Buzz, McKillop, Brownell and Lowery
http://www.620wtmj.com/sports/17321564.html
My preferene ranking of the candidates:
1. Brownell
2. Buzz
3. Lowery
4. McKillop
Maybe I'm just convincing myself, but it would seem that Buzz would have the highest potential to actually land a McDonald's All-American for MU. However, I still think Brownell brings more to the table.
Brownell is tops on that list for me, followed by McKillop to be honest.
We need to really look hard at Lowery.........look at his body of work. The MVC is an extremely competitive conference -> my only concern is his recruiting. In his fourth year he had his worst season with presumably all his recruits.
I am still amazed we can't get Bennett, Miller etc. even interested in a serious discussion about this opening.
Miller is too expensive with his $2 mill buyout, MU will walk away from that every time.........Bennett is shocking to say the least - with his ties to the state, plus the salary that Crean established MU will pay, Bennett not giving us a good solid look doesn't make sense.
haven't you guys learned your lesson with crean. just because a guy publicly says he's not interested doesn't mean a thing. not saying these guys are coming here, or maybe they have turned us down, but they very well may still be in play, but are leveraging for more money. this is a business where the coaches hold all of the power...
Quote from: Daniel on April 05, 2008, 08:36:40 AM
I am still amazed we can't get Bennett, Miller etc. even interested in a serious discussion about this opening.
No coach is going to publicly entertain another job. He does that and he'll never be able to recruit another player again, ever.
We will never know how seriously they thought about MU.
I am shocked that I am saying this but I am leaning toward Buzz out of those 4. He provides the most continuity, obviously, but probably the highest ceiling as well. It would definitely be a risky higher and he is the most likely of the 4 to fall flat on his face but he could also be great.
Lowery, McKillop, and Brownell just smell a lot like Mike Deane to me.
Quote from: PuertoRicanNightmare on April 05, 2008, 07:50:20 AM
Brownell is tops on that list for me, followed by McKillop to be honest.
Does anyone have a recruiting line on this guy? I have heard he is all x's and o's...a mid minor with a NCCA trip to a mid jump makes me wonder if that is his rap and confirms some chatter. I am sure MU is looking hard at that with him. I worry he is another "Piano Man". If we don't have a decent recruiter in the BE going against Pitino, Dixon, Wright, Calhoun, JT III, etc. we are in deep trouble. He seems to be the best basketball, school guy of the bunch.
Lowery scares me. His team was favored to walk away in the MVC this year and fell flat...his recruits are in and out and back in again...and his runs have been with other's recruits.
The circle still takes me back to Buzz...let's see if a "surprise" pops in at the F4, though.
I have no idea what station I was able to pull in (Madison, I think?), and they were talking to the basketball coach from UW-Whitewater. Now, before you dismiss this, keep reading. :) The radio guys were stating their disbelief at how MU had been turned down by the guys they have approached even though we're in the BE, have the Al, basketball is king, etc. UW-Whitewater coach speculated that Bennett may be holding out for an offer from LSU because his wife is from Baton Rouge. No comments on the other candidates.
In baseball terms, Buzz could be homerun or a bad whiff. The rest on that board are singles with a chance to leg out a double. With that list, I say swing for the fences.
Quote from: 91Warrior on April 05, 2008, 09:31:15 AM
I have no idea what station I was able to pull in (Madison, I think?), and they were talking to the basketball coach from UW-Whitewater. Now, before you dismiss this, keep reading. :) The radio guys were stating their disbelief at how MU had been turned down by the guys they have approached even though we're in the BE, have the Al, basketball is king, etc. UW-Whitewater coach speculated that Bennett may be holding out for an offer from LSU because his wife is from Baton Rouge. No comments on the other candidates.
The bigger mistake MU made was not hiring his dad when we hired Dukiet. IMO, I think Bennett is a rare breed...a coach who is a man of his word. More so, if he wanted LSU, it would be best for him to leverage the MU talk to his advantage. It sounds like Ford is the guy with his connections to the new LSU AD...but they are really taking their time.
We'll see. When are the F4 games?
There was a great write-up on McKillop - sounds like a great coach - but do't know about his recruiting capabilities.
This is such a tough decision. This is not like when we hired Crean. Marquette was nothing when we hired him - that's why, I think, he likes the IU job - whit eknight rides in to save the day. But now Marquette IS in the national spotlight, IS a competitive team, IS in the top third of one of the best conferences in the country - so can we "take a chance" with an assistant again? I don't know. There is more at rick today than ever I think. We need to make a great choice here and recruit our fannies off for a great coach, whoever that is. If it's Buzz, then we run with it. But we need to give MU the best chance at continuing our success.
You hit it right on. Tony isn't considering MU since we wouldn't give his father an interview when he was at UWGB.
