Kolek planning to go pro
I was told by someone VERY close to the program that Mayo was the worst human being to ever play at Marquette. Believe or not, I trust my friend. There were some bad things going on during Buzz's time and LW was not the devil some have made him out to be.
I think I know what your talking about. If it has to do with how Mayo was recruited then I for sure know what you are talking about.
LW was not the devil some have made him out to be.
Whether Buzz was a fraud or the real deal, whether Mayo left in disgrace or simply made a business decision, none of those things affect the following:(1) LW's complete inability to connect with the Marquette BOT and the big MU donors;(2) LW's public comments (whether warranted or not) about Marquette's head coach wherein he criticized him in a newspaper;(3) LW's overall lack of gravitas and appearance of professionalism.These are the main reasons LW was shown the door. LW was instrumental in pulling Marquette through the Big East fall apart and had a decent role in the formation of the New Big East. He certainly did some things right and was effective at times. That said, LW wasn't polished enough for Marquette's AD position and it showed. MU reached when they hired LW and they suffered the consequences.
The public comments about Buzz should have been seen as prescient to most people here. Do you think Cords is polished enough? I'm a fan of his, but people have different definitions of polished. Some people hate over polished people as coming across as fake, or like politicians. Others don't like blunt speakers and call them unpolished, when in reality they just tell it like it is. There are grey areas for all of this.I'm not going to disagree with #1, there is truth to it. Number 2 is a red herring.....far more could have been said and what was said was benign. The defenders of Burt lost their collective minds, but if the defenders of Burt knew the whole story they would be asking for a mea culpa.#3....that goes back to the polished commentary.
#2 - The public comments about Buzz were foolish and showed a remarkable lack of organizational understanding and leadership. Whatever the pissing match between Buzz and LW may have been, and regardless of who was more in the right in the "whole story" situation, Buzz never aired the grievances publicly (until he left MU, of course).#1 and #3 go hand in hand. And, unfortunately, the same lack of awareness and leadership that created #2 are what made #1 and #3 so obviously present in LW's tenure. Trust me when I tell you that #2 did not affect LW's complete inability to politic in the proper manner with the BOT and the major donors. The big players behind the MU curtain couldn't care less about #2. But, #2 was another piece of evidence exemplifying LW's lack of leadership skills from a fundraising and politicking point of view.Let's face it; the AD at a major university with a strong athletic presence can't just be good at directing the athletics. He has to be the face of the department. He has to know when to kiss rings and know how to kiss rings. LW had none of that charm or gravitas and whether you like it or not, same is required once you get to that level. You can't be a major level AD and not know how to play the game. LW did not know how to play the game.EDIT: As a side note, LW will never receive enough credit for some of the good things he did. That said, he was, in many ways, a bumbling Neanderthal when it came to slimier side of the business.
if the defenders of Burt knew the whole story they would be asking for a mea culpa.
I agree with your overall analysis as to LW. He simply did not have the political IQ to handle the job properly . His personality simply was not one that would accept the reality at Marquette the AD/Coach relationship is inverted or at best pari passu. Also I did not see a lot of evidence that he was focused on the development of student athletes. Although it may have been too short a tenure to judge that aspect.I do believe he was a driving force behind the formation and terms of the new Big East and that was to our benefit. I think he would have done a good job of negotiating our relationship with a new arena going forward. Very grateful Mr. Cords came back when he did. I had some very good conversations with him about his insights on the Wojo decision In particular I liked how he described his perception that Cuonzo was running from something at Tennessee versus Wojo wanting to be here and understanding and embracing our tradition. Cords also understands and embraces what it takes for student athletes to be successful and I think that was his primary mission.Looking forward to a high quality AD going forward.
Are you talking about the Bert sh1t in the bowl story? If word of that leaked the whole thing would have gone right down the toilet!
Nope
Obviously that town has a Krispy Kreme.I love Santa wearing flip flops. What the hell is his role? To climb down chimneys in Hostage situations?
At the very least, the dude shoulda had enough sense not to wear a salt stained golf hat on national TV, aina?