I think one thing is missing when we point toward Dixon and Izzo as evidence that promoting assistants sometimes works, and therefore we should feel good about Buzz Williams. Jamie Dixon worked for Ben Howland for years...starting at Northern Arizona and then Pittsburgh. Tom Izzo worked for Heathcote for 12 years. (Ironically replacing Mike Deane on Heathcote's staff.)
Buzz Williams worked for Tom Crean for about nine months. There isn't really any continuity here. He's just the easy choice made mainly to keep the players happy.
This reminds me a lot more of the Badgers hiring their top assistant Stan Van Gundy to replace Stu Jackson. The main reason that was done was because their top recruit that year threatened to transfer if Van Gundy wasn't hired. That recruit was McDs All American Sam Okey, who had a good freshman year, but the team was absolutely terrible. Van Gundy was fired, they hired Dick Bennett, Okey transfered and was never heard from again, and Bennett lead the Badgers to the Final Four.
Now I'm not saying that hiring Buzz Williams would lead to the same result, but it seems rather foolish to hire someone to keep kids like Nick Williams, Erik William and Ty Taylor happy, when if they guy can't really coach, it isn't going to matter who the players are - we will lose.
My two cents.
This has been mentioned in other places.
The thing that Buzz showed in his nine months was he can recruit. Can he coach? The argument is, "can he be worse than Crean?"
Look at it that way and he's not a bad pick. Their are, however, other better picks.
Quote from: AnotherMU84 on April 05, 2008, 06:11:26 PM
The thing that Buzz showed in his nine months was he can recruit.
He certainly has gotten some nice mentions from the committed recruits and their coaches. However I haven't seen any of these recruits play college ball. I'm also not sold on a Texas pipeline being the lifeblood of the MU program.
Quote from: AnotherMU84 on April 05, 2008, 06:11:26 PM
This has been mentioned in other places.
The thing that Buzz showed in his nine months was he can recruit. Can he coach? The argument is, "can he be worse than Crean?"
Look at it that way and he's not a bad pick. Their are, however, other better picks.
Crean was a good coach.
Whether they pan out is another story. What he showed is he can get kids that are getting a lot of attention to commit to MU. That's what a recruiter does.
Remember how MU found Taylor, his coach (Hurley) called Crean and said he would fit well in our program. Hurley probably called a bunch of other coaches where he felt Taylor was a good fit (including Va. Tech and Georgia Tech). It was Buzz that sold him on MU.
It may have been Buzz that sold Taylor on MU, but he wanted to play for Crean. That's why he's asking out of his LOI.
I will give him full credit for Fulce and O'Toule. I believe O'Toule's coach said that nobody from that school would have looked at Marquette after Karon Bradley's experience. That is until Williams got involved. But while he had a much improved senior season, he's still considered a project. His big thing was that he filled a big need for us.
Fulce has committed to 3 D1 programs. Each one the current school that Williams was at. So it's probably safe to say that he'll still come if Williams is named HC. If not, could Fulce be approaching the record number of verbals and/or LOIs for one player?
Obviously Williams has good connections in Texas. Hopefully he could build those connections in the Midwest also if he's named HC.
Quote from: larrym on April 05, 2008, 06:39:41 PM
It may have been Buzz that sold Taylor on MU, but he wanted to play for Crean. That's why he's asking out of his LOI.
Taylor also said he would come if Buzz was named the coach.
It's natural and expected for guys to ask out of their LOI if the coach leaves. Right now they have comitted to a program that has no coach!
Let's see what happens when a coach is named and he talks to Taylor.
Regarding an earlier comment. The consensus is Crean is not a good "x's and o's" coach. If Buzz can recruit, and is not worse than Crean at x's and o's, why would he be a bad choice?
Quote from: AnotherMU84 on April 05, 2008, 06:46:07 PM
Quote from: larrym on April 05, 2008, 06:39:41 PM
It may have been Buzz that sold Taylor on MU, but he wanted to play for Crean. That's why he's asking out of his LOI.
Taylor also said he would come if Buzz was named the coach.
It's natural and expected for guys to ask out of their LOI if the coach leaves. Right now they have comitted to a program that has no coach!
Let's see what happens when a coach is named and he talks to Taylor.
Regarding an earlier comment. The consensus is Crean is not a good "x's and o's" coach. If Buzz can recruit, and is not worse than Crean at x's and o's, why would he be a bad choice?
I've been out of town for this whole thing, so I'm trying to get caught up today. I guess the thing I remember seeing is that Hurley gave the Bruiser Flint comparison when talking about Williams. And I believe Taylor said that he didn't know what Williams would be like as a head coach. Maybe they said something else more recently.
I would say that Crean was an average in-game Xs and Os coach. I think he was very good at preparing the team for each game. That means just as much, and probably more.
I have no idea on how Williams would be on either of those. His strong point, and only known commodity is the recruiting. In his nine months, he has been good. I wouldn't say at this point he is better at that than Crean either. Neither of those two Texas recruits were as highly ranked as Williams, DJ, McNeal, Matthews, Mason or Merritt. He got one guy that filled a need (O'Toule) and one that follows him around like a puppy. They may turn out to be great players, and Buzz a great coach, but I'm not wiling to concede that he can't be worse than Crean. He could be much worse. Crean is pretty darn good.
Why do so many people think Crean was a bad coach?
The same people say Crean couldn't recruit....well if he couldn't coach and couldn't recruit I'd love to know how we did what we did the last 3 years...or the last 9 years.
Amazing magic I guess
Naturally, Buzz is going to get complements from incoming freshman and current players. He's the one that recruited the freshman people....wake up!!! Also, players aren't going to rip a current coach either.
Buzz is a TERRIBLE hire. Why?
He's been at MU a year and that to me does not scream continuity that would be devastatingly missed.
He's been a head coach one season...with four starters...and finished under .500
It's a total f-ing panic move by an AD that's inept and not ready for the job. I hated Cottingham's hire at first, I despise it more now.
THis is a terrible move imho. I hope I"m wrong and will readily admit it if I am. And I"ll support the team, but f-ing up this hire will set us back for years.
Get a proven winner and get him. NOW!
"He's been a head coach one season...with four starters...and finished under .500"
Well you play a man-down for 30+ games and see how you do. ::)
Personally, I think you are wrong to dismiss his credentials or ability. I'd challenge you to find a coach who could be successful in that situation.
If one seaon below .500 is the criteria to say Buzz cannot coach, then Majerus should have been a failure at every position after MU.