Who will replace Dale Layer?

[strobl2]

I kind of forgot about this but don't you think they should be hiring somebody pretty quickly here?

[77ncaachamps]

Kevin O'Neill









Bennie Seltzer or Tim Buckley or Roshown McLeod.

Seriously...Dwyane Stephens (to work with the big men) or someone with in-roads to NY.

[strobl2]

I really hope he hires a guy that is very experienced, I think that is what he needs because he is relatively inexperienced. Dale Layer as the assistant really helped i believe because if Buzz needed something he probably relied heavily on Dale because he was much more experienced. Since Buzz is so young, upbeat, and enthusiastic about his job he needs someone who has been around the block a few times who can give him good advice to go along with all that passion he has.

[MUONTOP]

There's been some speculation that the longer the new coach isn't officially named the less restrictions that coach has on the recruiting trail from the NCAA. So I wouldn't expect a quick hire.

[Brewtown Andy]

Does the longer the job goes vacant/unannounced mean there's a increased chance at it being filled by the still unemployed Billy Gillispie?

[4everwarriors]

I think Gillispie's been the choice all along.

[Blackhat]

I wouldn't mind having one of the best defensive coaches in the nation on staff for a year.   He'd be tremendously over qualified for the position though.   But maybe he wants to take a year off and not have the 24/7 recruiting burden.   Still think it's a long long shot though. 

[Ellenson Guerrero]

I can't imagine Gillespie lowering himself back down to an assistant. If he's smart he'll just wait around for a year until a new round of head coaching positions opens up. I'm sure he won't get anything like UK, but a notch down on the profile level and I'm sure there are alot of teams out there that would place him highly on their lists.

[MUBasketball]

I can't imagine Gillespie lowering himself back down to an assistant. If he's smart he'll just wait around for a year until a new round of head coaching positions opens up. I'm sure he won't get anything like UK, but a notch down on the profile level and I'm sure there are alot of teams out there that would place him highly on their lists.

This is a tough call (if Coach G were willing to come as an assistant). Do you take him when in 99.9% likelihood he'll be gone next year. Do we want to have a revolving door of assistants again?

On the flip side, regardless of how things went at Kentucky, he's a very good basketball coach. He didn't get fired because of his coaching, he got fired because he's a drunk and was not a "rah rah" guy which is a must to be Kentucky's coach.

Regardless, I highly doubt it happens anyway. I think it would look bad to not only get fired from arguably the best job in college basketball, to taking an assistant's position. Perception wouldn't be good...no matter what program he went to as an assistant. He's probably better off taking a year off, as mentioned, and getting a head job next year.

[77ncaachamps]

Also, do you risk Gillespie recruiting players only to have them leave MU to follow him?

I think Billy G's going to do TV then enter back into the fray.

But that doesn't answer who it's going to be. If we use TC's formula (one former head coach and one NBA experience), we need to find someone who has BOTH.

[MUONTOP]

Do we want to have a revolving door of assistants again?

I think when assistants get hired away its a testament to the success of the program and the tuteluge of the head coach.  So no I suppose I wouldn't mind a revolving door.  I don't think theres a coach in the country who wants to be a career assistant, its the nature of the job to be a stepping stone role.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I think when assistants get hired away its a testament to the success of the program and the tuteluge of the head coach.  So no I suppose I wouldn't mind a revolving door.  I don't think theres a coach in the country who wants to be a career assistant, its the nature of the job to be a stepping stone role.

This is the tired old crap we heard when our assistants were fleeing like rats from a ship. Roy Williams was an assistant for like 10 years under Dean Smith. Crean himself was an assistant for like 5 years under Izzo. Billy Donovan. It's a long list. People stay in jobs where they're appreciated and rewarded. MU was paying its assistants big money under Crean and they left anyway. Why is that?

The revolving doors with our assistant coaches was a recipe for lazy ass recruiting.

