Tale of two coaching searches

[ILWARRIOR71]

Having been a longtime fan of both Marquette and Northern Illinois (NIU) athletics,  I find it interesting to contrast the two coaching hires done in the last year.

NIU is a medium size public school on the outskirts of the Chicagoland area.  It is primarily a football school with a decent on campus arena (10,000) and a basketball program that has had very limited success, a poor following, small budget, and plays in a terrible conference (MAC). 

Last year after firing its head basketball coach NIU"s AD hired an Atlanta athletics search firm.  This firm contacted several coaches throughout the country, prepared a short list of interested candidates, and had these candidates interview with the AD and President in their Atlanta offices.

NIU eventually hired Ricardo Patton a well respected coach from Colorado U who had taken his team to several NCAA and NIT appearances.  http://niuhuskies.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/patton_ricardo00.html
Despite having a rough season with a team almost devoid of Div 1 talent, Ricardo coached up the conference freshman of the year and has several middle range recruits (similar to Acker, Cubian) coming next year.

My point is that NIU hired professionals to do their searching, and hired a well qualified candidate that they probally never knew was available.  MU on the other hand kept the search in house, claimed that no candidates were interested and hired a marginally qualified candidate (poorer) despite having every advantage in prestige conference and pay.

IMO NIU will be in the NCAA's again before MU

[Ready2Fly]

Having been a longtime fan of both Marquette and Northern Illinois (NIU) athletics,  I find it interesting to contrast the two coaching hires done in the last year.

NIU is a medium size public school on the outskirts of the Chicagoland area.  It is primarily a football school with a decent on campus arena (10,000) and a basketball program that has had very limited success, a poor following, small budget, and plays in a terrible conference (MAC). 

Last year after firing its head basketball coach NIU"s AD hired an Atlanta athletics search firm.  This firm contacted several coaches throughout the country, prepared a short list of interested candidates, and had these candidates interview with the AD and President in their Atlanta offices.

NIU eventually hired Ricardo Patton a well respected coach from Colorado U who had taken his team to several NCAA and NIT appearances.  http://niuhuskies.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/patton_ricardo00.html
Despite having a rough season with a team almost devoid of Div 1 talent, Ricardo coached up the conference freshman of the year and has several middle range recruits (similar to Acker, Cubian) coming next year.

My point is that NIU hired professionals to do their searching, and hired a well qualified candidate that they probally never knew was available.  MU on the other hand kept the search in house, claimed that no candidates were interested and hired a marginally qualified candidate (poorer) despite having every advantage in prestige conference and pay.

IMO NIU will be in the NCAA's again before MU

I disagree with your last statement, I think we'll be in again next year with the returning talent.  But you're dead on with the way the hiring process was conducted.  Amateur at best.

[Wade for President]

IMO NIU will be in the NCAA's again before MU

I'll take that bet for the '08-'09 season

[Untucked]

I'm not saying that they did it right or wrong, but your example of Ricardo Patton is a poor one. He is a coach that was forced out at Colorado for doing a bad job. Colorado basketball is in shambles because of him. He had no where else to go.

[ATWizJr]

you think we mismanaged our hiring process?  We had a coach in place within less than a week.  Don't you think that Cords was involved?

You want mismanagement?  You been watching the Providence fiasco?  Now turned down by Larranaga.  those people are suffering!

[MUfan2]

Having been a longtime fan of both Marquette and Northern Illinois (NIU) athletics,  I find it interesting to contrast the two coaching hires done in the last year.

NIU is a medium size public school on the outskirts of the Chicagoland area.  It is primarily a football school with a decent on campus arena (10,000) and a basketball program that has had very limited success, a poor following, small budget, and plays in a terrible conference (MAC). 

Last year after firing its head basketball coach NIU"s AD hired an Atlanta athletics search firm.  This firm contacted several coaches throughout the country, prepared a short list of interested candidates, and had these candidates interview with the AD and President in their Atlanta offices.

NIU eventually hired Ricardo Patton a well respected coach from Colorado U who had taken his team to several NCAA and NIT appearances.  http://niuhuskies.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/patton_ricardo00.html
Despite having a rough season with a team almost devoid of Div 1 talent, Ricardo coached up the conference freshman of the year and has several middle range recruits (similar to Acker, Cubian) coming next year.

My point is that NIU hired professionals to do their searching, and hired a well qualified candidate that they probally never knew was available.  MU on the other hand kept the search in house, claimed that no candidates were interested and hired a marginally qualified candidate (poorer) despite having every advantage in prestige conference and pay.

IMO NIU will be in the NCAA's again before MU

Um, I'm from Colorado.  You can have Patton all day long.  Patton has shown the ability to recruit (on an inconsistent basis), but cannot coach worth a lick.  The jury is still out on Buzz's coaching ability, but he's hands down a better recruiter than Patton is.  Patton went to 2 NCAA tournaments in 10 years, winning only one game (and that includes having two NBA players in that timeframe, Chauncey Billups and David Harrison).  My guess is Buzz will have more NCAA wins after one year of coaching than Patton did in 10.

Seriously guy, if you think Patton is a better hire than Williams, you're dreaming.  

[TVDirector]

but we have Cottingham!
and Cords pulling his strings!
and the commish from the BE piping in!!

who needs due diligence!?!!

