Kolek planning to go pro
It was Wally. Deane took John Polonowski instead. Oops.
All good in the end. Wally cashes in the NBA and we get rid of Deane sooner rather than later.
I want to say Wally Szerbiak or Chris Mihm? Anyone else remember this?
It definitely worked out in the long run. Crean, Wade, Big East...lots of dominoes fell into place.
Side note: Polo is a great dude. Anyone remember the detail about how Deane said no? I think the dad called Deane and Deane laughed him off? Deane was probably nursing a wicked hangover from being at Hegarty's until 2 am so his judgment was cloudy. I was talking to a Miami Ohio alumn the other day and telling him the story and I was pretty sure it was Wally and he didn't believe me. So wanted to nail down the details.
Chris Mihm's dad played tennis at Marquette. I conflated stories. Forgive me, I'm getting old. I'm even old enough to have been a Marquette Warrior!
Didn't Polonowski quit the team his senior year to just party? I remember seeing Polo at every party.
Cant validate this but I was told by a reporter that Deane offered Polo without even scouting him.
Side note: Polo is a great dude. 5-6
When I was a kid, there was a program through the Athletic Department for kids of season ticket holders where you got a gift package of some sort, but also, got matched with a student athlete pen pal. My first year I got a track athlete who was a really nice guy. Next year was a soccer player I was excited about but he only replied once in a short note which was a bummer.I figured the basketball team was exempt due to all their other demands. Well, my last year, I got matched with a sophomore Polo. Not exactly Aaron Hutchins or Wardle, but I was amped either way. Sent an excited letter. Didn't hear anything for probably 5-6 weeks. Figured it was a lost cause. Then one day I got a letter, hand written in messy cursive, covering both sides fully of a piece of paper. It was great. I remember specifically him talking about his family and calling his brother a "dirty hippie of sorts". We exchanged probably 2-3 more letters throughout the season. Pretty awesome.
I love this. It didn't cost the player anything but a very little bit of time, and he made a fan for life and created significant goodwill for the program. I mean, you're an old dude now and you're STILL calling it "pretty awesome"! Outreach like this is so valuable. I wish Marquette would still do it.
Side note, read in Gasaway’s book that Raymonds was one of the 15 coaches that got an in person with Patrick Ewing. Never had heard that before.
And here I started this thread looking for a random bit of trivia and we come away with this gem that literally made me smile when reading. Thanks for this. It is pretty awesome.
I don’t know. We’ve had seasons go off the rails after players have written letters.