Immediately after we learned that Coach Crean was leaving Marquette for Indiana, I spoke with a sports reporter from The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Indiana. This reporter had just written an outrageously fawning piece about Tom Crean, citing the many wonders Crean had worked at Marquette and would soon be working at Indiana.
The gist of the reporter's piece: Indiana was indeed blessed to have landed Coach Crean. The struggling Hoosiers would rise again. The future could not have looked brighter.
When we spoke, the reporter admitted he had never met Crean or seen him coach. The reporter only knew what had been written or said about the coach.
I told the reporter that Crean is quite good at drumming up interest in and excitement about himself and his team. He knows how to work the student body, alumni and other fans, including staying on the court after games to wave to fans and thank them for coming and cheering his Golden Eagles.
Other than that, I told the reporter, Tom Crean is not the star coach that many people claim. He is a solid booster, a pretty good recruiter and a marginal coach, especially in game situations where his offensive schemes, substitutions and in-game adjustments range from so-so to really bad.
The reporter was polite and gentlemanly, but I think he interpreted me as disgruntled and my comments as sour grapes. I ended our chat by telling the reporter that if we spoke again in a few years, I was certain that he would have an extremely different perception of Tom Crean and whether Crean is a "star" coach.
"I doubt it," he said, "but we'll see."
Today, I would say much the same -- about Coach Williams -- to those who care about Virginia Tech and its basketball team. I know they think they have landed one of the best younger coaches in collegiate basketball. But all they know is what they have read or heard.
Truth is, Coach Williams is an actor who is pretty good at creating a persona and an image. He has done well at cultivating his "aw shucks" routine and the notion that he is just a simple, God-fearing Southern boy who loves family, his players and helping others. Oh, and he tries his doggonedest to be the best basketball coach that the Lord allows him to be.
Time might prove me wrong, but the good folks at Virginia Tech are not getting a "star" coach. They are getting a clever, cunning good ol' boy whose purpose is to create a perception of himself so people keep liking the packaging even if the contents are not so good.
Yep--and with Buzz's cheap buyout clause, it sounds like his act got pretty old to the admin.
Maybe it is because I came of age in the Al era, but I always thought that "aw shucks" humility image was a load of bovine effluent.
We are Marquette and for godsakes, we're not humble.
I grew in the south with a lot of people who were genuine, God fearing, humble and caring people. They didn't go dancing on the West Virginia basketball logo after a sudden and surprising victory. They weren't screaming at their basketball players from the opposite end's free throw line. And they didn't visit basketball players' homes preaching "love, peace and God."
What we've learned in the past few days is that Buzz is a basketball coach. Buzz has done some wonderful things for our university and for the community but at his core, he is an opportunistic basketball coach. I don't have a problem with that but I think he can be replaced. In our history, there's been only one guy who could not be replaced (and God knows, we've tried). His name is Al!
All coaches are salesmen. They have to sell themselves to recruits and alumni. Image is a big thing and they all have egos. They would never get a Division one head coaching job, if they did not.
Quote from: MU Avenue on March 22, 2014, 10:30:02 AM
Immediately after we learned that Coach Crean was leaving Marquette for Indiana, I spoke with a sports reporter from The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Indiana. This reporter had just written an outrageously fawning piece about Tom Crean, citing the many wonders Crean had worked at Marquette and would soon be working at Indiana.
The gist of the reporter's piece: Indiana was indeed blessed to have landed Coach Crean. The struggling Hoosiers would rise again. The future could not have looked brighter.
When we spoke, the reporter admitted he had never met Crean or seen him coach. The reporter only knew what had been written or said about the coach.
I told the reporter that Crean is quite good at drumming up interest in and excitement about himself and his team. He knows how to work the student body, alumni and other fans, including staying on the court after games to wave to fans and thank them for coming and cheering his Golden Eagles.
Other than that, I told the reporter, Tom Crean is not the star coach that many people claim. He is a solid booster, a pretty good recruiter and a marginal coach, especially in game situations where his offensive schemes, substitutions and in-game adjustments range from so-so to really bad.
The reporter was polite and gentlemanly, but I think he interpreted me as disgruntled and my comments as sour grapes. I ended our chat by telling the reporter that if we spoke again in a few years, I was certain that he would have an extremely different perception of Tom Crean and whether Crean is a "star" coach.
"I doubt it," he said, "but we'll see."
Today, I would say much the same -- about Coach Williams -- to those who care about Virginia Tech and its basketball team. I know they think they have landed one of the best younger coaches in collegiate basketball. But all they know is what they have read or heard.
Truth is, Coach Williams is an actor who is pretty good at creating a persona and an image. He has done well at cultivating his "aw shucks" routine and the notion that he is just a simple, God-fearing Southern boy who loves family, his players and helping others. Oh, and he tries his doggonedest to be the best basketball coach that the Lord allows him to be.
Time might prove me wrong, but the good folks at Virginia Tech are not getting a "star" coach. They are getting a clever, cunning good ol' boy whose purpose is to create a perception of himself so people keep liking the packaging even if the contents are not so good.
After reading your post it started to dawn on me that Buzz reminds me of Lonesome Rhodes, Andy Griffith's character from
A Face in the Crowd. Watch the movie if you haven't seen it, eerily similar.