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

Okay, which scenario would you be happy with:

Would you rather have Buzz now after a week, not knowing all the details of the process?, or:

Would you rather have Buzz after next week, forced to take him after being publicly burned by your top 4 choices?

Maybe it is both some of the former and the latter here, but for both the good of MU and Buzz's credibility, I'd rather take the first.

And BTW...NIU still went, what, 7-23 with Ricardo Patton last year?  It may pay off in a couple of years if NIU can get into NIT bid territory (face it, the MAC is a 1-bid league for the foreseeable future), but for now, it's another example of how hiring the big name doesn't always guarentee big results. 

[MUfan2]

but we have Cottingham!
and Cords pulling his strings!
and the commish from the BE piping in!!

who needs due diligence!?!!

Are you the new PRN for Buzz?  Your rants in the last few days have been embarrassing.  Grow up.

[ATWizJr]

Cottingham, Cords and the commish....that is due diligence!  You think they only talked among themselves?  C'mon man.

[OHPanther]

Think it might have been a bad choice for Marquette to use them:
Parker helped orchestrate the coaching hires this offseason at Kentucky, Arkansas, Iowa and Minnesota, among others. Last year, his firm helped put Kelvin Sampson at Indiana and Jeff Capel at Oklahoma.

[Shack]

Oh God…now we're being criticized by NIU fans.  This is like getting turned down by the hot chick at school and then having the band camp girl tell you that you suck in bed. 

[IAmMarquette]

Oh God…now we're being criticized by NIU fans.  This is like getting turned down by the hot chick at school and then having the band camp girl tell you that you suck in bed. 

The real question is, why are you f***ing the band camp girl?

[🏀]

Oh God…now we're being criticized by NIU fans.  This is like getting turned down by the hot chick at school and then having the band camp girl tell you that you suck in bed. 

The real question is, why are you f***ing the band camp girl?

I'll take the band camp girl...

[77ncaachamps]

Marquette will easily make the tournament each year...if they played in NIU's conference!

Now if NIU played in the Big East...

[ozmetal71]

NIU went 6-22 in basketball this year. Yes folks, 6-22.  They were absolutely an utter and total joke in a miserable conference.  NIU led the league in turnovers and couldn't do anything right.  NIU also took a big step backwards from last season.

Patton got fired from Colorado and had nowhere else to go.  One has to be on some major hallucinogens to think that NIU hired a better coach than Marquette.

We may not be high on Williams, but to compare this hiring to the utter disaster of the NIU basketball program is absurd.

[ILWARRIOR71]

If you truly are a graduate student then you need to learn to read and comprehend.  It helps!

The point of the post was the process not the hire.  Obviously Ricardo Patton would have been a TERRIBLE hire for MU, but it was a GREAT hire for NIU because the best they could have gotten at that point was a low level assistant from a small school.

As for the quality of the teams, of course MU's bench would destroy the NIU team just about any year and if you read my post again you will notice that I said they were "devoid of any div 1 talent this year".  But one thing I have learned in forty years of watching college basketball is that many times you must hit rock bottom before you can advance again, I believe NIU is heading in the right direction again.

As to how NIU can get into the NCAA's prior to MU if Marquette has such a superior team.  In the MAC all you need is 3 decent player and some luck and you can win the conference tournament and get in.  In the Big East you need to fight the Beasts every game just to finish in the top half and get an at large bid.

Anyways the process is over and I will support Buzz completely just as I have supported every MU coach since Al was a pup.  I sincerely hope that Buzz will turn out to be the greatest MU coach ever and that our biggest problem in six years (after several Big East championships and final four runs) is how to keep Kansas from firing Bill Self and stealing Buzz.

[79Warrior]

Having been a longtime fan of both Marquette and Northern Illinois (NIU) athletics,  I find it interesting to contrast the two coaching hires done in the last year.

NIU is a medium size public school on the outskirts of the Chicagoland area.  It is primarily a football school with a decent on campus arena (10,000) and a basketball program that has had very limited success, a poor following, small budget, and plays in a terrible conference (MAC). 

Last year after firing its head basketball coach NIU"s AD hired an Atlanta athletics search firm.  This firm contacted several coaches throughout the country, prepared a short list of interested candidates, and had these candidates interview with the AD and President in their Atlanta offices.

NIU eventually hired Ricardo Patton a well respected coach from Colorado U who had taken his team to several NCAA and NIT appearances.  http://niuhuskies.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/patton_ricardo00.html
Despite having a rough season with a team almost devoid of Div 1 talent, Ricardo coached up the conference freshman of the year and has several middle range recruits (similar to Acker, Cubian) coming next year.

My point is that NIU hired professionals to do their searching, and hired a well qualified candidate that they probally never knew was available.  MU on the other hand kept the search in house, claimed that no candidates were interested and hired a marginally qualified candidate (poorer) despite having every advantage in prestige conference and pay.

IMO NIU will be in the NCAA's again before MU

When did MU claim no candidates were interested? MU never said a word one way or the other, the way it should by. You do not search in public. By the way, rosiaks latest blog entry completely contradicts your comment.

[IAmMarquette]

Easy with that signature ptm. My boy Benny just out-dueled your ace (well, not really...both were pretty impressive....how's Zambrano's forearm, by the way?) not too long ago, and followed that up with a complete game shutout.