Layer leaving is simply a good opportunity for him...nothing more. It's got nothing to do with Buzz Williams as he was an old friend and doesn't strike me as the type who's going to drive assistants away because he's an a-hole.

[Nukem2]

This is the tired old crap we heard when our assistants were fleeing like rats from a ship. Roy Williams was an assistant for like 10 years under Dean Smith. Crean himself was an assistant for like 5 years under Izzo. Billy Donovan. It's a long list. People stay in jobs where they're appreciated and rewarded. MU was paying its assistants big money under Crean and they left anyway. Why is that?

The revolving doors with our assistant coaches was a recipe for lazy ass recruiting.

Layer leaving is simply a good opportunity for him...nothing more. It's got nothing to do with Buzz Williams as he was an old friend and doesn't strike me as the type who's going to drive assistants away because he's an a-hole.

PRN, you are showing too much man-love for our old coach.   

[ChicosBailBonds]

This is the tired old crap we heard when our assistants were fleeing like rats from a ship. Roy Williams was an assistant for like 10 years under Dean Smith. Crean himself was an assistant for like 5 years under Izzo. Billy Donovan. It's a long list. People stay in jobs where they're appreciated and rewarded. MU was paying its assistants big money under Crean and they left anyway. Why is that?

The revolving doors with our assistant coaches was a recipe for lazy ass recruiting.

Layer leaving is simply a good opportunity for him...nothing more. It's got nothing to do with Buzz Williams as he was an old friend and doesn't strike me as the type who's going to drive assistants away because he's an a-hole.

The true answer is somewhere in between.  Three or four of our assistants became head coaches, I think that qualifies as "good opportunity for him".  Stephens went back to his alma mater, another good opportunity for him.  Others left for any variety of reasons (didn't like the head coach among one of them).

[77ncaachamps]

Chicos, I agree with your comments.

I also agree with this PRN quotation: "The revolving doors with our assistant coaches was a recipe for lazy ass recruiting."

[reinko]

I want Billy G.hired so Chicos has to eat his own shoe live on a webcam.

[4everwarriors]

I want Billy G.hired so Chicos has to eat his own shoe live on a webcam.

Just wait till he has to send me my bet winnings from California. And I don't mean fruits and nuts.

[bilsu]

What if Dominic James is done playing ball? Would Buzz wait to see how his foot heals.

[TallTitan34]

Buzz said at the banquet the three amigos all had jobs for life at Marquette as long as he was here.

[4everwarriors]

Buzz said at the banquet the three amigos all had jobs for life at Marquette as long as he was here.

Do we have a new dude in the chicken suit for next year yet?

[77ncaachamps]

Do we have a new dude in the chicken suit for next year yet?

If DJ does that...he'll definitely be more like a high-flying Golden Eagle than a grounded Golden Chicken.

[Nukem2]

Chicos, I agree with your comments.

I also agree with this PRN quotation: "The revolving doors with our assistant coaches was a recipe for lazy ass recruiting."

I don't think that anyone can reasonably accuse TC of lazy recruiting.  Certainly, the assistant turnovers impacted the development of relationships with potential recruits negatively.  More to the point is that TC's natural recruiting base was Michigan and he was unable to make any real inroads there.  He did start well in Illinois, but that dried up as he apparently had problems with Wade's AAU coach.  In Wisconsin, I suspect he failed to develop any lasting realtionships with HS coaches.  He was able to get Diener, Novak and Matthews; but, that was about it.  He tried getting into the East Coast through Danny Hurley and, ultimately, Bobby Hurle.  That was starting to look successful vis-a-vis the Tyshawn recruitment.  But that went away as he left MU.  Overall, TC did not develop lasting recruiting pipelines on his own.  The turnover of assistants magnified that.  TC was a tireless recruiter, but some of that was his own doing due to the aforementioned factors.

[commonbondcoach]

As for who will replace Layer - Layer had a repuation of developing BIGS.  Young Bigs want / need to be in a program that has an assistant who is experienced developing Bigs.  It helps in recruiting Bigs.  So the new assistant IMO needs to be known for developing Bigs.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I don't think that anyone can reasonably accuse TC of lazy recruiting. 