Quote from: 4everwarriors on April 05, 2008, 09:56:01 AM
You hit it right on. Tony isn't considering MU since we wouldn't give his father an interview when he was at UWGB.
That wasn't the case at all. MU tried to gauge his interest after O'Neill left and Bennett declined.
bm, check the record, I think you'll find Dick Bennett excited himself over coaching at MU around the time Hank fell in love with Dukiet.
4everwarriors: Do you know the Bennett family? Do you really think they would hold a grudge against Marquette for more than 20 years? I have spoken to Dick, Tony, Jack and Nick many times. They all have good things to say about Marquette as a school and its tradition in basketball. Sorry, but you're wrong on this one.
Quote from: dwaderoy2004 on April 05, 2008, 08:44:19 AM
haven't you guys learned your lesson with crean. just because a guy publicly says he's not interested doesn't mean a thing. not saying these guys are coming here, or maybe they have turned us down, but they very well may still be in play, but are leveraging for more money. this is a business where the coaches hold all of the power...
Crean never publicly denied interest in the Indiana job. Or any job, for that matter. His standard line was that he won't discuss other jobs.
Brownell would be great, Mickillop just convinced a lottery pick to star around another year so he'd be a liar if he left, and the ink isn't dry on Lowery's 7 year extension, if he took another job he'd be a bad person.
out of those four Brownell is a considerable step above the rest.
Quote from: 4everwarriors on April 05, 2008, 10:26:19 AM
bm, check the record, I think you'll find Dick Bennett excited himself over coaching at MU around the time Hank fell in love with Dukiet.
Why would MU have given Bennett an interview in 1986? Was his 5-23 record in his first season as a Division I coasch (1985-86) so overwhelmingly remarkable that Raymonds was a fool not to snap him up immediately?
Nobody knows how Bennett might have fared, but there was absolutely nothing at that time to indicate he would have been a successful coach at Marquette or even deserved an interview. His only season at a lower D-I level had been a disaster and he had almost no experience coaching or recruiting, even as an assistant, at a D-I level and zero at a high D-I level level.
If Steve Cottingham hired a candidate today with the qualifications and experience Dick Bennett possessed in 1986, you and I would both be part of a mob gathering outside the Al with torches and pitchforks.
And, FWIW, Cords did make a run at Bennett when O'Neill left. Bennett declined.
Quote from: SCWarrior on April 05, 2008, 08:39:32 AM
Miller is too expensive with his $2 mill buyout, MU will walk away from that every time.........Bennett is shocking to say the least - with his ties to the state, plus the salary that Crean established MU will pay, Bennett not giving us a good solid look doesn't make sense.
I do not think Benne's lack of interest is shocking at all. MUs a good program, but not one a coach who is happy where he is will leave for. Bennett is in the PAC 10 and likes WSU. He passed on IU also. Hardly a shock at all. Same can be said for Miller, the buyout has nothing to do with it. miller never expressed interest.
Good point.
For all those hyperventilating about Miller, Benett and Grant saying no. They all said no to IU as well; with Bennett the most public. So why is it such a black eye that they also say no to MU? And if none of them go to LSU or Okla State, does that mean those programs suck?
So, I guess the defintion of a sucessful program is determined by these three coaches.
It is not all over the National Media, so I'd say it's not really a black eye.
Thinking more about this I am REALLY underwhelmed if this is truly our "final four"
I'd like to see us reach out to Scott Drew as well...
Small time coaches are small time because they can't recruit big time talent. There's no need to because they compete against schools on the same level. Rather than another St. Peter's/Sienna college type, go with another up and coming assistant. This time, Buzz is an in-house up and comer who at least has a chance of keeping our '08 recruiting class on board. And he has already shown the potential to be a better recruiter than Crean. Now, can he actually coach?
Quote from: SCWarrior on April 05, 2008, 08:23:31 AM
We need to really look hard at Lowery.........look at his body of work. The MVC is an extremely competitive conference -> my only concern is his recruiting. In his fourth year he had his worst season with presumably all his recruits.
Lowery is a good recruiter. I posted this on the scout board:
People are excited about Buzz because of his abillity to recruit. It may come as a surprise to some that Lowery is also accomplished as a recruiter. In addition to two other 3 star recruits, Lowery is bringing in a 4 star 6'8 power forward in Anthony Booker, who is higher rated than anyone Buzz has brought to Marquette, including Erik Williams, according to scout. He did have 3 star wing Rountree de-commit from SIU so that he could entertain schools such as Baylor and USC. However, Lowery was able to bring him back to SIU for a recommitment. So, while Buzz has proven that he can recruit to Marquette, I would argue that it is tougher to recruit to a mid major program than one in the Big East.
