Background of current Big East coaches

[Norm]

Here's a limited background of each current coach in the Big East. How does Buzz Williams stack up in your mind?

Cincinnati - Mick Cronin. had a 69-24 record in 3 seasons as head coach of Murray State prior to getting the Bearcat job.

Connecticut - Jim Calhoun. Had a 248-137 record in 14 seasons at Northeastern before being hired at UConn.

DePaul - Jerry Wainwright. # years as head coach at Richmond and 8 years at UNC-Wilmington prior to landing in Chicago.

Georgetown - John Thompson III. Compiled a record of 68-42 in 4 years as Princeton's head coach before moving on to Georgetown.

Louisville - Rick Pitino. 91-51 in 5 years at Boston University, 42-23 in 2 years at Providence, 219-51 in 8 years at Kentucky. Not so good in the pros.

Notre Dame - Mike Brey. Had a record of 99-52 in 5 years as head coach at the University of Delaware.

Pittsburgh - Jamie Dixon. Served as an assistant to Ben Howland for 4 years at Pitt before taking over the program when Howland left for UCLA. Was an assistant coach at four places (Pitt, Northern Arizona, Hawaii and UC-Santa Barbara) where he served as an assistant to the program's winningest coach in terms of winning percentage.

Providence - head coaching vacancy.

Rutgers - Fred Hill. One year as associate head coach at Rutgers before taking over the state university of New Jersey. Prior to that he was an assistant for 3 years at Villanova, 7 years at Farleigh Dickinson, 3 years at Maine, 2 at Marquette (under Bob Dukiet), 3 years at Rider College, 2 years at Lehigh and 2 years at Montclair State. (Let's just say he knows the lay of the land in New Jersey)

St. John's - Norm Roberts. Assistant under Bill Self for 1 year at Kansas, 3 years at Illinois, 3 at Tulsa and 2 at Oral Roberts.

Seton Hall - Bobby Gonzalez. Had a record of 129-77 over 7 years as head coach at Manhattan University.

South Florida - Stan Heath. Was 82-71 in 5 years as head coach at Arkansas.

Syracuse - Jim Boeheim. Was an assistant for 7 years at Syracuse before taking over in 1975. (He played at Syracuse with Dave Bing)

Villanova - Jay Wright. Head coach for 7 years at Hofstra prior to moving to Philadelphia.

West Virginia - Bob Huggins. head coaching stops at Kansas, Cincinnati and Marshall prior to taking over at his alma mater West Virginia.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Are you suggesting our coach doesn't have a thick resume?

[NavinRJohnson]

http://www.youtube.com/v/etuPF1yJRzg&hl=en

[dwaderoy2004]

The name on that list that really jumps out at me is Fred Hill.  Actually, the similarities are frightening.  Both known almost solely as recruiters, both career assistants (yeah i know Buzz was HC at UNO for a year), both only spent one year at their current school before being promoted.  Now Fred Hill has not had much success there...yet.  But the team he inhereited lost Quincy Douby and pretty much had nothing else.  Buzz is inheriting a top 25 team.  Also, look at what Fred Hill has recruited in his two years with Rutgers: Mike Rosario, a McD's AA this year, and he just recently signed Greg Echenique for 2009, who is the 7th best center in the country per scout.com.  We should know in the next two years if Fred Hill was the right guy for the job...

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Something tells me that when the Big East commish offered his help that assistance didn't include mention of Buzz Williams.

[nyg]

Stacks up at the bottom.  He really has alot to prove.

[Ready2Fly]

So we just hired someone with a worse resume than South Florida, Seton Hall, and Cincinnati's HC?  My head hurts.

[Coobeys Oil Depot]

Something tells me that when the Big East commish offered his help that assistance didn't include mention of Buzz Williams.

I think you are dead on with this one. Not to mention that Tranghese was quoted as saying the 3 names he did provide were already on the list. So, we had a great list to choose from and we picked the guy who hasn't even been at our University for a year.

Disaster.

[Ready2Fly]

Something tells me that when the Big East commish offered his help that assistance didn't include mention of Buzz Williams.

I think you are dead on with this one. Not to mention that Tranghese was quoted as saying the 3 names he did provide were already on the list. So, we had a great list to choose from and we picked the guy who hasn't even been at our University for a year.

Disaster.

MONUMENTAL.

[pittisit98]

Side note

STAN HEATH (s. florida) coached KENT STATE when Antonio Gates was a basketball player and beat PITT in the first round of the tournament.  I forget whether they went to the sweet 16 or not.