[Cracked Sidewalks] Here is what we know

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Here is what we know

Written by: NY Warrior

What a wild week........as of 3:15pm CDT on Friday afternoon, here is what we think we know is going on since Tom Crean went Irsay on Marquette University back on April Fools Day.

• The Marquette Board of Trustees is meeting today to discuss the search for a new head coach.  It is noteworthy that former MU basketball players Doc Rivers and Ulice Payne serve on the board.  It is also noteworthy that this is the same organization that brought us the Marquette Gold (though they did hire TC way back when).
  
• 2009 commits Nick Williams and Tyshawn Taylor have asked to be released from their commitment to attend Marquette.  MU has not officially responded to these requests.
• 2009 recruits Chris Otule and Joseph Fulce are in 'wait and see' mode.
• Per IWB, it appears that former MU assistant coaches Tim Buckley and Bennie Seltzer will join Tom Crean in Bloomington.
• The Dayton Daily News is reporting that the next head coach at Marquette will be current Dayton coach Brian Gregory.  This guy had better be wrong, very wrong Gregory is the second-best college coach in his own city.
• Yesterday, another reporter at the same Dayton newspaper claimed that Wright State's Brad Brownell was on MU's short list.  Brownell is an intriguing candidate who was evidently the runner-up choice for Indiana.
  
• KJR sports radio in Seattle reported last night that Tony Bennett informed his university president that he will be staying at Washington State University.
• Other coaches mentioned in connection with the MU job:  Bruce Weber, John Groce, and Sean Miller.  Cracked Sidewalks thinks it is extremely unlikely that Miller departs Xavier.  He already makes good money, has great facilities, and a supportive administration.  Ther guess here is that he is waiting for Jamie Dixon to bail on Pittsburgh so he can return to his Alma Mater.
  
• With the MU fan base, the candidacy of current assistant Buzz Williams is a very hot topic.
• If that's not enough, IWB has a list of rumors to check out at the SportsBubbler.
• According to a few reports in the Hoosier State, IU has agreed to pay MU a buyout of $650K.  We've not heard the last on that issue.
  

Right now, if we trust the collective wisdom of The Internets (and who wouldn't!?), then the top three most likely candidates would appear to be Buzz Williams, Brian Gregory, and Brad Brownell.

Who is your preferred candidate from among that group?

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/04/here-is-what-we-know.html

[MU Chi_IL]

Right now, if we trust the collective wisdom of The Internets (and who wouldn't!?), then the top three most likely candidates would appear to be Buzz Williams, Brian Gregory, and Brad Brownell.

Is death an option?

[NYWarrior]

Right now, if we trust the collective wisdom of The Internets (and who wouldn't!?), then the top three most likely candidates would appear to be Buzz Williams, Brian Gregory, and Brad Brownell.

Is death an option?

Out of those three, gimme Brad Brownell.  The man can coach.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Brownell is the only acceptable option on that list. If it's one of the other two, prepare for a shower of boos.

I could see us hiring Williams and having Taylor and Williams continue to insist on releases.

[MULS1999]

Is it really possible that we could go through this search and not consider/contact Anthony Grant at all?  If he's not interested, okay, but it would be inexcusable in my view not to inquire.

[jce]

Brownell is the only acceptable option on that list. If it's one of the other two, prepare for a shower of boos.

I could see us hiring Williams and having Taylor and Williams continue to insist on releases.

There is no reason to let Williams or Taylor out of there releases at this point.  Bring in the new coach, have him work the phones, and they'll come around.

I would say that Brownell seems the best of the options.

[lab_warrior]

Yeah, Brownell is the only one I could take.  Buzz would be okay only in terms of keeping recruits, maybe.  Surely, they have to take a little more time in this search.  Jeez, at least talk to some people at the FF this weekend. 

[mugrad99]

http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/crean-mou.pdf

Here's the agreement, lloks like it was originally faxed Mar 31st

[jce]

http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/crean-mou.pdf

Here's the agreement, lloks like it was originally faxed Mar 31st

And it looks like are covering all of MU's buyout of $650K.

[Daniel]

It is clear that IU is paying UP TO $650,000 towards compensation for the buy-out.  If they knew the exact amount of the peneatly clause (which they don't yet as per this agreement), they would have put that number in.  They did not - they said not to exceed $525,000 and Crean must have negotiated it up to $650,000 - maybe becvasue he owes a million to MU.  Who knows - but it is nore than $650,00 that MU will get.  My wife's an attorney and she looked at it and agrees.

[MU111]

For what it's worth regarding the reports about Gregory, The Dayton Daily News is a pile of you-know-what.  It's probably worse than the Journal-Sentinel.  Anyway, I have the misfortune of being in Dayton for grad school (Wright State) but can say that Brownell is an amazing bench coach.  I'd be worried about the recruiting initially but at least we wouldn't have to worry about him drawing up stupid plays at the end of big games (e.g., the Tulsa game).  Actually, I guess that didn't even involve drawing up a dumb play cause we didn't even call a timeout!    Now, not that I think Brownell is the best hire out of our options but it would be even greater to wear my MU stuff around Wright State's campus if we hired him.

[TJ]

http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/crean-mou.pdf

Here's the agreement, lloks like it was originally faxed Mar 31st

And it looks like are covering all of MU's buyout of $650K.

More importantly, if it was faxed 3-31, then Crean had every opportunity to tell his players that he "loves" so much about it before ESPN did.  An afternoon team meeting instead of what he did would have been enough to offset a large amount of the hate that is flowing right now among members of the MU community.

Telling the AD would have been nice too, but he at least could have told the team first.

This was an interesting gem too, considering...

You agree not to seek or apply for other employment positions while employed by the university without prior written notice to and prior written consent of the university.