The Shaka Era Begins In The Same Place The Wojo Era Effectively Ended

[Dr. Blackheart]

We actually have a rep for crucifying media members for any perceived slight

MU also has the reputation of being one of the most informed and analytical fan bases (and quoted) in college basketball. Maybe because of a great College of Communication, it was one of the top schools engaged on social media for basketball a few years back. MU also has its share main stream media journalists as alums. Informed fans and content creators even help get coaches fired.

So, yes, MU fans call these guys out for their bad takes. Btw, they don’t really mind as it helps their views.

[Silent Verbal]

Yep. It was a rough year and I legitimately felt bad for him. He really looks much happier now that the pressure is off and his family situation is improving.

A year or two on Quin Snyder's bench would be great for him.

You “legitimately felt bad” for Wojo?  We paid him $9 million to go away.  In all, he got paid over $20 million by Marquette while completely killing off the casual fan base and torpedoing MU ball’s reputation on the national scene during his 7 years here.  He may be a good guy, but being a good guy is not at the top of the list in terms of a major college basketball coach’s priorities.  Lots of the game’s great coaches, including by many accounts his own mentor, are not very nice people.

I expect to see Wojo return to the Duke bench within the next couple of years as an assistant coach.  He doesn’t need the money anymore and I think he’ll just go back where he’s comfortable.  Take away the money he made at MU, and I bet in a lot of ways he wishes he’d never left his alma mater.  He’d probably be in line for their head job if he’d waited. 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

You “legitimately felt bad” for Wojo?  We paid him $9 million to go away. 

Wait.  I didn't pay him a dime.  Was I supposed to Venmo someone? 

[MUfan12]

You “legitimately felt bad” for Wojo?

On a personal level? Absolutely. Professionally he was struggling, it was still in the weird COVID year, and his wife and kids were in Utah. That would be hard on anyone.

[Galway Eagle]

Wait.  I didn't pay him a dime.  Was I supposed to Venmo someone?

Yeah I sent money for you, you can Venmo me the balance.

[cheebs09]

I’ve heard people that have had personal interactions with him that said what a great guy he was. I think him being so reserved really made it tough for fans to get behind him. Especially following in Buzz’s footsteps. Buzz’s press conferences would be appointment television.

I wish it worked out for him here. It would have been in all of our best interests to not have the 7 down-ish years. Not all were bad. However, even the best years had the disappointment of late season slides and getting dominated in the Tourney.

Hopefully he goes somewhere and has success. I’m rooting for him. I think he worked as hard as he could here, so I don’t have ill will towards him. He hasn’t bashed MU in any way I’ve seen.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Look, I wish the guy nothing but success. Coach Wojo didn't work at Marquette but like many of us who've not worked out in a job, you take what you learned and assess what went wrong and MOVE ON.

He's a good guy. He recruited good talent but he couldn't make the pieces fit together. And, his teams knew less about defense than my 14.5 year old cocker spaniel. He'll learn!

I'm sure when Coach Wojo gets another chance, those things that went wrong at Marquette won't happen again.

Look forward to competing against and beating his next team!

I think Wojo could be successful if he took a HC position at a lower level, though I don't know if his ego or his recently expanded bank account would allow it.

His M.O. was to recruit very well and then roll the ball out there are hope for the best. He was so used to Duke overwhelming opponents with pure talent that I don't think he developed the skills necessary be a good coach when there wasn't such a talent disparity. But, at a Mid Major his strategy could very well work--just outrecruit the rest of your conference and talent will carry you to a lot of wins.

But man, he really needs to learn how to run an inbounds play against pressure.

[Nukem2]

I’ve heard people that have had personal interactions with him that said what a great guy he was. I think him being so reserved really made it tough for fans to get behind him. Especially following in Buzz’s footsteps. Buzz’s press conferences would be appointment television.

I wish it worked out for him here. It would have been in all of our best interests to not have the 7 down-ish years. Not all were bad. However, even the best years had the disappointment of late season slides and getting dominated in the Tourney.

Hopefully he goes somewhere and has success. I’m rooting for him. I think he worked as hard as he could here, so I don’t have ill will towards him. He hasn’t bashed MU in any way I’ve seen.

Yep, hope it works out well for him somewhere.  Firing him was extremely difficult for Bill Scholl who was nearly in tears during the presser announcing the coaching change.  But, change was in the wind.

[VanderBlueFanClub]

Like Joey with Ja's nuts, I never got the taste of that loss out of my mouth

Ruined my whole bracket, but lowkey so it coming. We had no defensive guards like we had now. And to succeed in a conference full of really good guard play you need defensive guards.

[MU82]

He's not a good coach, but he's nowhere near the worst coach

Pay attention. Wojo is the worst coach in the history of college basketball. I mean, the guy went 0-223 over 7 years, never sniffed the NCAA tournament, recruited only stiffs (except the Heroic Hausers, of course), had a team of felons, broke numerous NCAA rules, and held 10 nuns hostage at gunpoint for a week.

Death would be too kind for him, as he ruined a couple of anonymous interwebs posters' entire college experience.

[#UnleashSean]

very debatable. I’m not a projo, but Woj took over a downward trending program and got MU to the ncaa tourney in short order. Hindsight is 20/20. A single road win doesn’t make Shaka the savior. Let’s see how things play out. Do you forget the UW game?

Hol up. No.

[#UnleashSean]

You “legitimately felt bad” for Wojo?  We paid him $9 million to go away.  In all, he got paid over $20 million by Marquette while completely killing off the casual fan base and torpedoing MU ball’s reputation on the national scene during his 7 years here.  He may be a good guy, but being a good guy is not at the top of the list in terms of a major college basketball coach’s priorities.  Lots of the game’s great coaches, including by many accounts his own mentor, are not very nice people.

I expect to see Wojo return to the Duke bench within the next couple of years as an assistant coach.  He doesn’t need the money anymore and I think he’ll just go back where he’s comfortable.  Take away the money he made at MU, and I bet in a lot of ways he wishes he’d never left his alma mater.  He’d probably be in line for their head job if he’d waited.

This and understands. Wojo might be a great guy off the court. But he cost MU years and burned bridges with a lot of people.

[5DollarPitcher]

Except of course recruiting top national talent and having a top ten team in the country and running a clean program.  If we ignore that your point is exactly right. 

I like Shaka as much as everyone else, but let's not under state the benefits Wojo brought to the program.

Shaka doesn’t run a clean program through 19 games?

Am I supposed to lose my nut over getting a 5 star recruit and then promptly folding over on the court season in and season out?

Let’s end the sympathetic Wojo narrative. The guy robbed the University blind and refused to make a change when approached by his boss. BUM!

[GB Warrior]

Wojo's biggest flaw in my mind is that he had no real philosophy, and it showed regularly. He was reliant on getting good talent and expecting them to win you games. And that worked to an extent, when he had a generational collegiate talent in Markus, but couldn't maximize the other strengths/hide the other flaws. Call it the Mike McCarthy style of coaching

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Shaka doesn’t run a clean program through 19 games?

Am I supposed to lose my nut over getting a 5 star recruit and then promptly folding over on the court season in and season out?

Let’s end the sympathetic Wojo narrative. The guy robbed the University blind and refused to make a change when approached by his boss. BUM!

Cura Personalis.  Look it up.  Live it.

[PointWarrior]

“ but let's not under state the benefits Wojo brought to the program.”

Hard to understate setting the program back 7 years.