This Program is about the Players...

[LastWarrior]

From Rosiak's latest and greatest work... http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/

Great line from Buzz... "But this program is not about Buzz Williams; this program is about our players"



Williams' initial thoughts
By Todd Rosiak
Monday, Apr 7 2008, 11:34 PM

Just got off the phone with Buzz Williams. Here's the transcript of the quickie interview I was able to conduct:

What are your initial reactions to being hired? Humbled. Exhilarated. Grateful. Excited. Ready to work.

What was the interview process like? As it related specifically to me, it was every factor and facet of the program as it relates to where it fits within the institution, and all of the decisionmakers involved within the program and within the institution...it was an intense period of time where they were getting to know me and my family and my vision for what Marquette is going to be on and off the floor, and trying to determine if that fit what they were looking for.

What's first on your agenda, now that you've been named coach? The first thing is I've been with the players from 15 minutes after I took the job until five minutes before we called you. The most important thing to our program is our players, and I'm grateful for the opportunity that I've been given. But this program is not about Buzz Williams; this program is about our players, our players as young men, our players as students -- to make sure that they all graduate from Marquette -- and our players as players. But the totality of our program on and off the floor will always be in existence because of our players.

Have you been in contact tonight with any of the signed recruits? I was going to call them until I got on the phone with you, and I'm going to call them now.

I'm sure you've seen some of the comments from some of them over the past few days. Are you holding out hope you'll be able to convince at least some of them to remain committed to MU? Sure. Again, I think any time change happens in any profession, in any person's life, there's always a period of time where everyone's stunned and wondering what's going to happen next. Obviously I had to take care of the guys on our team, and that's what we've been doing since...I don't even know what time it is. But the next thing is I've got to get on the phone with the recruits.

Have you taken any steps toward assembling a staff at this point? We're going to hire the absolute best staff we can, with their No. 1 talent being to take care of and help our players grow as young men, and help them succeed academically and athletically.