit at the high D1 level none of these low major candidates have proven that.

[Scooter22]

I remember hoping that we would get Darrin Horn, then he was hired by South Carolina.  See how that one turned out!  That's why they don't pay me the big bucks...

[Canadian Dimes]

Horn is a dead man walking

[Norm]

I was a little surprised MU did not hire someone from outside the Crean staff, and I remember not being very impressed with Buzz's initial press conference. I also was a little wary because of the way he left New Orleans. I did like the fact that he was regarded as a good recruiter and hard worker. All in all, I was a little disappointed in the hire, but was willing to give him a chance. Glad it has worked out so far and am happy he is the coach.

[Skatastrophy]

blah blah blah

I still can't understand a word you type.

I wish that you had gotten permabanned instead of Chicos. 

[Canadian Dimes]

I can't entirely disagree .. but let's not kid ourselves .. while there are only 334 D1 coaching jobs, that he was hired at the 223rd best D1 school (in 2006) doesn't exactly suggest he was a hot commodity.

And indeed you are correct, that he quit UNO would have scared off many, if not all programs from "rolling the dice" on him.

Filed under ironic: Calling out people for suggesting it was a "lazy" hire by saying he was "one of the most highly regarded assistant coaches in college basketball" then refusing to find any relevant info that suggests what you said was accurate.   

I tried googling a number of phrases .. couldn't find anything in 2006-7-8 with "buzz / brent williams well /highly/top coaching / prospect / assistant / interest"  .. no hits on message boards, newspapers, blogs.   -- I am legitimately interested if anyone can find anything like that.

hilltopper....I looked as well and did not have much luck finding anything on Buzz.  Bottom line is assistant coaches dont get a ton of articles written about them.  nevertheless, Buzz was in coaching circles extremely highly regarded and like I stated, i beleive he was the second highest paid assitant coach in the country.  Crean basically brought him in becuase creans recruiting sucked! 

here is a blurb from a banquet for Texas AnM back in 2006?

   Guest Speaker/Program:
Aggie Men’s Basketball Assistant Coach Buzz Williams.
Buzz Williams is in his second season as an assistant coach at Texas A&M. Williams and Alvin Brooks are the first native Texans to serve as full-time assistants since John Thornton in 1981-90.

Williams has quickly earned a national reputation as a hard-working, dedicated coach as well as being a talented recruiter. The 33-year-old Williams served as associate head coach at Colorado State in 2003-04 after three seasons as an assistant. He also was the Rams’ recruiting coordinator. He previously served as an assistant at Northwestern State (1999-00), Texas A&M-Kingsville (1998-99) and Texas-Arlington (1994-98).

Williams’s 2000 and 2003 recruiting classes were ranked among the best in the nation and the 2003 class was ranked as the best in the Western Athletic Conference. At Northwestern State, he helped land the highest-rated recruiting class in Southland Conference history, according to HoopScoop. That class that led the school to its first NCAA Tournament bid and posted its first winning season in nine years.
 

[MerrittsMustache]

More importantly, what did godzilla's niece think of the hire?

[Blackhat]

I was a little surprised MU did not hire someone from outside the Crean staff, and I remember not being very impressed with Buzz's initial press conference. I also was a little wary because of the way he left New Orleans. I did like the fact that he was regarded as a good recruiter and hard worker. All in all, I was a little disappointed in the hire, but was willing to give him a chance. Glad it has worked out so far and am happy he is the coach.

I remember I drove to the press conference to show support.   He actually took some jabs at Crean which drew applause.

[tower912]

I remember I drove to the press conference to show support.   He actually took some jabs at Crean which drew applause.

You said earlier this season that you aren't a Buzz fan.   Are you now?    What happened between the time you drove to the press conference and early this season to sour you?

[cheebs09]

Dimes, I'm legitimately curious .. is there an article out there that described Buzz as "one of the most highly regarded" at the time of his MU hiring in 2008?  

http://wiki.muscoop.com/doku.php/men_s_basketball/2008_coaching_carousel

Can anyone recall any NCAA Div 1 schools needing a new coach that had Buzz on their short or long list?  Clearly, if he were "one of the most highly regarded" he'd have been on someone's list somewhere.   Anyone recall any other school interested in Buzz?

(For the record, I was non-plussed at the time.  Now, I love the guy.)

I remember there was a website of the top 100 assistant coaches, and Buzz was in the top 10 at least, maybe top 5. Based on searching, it seems HoopScoop does one of these lists. It might also have been a Rivals list. Either way, I can remember there was a list and Buzz was high up because it showed that Buzz was one of the top assistants. Others on this board and Crean I believe mentioned how Buzz was regarded as a top assistant, and this was the first time I saw it from an outside source.

[LON]

More importantly, what did godzilla's niece think of the hire?