I sure as heck can. Was signing Blackledge lazy recruiting? Abso-freaking-lutely it was. His teammate Stemler turned us down so we threw a scholarship at him because Crean had no other options. Crean gave scholarships to Hurley family guys anytime they smiled at him (two guys on the team this year, plus a third who opted out) and we offered 5'9" Acker a scholarship because he was friends with McNeal. I like Acker, but is he a Big East player? That's certainly questionable. I believe he also signed another ND Prep guy, who opted out? That's just lazy as hell...especially with the budget he was given.

Crean was tireless at self promoting, but he was a SHODDY recruiter.

[Nukem2]

I sure as heck can. Was signing Blackledge lazy recruiting? Abso-freaking-lutely it was. His teammate Stemler turned us down so we threw a scholarship at him because Crean had no other options. Crean gave scholarships to Hurley family guys anytime they smiled at him (two guys on the team this year, plus a third who opted out) and we offered 5'9" Acker a scholarship because he was friends with McNeal. I like Acker, but is he a Big East player? That's certainly questionable. I believe he also signed another ND Prep guy, who opted out? That's just lazy as hell...especially with the budget he was given.

Crean was tireless at self promoting, but he was a SHODDY recruiter.

I  agree that he was not as good a recrruiter as some made him out to be.  But lazy, no way.  What is in question with the late recruits like Blackledge, Lott, Bradley, etc. is TC's apparent philosophy of using every scholie every year rather than banking one for the future as well as the lack of recruiting pipelines I noted earlier in this thread.  You really do need to tone down your love for TC...

[ChicosBailBonds]

I sure as heck can. Was signing Blackledge lazy recruiting? Abso-freaking-lutely it was. His teammate Stemler turned us down so we threw a scholarship at him because Crean had no other options. Crean gave scholarships to Hurley family guys anytime they smiled at him (two guys on the team this year, plus a third who opted out) and we offered 5'9" Acker a scholarship because he was friends with McNeal. I like Acker, but is he a Big East player? That's certainly questionable. I believe he also signed another ND Prep guy, who opted out? That's just lazy as hell...especially with the budget he was given.

Crean was tireless at self promoting, but he was a SHODDY recruiter.

Question....do you think giving scholarships to other Hurley players was with the intent of getting better recruits from Hurley down the road?  I.e.....Tyshawn Taylor?   I think it was.   Crean took care of a few of Hurley's kids by giving them scholarships that maybe or maybe not were worthy (they were offered by other DI programs) but with the intent to foster a stronger relationship?

I don't disagree with you on Trend, but I do disagree with you on the Hurley kids.  It led to us signing one of the better guards in the country who started as a Freshman on the defending national champion KU squad.

[77ncaachamps]

Question....do you think giving scholarships to other Hurley players was with the intent of getting better recruits from Hurley down the road?  I.e.....Tyshawn Taylor?   I think it was.   Crean took care of a few of Hurley's kids by giving them scholarships that maybe or maybe not were worthy (they were offered by other DI programs) but with the intent to foster a stronger relationship?

I don't disagree with you on Trend, but I do disagree with you on the Hurley kids.  It led to us signing one of the better guards in the country who started as a Freshman on the defending national champion KU squad.

I believe in fostering relationships, but you can't always be taking in more lesser players than the more-talented players.

And not to sell TT short but it was a no-brainer going to KU since he would have had a returning PG and legit C as well as the possibility of a lot of playing time.

He wouldn't have had that here (except for the PG).

[RawdogDX]

5 out of the last 6 posts about crean.  Seriously people, when are you going to stop letting some troll hijack threads like this?
Does anyone not get it?  PRN thinks that crean was a terrible coach and recruiter and he got lucky 20+ times a year.  Why argue with him anymore?  It reminds me of when i bothered to fight with my cousins who thought dinosoars still lived on a hidden island because god wouldn't let any of his creatures die off.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I believe in fostering relationships, but you can't always be taking in more lesser players than the more-talented players.

