Oso planning to go pro
And here's a list of all the P6 coaches with 10 years of experience or less:
Wojo is 4th on this list, but in a virtual tie with Enfield and Gard. The only young coach proven to be significantly better is Chris Beard. Looks like we have a good thing going
We certainly do if our goal is to develop young coaches. I don’t agree that is what we are trying to do as a program.
I'd pose that just a bit differently. My read is that Marquette hired Wojo for two main reasons:a) He showed the potential to develop into a great coachb) He's a strong fit with the universityThe goal isn't to develop young coaches. It's for the program to succeed long term -- which is only possible if both a) and b) hold true. Buzz ultimately didn't mesh with this strategy. No matter what Buzz stated publicly -- "I'll stay as long as they'll have me," "Don't mess with happy," et cetera -- it seems clear he wasn't a good fit with the university and had no interest in staying long term. He's now left New Orleans, Marquette and Virginia Tech.Now, if Wojo either plateaus/regresses (hiring young, unproven coaches is always a risk) or leaves for a higher profile job after achieving success at MU in a year or two, the strategy is worth questioning.
Neither a or b is about winning basketball games. So maybe that’s the side stuff but I don’t think that was the objective of the program.
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
Big picture, Marquette athletic director Bill School has talked repeatedly about the goals of the program: success on the court, in the classroom and in the community. Having good coaches who are a good fit with the university is part of that. I can't say whether MU favors young coaches. But recent history (O'Neill, Crean, Williams, Wojo) seems to back it up.
A few observations:• There isn't a single coach in the 1st quintile with less than 13 years of experience as a Division I head coach.• By this measure, Wojo is the 3rd best coach in the Big East — but in a virtually indistinguishable pack with Greg McDermott, Kevin Willard and even Ed Cooley.• This is why anybody who says Wojo is in over his head has absolutely zero credibility. He's doing just fine; his performance over the past 3 seasons is on par with a number of more established and experienced coaches: McDermott, Willard, Cooley, Ben Howland, Mike Brey, Larry Krystokowiak, et cetera. Is Jim Boeheim in over his head?• At the same time, 6 of the coaches here -- Mike Anderson, Steve Alford, Avery Johnson, Billy Kennedy, Chris Mullin and Bryce Drew -- were fired this year. Several of them (such as Alford and Johnson) rank not too far below Wojo. This season will be a critical one.• I hope Shaka Smart has his resume up to date. His record at Texas has been thoroughly unimpressive. Same goes for Josh Pastner.• If you didn't notice, Dave Leitao has the worst record of any P6 coach in Division I over the past 3 seasons. Yet he still has a job somehow. DePaul is simply pathetic. There are no words.
Wow, we are so, so lucky to have Wojo.
The point was simply to provide an objective view of Wojo's on-court results so far relative to his peers. You can look at it a couple ways.Some see a half-empty glass -- i.e. Wojo is an average coach who's produced average results so far and hasn't lived up to expectations at Marquette. That's fair. The third quintile is right in the middle, the very definition of average among P6 coaches. Certainly not great.Others see a half-full glass -- i.e. Wojo has won more than most other young coaches competing today at the highest level of college basketball. And hopefully that points the way to even greater success in the future.Can Wojo move up the list? That's my expectation as a fan. Just making the tournament isn't enough. I want MU in the running for Big East championships year after year, earning top seeds and winning games when it counts most: in the NCAA tournament. The standard should be Jay Wright, not Ed Cooley or Kevin Willard.
Thanks for the rundown. My only complaint is the rankings. Something needs to be included for tourney success. Frank Martin, with that Final Four run needs to be higher as does Billy Kennedy and his S16.But the analysis does point out how hard it is to expect a young coach, with little experience, to compete with the big boys. It is extremely rare. If you are going to hire a young coach, and there is some success, you have to stick with them for awhile otherwise it is a waste.
Thanks for the rundown. My only complaint is the rankings. Something needs to be included for tourney success. Frank Martin, with that Final Four run needs to be higher as does Billy Kennedy and his S16.
This nicely explains why I suggested a few months back that 5 years wasn't enough to get an idea, but it would take 10-15 before you really know the kind of coach you have. Long term success doesn't come without a long term commitment.
This makes sense for success of a program, but not for the success of a coach in my opinion.Fr. Wild's bet in the late 90's paid off quicker than this.