+1

[mu_hilltopper]

A few links .. none from 2006-7-8

This might have been the first thread contemplating Buzz:
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=8056.0

http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/coachesrankings-2011.asp

This must be from 3-4 years ago:
http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/coach.htm

[Silkk the Shaka]

A few links .. none from 2006-7-8

This might have been the first thread contemplating Buzz:
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=8056.0

http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/coachesrankings-2011.asp

This must be from 3-4 years ago:
http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/coach.htm

Might wanna add about a decade to your 3-4 years ago guess:

THE HOOP SCOOP'S RANKING OF THE TOP HEAD COACHES IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL
2. Rick Majerus (Utah)
5. Bobby Huggins (Cincinnati)
8. Gene Keady (Purdue) 
11. Bob Knight (Indiana)
13. Charlie Spoonhour (St. Louis)
17. Lon Kruger (Illinois)
20. Dick Bennett (Wisconsin)

THE HOOP SCOOP'S RANKING OF THE TOP ASSISTANT COACHES  WHO ARE READY FOR HEAD COACHING JOBS
2. Quin Snyder (Duke)
5. Matt Doherty (Kansas)
8. Tom Crean (Michigan State)
13. Mike Davis (Indiana)

[Canadian Dimes]

A few links .. none from 2006-7-8

This might have been the first thread contemplating Buzz:
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=8056.0

http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/coachesrankings-2011.asp

This must be from 3-4 years ago:
http://www.hoopscooponline.com/members/coach.htm

that last one is much older than that still has huggins at Cincy and crean at MSU...15 years or so?

[mu_hilltopper]

Right, meant to say 13-14.  Frankly, I'm kinda surprised hoopscoop was online back then .. that's 1000 internet years ago.

[Hoopaloop]

The "lazy hire" comment still really pisses me off.  Buzz was one of the most highly regarded assistant coaches in college basketball.  He took a pay raise to come to MU and was one of the highest paid n regarded assistants in the country.  He was widely considered to be a future star in the game.  All of that plus what surely was a very impressive audition during the first year as said assistant allowed MU to know what they had in hand.  

You and others were ignorant to who Buzz was, his background and himself as a person.  Therefore, the hire was ignorantly deemed as lazy.  

Easy but inaccurate statement.

When statements others make that don't come true, they are ignorant.  When statements you make that don't come true, what are they?

Buzz may have been considered one of the top assistants in the country, but it's hard to find evidence that backs that up.  I don't think Tyshawn Taylor's coach would agree with you.   

[Canadian Dimes]

When statements others make that don't come true, they are ignorant.  When statements you make that don't come true, what are they?

Buzz may have been considered one of the top assistants in the country, but it's hard to find evidence that backs that up.  I don't think Tyshawn Taylor's coach would agree with you.   

Hoop you are off your rocker...the statement was then and now that it was a "lazy" hire.   There is no ..."doesnt come true" to it.   Even if Buzz had been unsuccessful it would not have made the hire lazy.  Based on your logic the hire wasnt lazy becuase buzz was successful?

Bottom line Mu interviewed Buzz multiple times spoke to other coaches and worked with intermediaries.  They happened to have one of the top assistants in the country on board and everything he had done over the last year was proof positive that he would be a great hire.   I would also imagine Buzz knocked there socks off in his interviews. 
Messgae board people deemed it "lazy" becuase 1. it was not a big name hire and 2. they were ignorant to who Buzz was.

[Hoopaloop]

I will look for some stuff when I get a chance...I do know he was making upwards of $500 k as an assistant at MU , that's dalonte hill type of money.

He made $409,311 per Marquette's tax filings of public record.

I remember hoping that we would get Darrin Horn, then he was hired by South Carolina.  See how that one turned out!  That's why they don't pay me the big bucks...

You weren't wrong you just weren't proven right.  You don't know how it would have turned out.  You could be absolutely right about Horn, but impossible to prove and we will never know.  It's about timing and opportunity.  Kevin O'Neill was the same coach after Marquette as he was when he came to Marquette, yet never had that success again.  Rick Majerus never succeeded at MU as head coach but almost won a national title at Utah.  Buzz didn't have much success at New Orleans.

If Horn came and walked into Buzz's situation, Horn has a stellar first year and the dominoes start falling his direction.  We will never know.  Timing and opportunity are so key.  What if Wade doesn't come to MU under Crean?  Is he the head coach at IU now?  What if Atlanta doesn't trade Favre to the Packers, does Holmgren win a Super Bowl?

If John Wooden didn't take the UCLA job, does he still win 10 titles?  If Bobby Knight takes the Wisconsin job, do they win 3 titles?  It's still Bobby Knight, it' still John Wooden.  The difference is timing and opportunity.  Joe Torre won World Series with the Yankees but nothing anywhere else.  Parcells won Super Bowls at the Giants but not in Dallas.

Every situation is different.  Every opportunity different.  The same person can succeed in one place but fail in another.  Buzz has done a bang up job at Marquette.  He is not the only one that could have done that, but I'm glad we have him especially if he plans on staying for a long time.

[Hoopaloop]

Boy those threads remind one of how insufferable chicos is/ was.  

Makes you wonder how many think of you in the same vein today.