Lowery seems to have all of the characterisitics that people would want in the next Marquette coach. He has a proven track record as an X's and O's coach, he has four years of experience as a head coach at a fairly high-level mid-major, he is young, and he has shown that he can recruit. I think that this would be a fantastic hire for Marquette, and a shrewd career move for Lowery. Plus, he has Chicago roots and Midwestern ties, so he knows how to recruit the base for Marquette.
McKillop?
You got to be kidding me!
Ugh. Not the four I would have expected at the beginning of this.
1. Brownell
2/3. Lowery/Buzz
4. McKillop
I'm ok with Lowery or Buzz. No thanks to Brownell or McKillop. Lowery's done a great job at SIU, though I agree that last season was really disappointing for them. I think this point from Rosiak is very important:
QuoteWilliams, who was unavailable for comment, will likely spend the weekend meeting with MU officials, who are undoubtedly interested in not only getting to know him better personally but also in what his plans are for hiring a coaching staff.
I'm skeptical in Buzz's ability to put together a good staff. He's in the worst position of all the candidates to put together a good staff, since he isn't a head coach right now, has the least head coaching experience, and he hasn't really been at a job long enough to make lasting connections.
It's all a smokescreen....MU will hire Roy Williams Tuesday morning.
:)
Isn't this fun?
Bo Ryan to MU as he "swings" from Madison to MKE. ;)
Seeing as he is linked to every job. . .
Tom Crean to Marquette.
Wait a mintue!
Quote from: Pakuni on April 05, 2008, 10:42:13 AM
Quote from: 4everwarriors on April 05, 2008, 10:26:19 AM
bm, check the record, I think you'll find Dick Bennett excited himself over coaching at MU around the time Hank fell in love with Dukiet.
Why would MU have given Bennett an interview in 1986? Was his 5-23 record in his first season as a Division I coasch (1985-86) so overwhelmingly remarkable that Raymonds was a fool not to snap him up immediately?
Nobody knows how Bennett might have fared, but there was absolutely nothing at that time to indicate he would have been a successful coach at Marquette or even deserved an interview. His only season at a lower D-I level had been a disaster and he had almost no experience coaching or recruiting, even as an assistant, at a D-I level and zero at a high D-I level level.
If Steve Cottingham hired a candidate today with the qualifications and experience Dick Bennett possessed in 1986, you and I would both be part of a mob gathering outside the Al with torches and pitchforks.
And, FWIW, Cords did make a run at Bennett when O'Neill left. Bennett declined.
Pakuni...I am sure you guys are right but I seem to recollect that Bennett wanted the MU job in 1986 too after coming off his successful run at Stevens Point--and MU was cold. This was in between the screw up of Newell accepting and backing out (after his wife visited Milwaukee and became homesick). Remembering Majerus quit over the summer. They definitely settled with Dukiet and this was by far the worst hiring process in MU's history.
Newell only was a head coach for two years prior..with one nice season. I will go back to taking my ginkgo tablets, but I believe he sniffed then as we were in a bind. Either way, MU should have hired him both times.
Quote from: Pardner on April 05, 2008, 02:22:35 PM
Pakuni...I am sure you guys are right but I seem to recollect that Bennett wanted the MU job in 1986 too after coming off his successful run at Stevens Point--and MU was cold. This was in between the screw up of Newell accepting and backing out (after his wife visited Milwaukee and became homesick). Remembering Majerus quit over the summer. They definitely settled with Dukiet and this was by far the worst hiring process in MU's history.
Bennett may very well have wanted the job back in 1986. And had he gotten it, MU fans would have gone apesh*t. Deservedly so.
Again, at that time Bennett was a guy with zero experience at a major or even mid-major program. He was a guy who had a grand total of one year at the D-I level, and a very low level at that. He was a guy whose only D-I team had just put up a 5-23 record. Nothing about that resume screams "Hire me to run a major program!"
I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that if Monday morning Marquette announces it has hired a guy who in his first and only year of Division I coaching went 5-23, we'd all be calling for Cottingham's head. We've got people here suggesting Chris Lowery and Buzz Williams are beneath Marquette. Imagine the reaction if the leading candidate was a guy who was coaching Division III ball in 2007.
And yet that's exactly what some seem to be suggesting Hank Raymond should have done 22 years ago.
Nice to have hindsight, I suppose, but at the time Hank would have been tarred and feathered on his way out of town. Heck, he might have been tarred and feathered just for taking Bennett seriously as a candidate.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on April 05, 2008, 01:45:43 PM
It's all a smokescreen....MU will hire Roy Williams Tuesday morning.
C,mon, we need a real coach and Williams can't cut it at Marquette. We need a proven winner!!! :D
I put a background of these four coaches in this thread if anyone is interested.
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=8291.0 (http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=8291.0)