And not to sell TT short but it was a no-brainer going to KU since he would have had a returning PG and legit C as well as the possibility of a lot of playing time.

He wouldn't have had that here (except for the PG).

I don't disagree with you necessarily, but I don't think any of us know what the parameters were.  Maybe some of these AAU and high school coaches said "before I start recommending any of my best players go from NYC to Milwaukee, I need to see what your program is about, how good of a coach you are, etc.  I have a few other guys here that are going to play DI that need a home".

Let's look back at where we were....Crean took over a NON-NIT program.  In those first number of years you're clawing for any players you can get, trying to build those relationships, taking kids you may not want to take to help down the road for a bigger, better player.  It would not surprise me to see someone take a chance on a kid that is of lesser stature to build up that relationship hoping it leads to something better down the road.

[MUBasketball]

Let's look back at where we were....Crean took over a NON-NIT program.  In those first number of years you're clawing for any players you can get, trying to build those relationships, taking kids you may not want to take to help down the road for a bigger, better player. 

Correct, anybody who hates Crean really needs to get in the DeLorean and go back to 1999. I was in middle school at the time, just getting into college hoops and started going to Marquette games, right around the last year of the Deane era. I loved the program...but they were frankly a bad basketball team. No athletes and little talent (aside from a select few). It was a poor man's Wisconsin roster...let that sink in.

Crean had little to sell. A program that was elite...only problem was that was decades prior. At that time they were in a league that was only a few years old and had very few good teams. And, to top it all off, there was no McGuire Center. Only a dumpy, outdated, small gym.

He did a hell of a lot. But, he left. I support Marquette's coach. Good luck to him...but not too much. 

[Pakuni]

I sure as heck can. Was signing Blackledge lazy recruiting? Abso-freaking-lutely it was. His teammate Stemler turned us down so we threw a scholarship at him because Crean had no other options.

In that instance, Crean was simply following the roadmap laid out by your boy Mike Deane (with Olouma Nnamaka playing the role of Trend Blackledge and Fredrik Jonzen starring as Lance Stemler).

[The Lens]

In that instance, Crean was simply following the roadmap laid out by your boy Mike Deane (with Olouma Nnamaka playing the role of Trend Blackledge and Fredrik Jonzen starring as Lance Stemler).

Great pull Pakuni!

Now I'm going to add the name LeDaryll Billingsley b/c I think he must be brought up in every Mike Deane discussion.

I will say I don't think MU was a big loser when they finished 2nd place in the Swede Derby, they certainly were a big loser in finishing 2nd place in the Stemler Derby.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

PRN thinks that crean was a terrible coach person and recruiter and he got lucky 20+ times a year. 

Corrected for you.

[jaygall31]

why would Stephens leave Mich St.?

[Blackhat]

I don't think I've ever seen a coach take this long to fill an assistant position.   Lord knows Crean didn't in his many hiring endeavors.   Hope it doesn't backfire on Buzz. 

[Brewtown Andy]

I don't think I've ever seen a coach take this long to fill an assistant position.   Lord knows Crean didn't in his many hiring endeavors.   Hope it doesn't backfire on Buzz. 

Considering they're set on recruiting for this fall, and only have 1 spot left for next fall (maybe zero depending on what Vander Blue is thinking), and presuming Buzz wants to fill this spot with in game coaching ability, it's not terrible that Buzz is dragging his feet.

[Tulsa Warrior]

Buzzing is not dragging his feet the man is not wired that way.  He always has a plan. 

[Blackhat]

Buzzing is not dragging his feet the man is not wired that way.  He always has a plan. 

Which makes me theorize Gillispie will join us in the fall after refreshing his pistons. 

[4everwarriors]

Dude is in the ondeck circle.

[BrewCity83]

Dude is livin' it up with the Southern coeds and Mint Juleps all summer so he gets it out of his system for the school year.