Big Man Coach

[HoopsMalone]

I know Crean kind of tried this with Bo Ellis, but can Buzz bring in someone who specializes in developing bigs or would be a high-profile name to mentor a good big man?  I mean, most kids won't even know who Bo Ellis is anymore.

MU has relatively deep pockets and an administration that would likely shell out the capital to do this.  Can you create as many special assistants as you want under NCAA rules? 

And is there anyone out there who could attract a big man and would be willing to live in Milwaukee?  Jimmy Mac is in town.  Maybe Bill Cartwright would come back to the midwest.  Bill Cartwright raised his kids an hour south in the Northern Chicago suburbs (though this would involve Bill being demoted from NBA head coach to college assistant).  I am sure there is an amount of money and time commitment that could entice them.  Just trying to think of some way to make MU more attractive to bigs...

[tower912]

Wasn't that Coach Layer's specialty?

[muball]

Please give it some rest, since BuZZ has been coach, Liam out, Chris frosh and out, Mbao new to BBall.  What do people expect, look at the Great BO he redshirts etc and that is what it takes. UW really hasn't had a game changing big man. After a few years they contribute, Leur is the best they had for quite a while better then Butch IMO

[LA]

I heard Manute Bol is available.

[HoopsMalone]

Please give it some rest, since BuZZ has been coach, Liam out, Chris frosh and out, Mbao new to BBall.  What do people expect, look at the Great BO he redshirts etc and that is what it takes. UW really hasn't had a game changing big man. After a few years they contribute, Leur is the best they had for quite a while better then Butch IMO

Im tired of wishing for a big man to sign with the program we have or wishing that maybe one project will work out.  That is reality on some level, but in a high major program that makes money for its school, you can always find ways to improve the program.  

The Al probably has been at least icing on the cake in us getting a good deal of 4-star recruits to MU since it openned (and the BE of course).  There has to be some kind of way to make MU more attractive for a big man, and a coach is the most practical thing I can think of.  I'm just sick of the same old scouting report of MU not having an inside scoring presence.  

Men's bball makes so much money for the school and better performances in March can't hurt the revenue.  Wishing for Buzz to strike up a connection with a big man, wishing that a local kid from Milwaukee will want to go to MU are wishes I pray come true.  I'm just curious if anyone has any constructive ideas.  It's not like this isn't a problem and we were all satisfied with Grimm, Kinsella, Burke, or Barro.  

[AZWarrior]

If lack of credibility with respect to our ability to develop bigs and make them NBA-ready is the root cause of our inability to attract quality bigs, then adding an assistant coach who has previously developed bigs who were successful is a legitimate approach.  Boy that was a long sentence.  If we had a successful assistant (big) coach, we could say to quality-big recruits, "he has a track record of developing bigs, and he will turn you into an NBA big" etc.

So now we can talk about how hard it is to attract "quality big assistant coaches".   

[Ready2Fly]

It seems to be a catch 22. I bet a guy like Jimmy Mac would love to strictly coach bigs at MU. Problem is, you are only allowed by NCAA rule a limited number of assistant coaches. The number one responsibility of an assistant is to recruit your ass off. You're on the road constantly dealing with "handlers" and the like, which I doubt Mac wants to do and who knows if he'd even be good at that aspect. It's hard to find a combination of great recruiter/great big man coach. Someone mentioned the other day that Benford has had some success with bigs in the past. Hopefully that can continue at MU once the current bigs are in the system a while, and hopefully he stays long enough for that to happen.

[96warrior]

Pardon my ignorance but honest question...why is it so hard to get a big man to sign on? If I were a big, I'd jump to play at Marquette because I'd have such little competition at the position. Am I missing something...? And please don't be mean, I'm really curious about it and might be overlooking something obvious, but go easy on me.   

Is it because we're such a guard-centric program?

[HoopsMalone]

Pardon my ignorance but honest question...why is it so hard to get a big man to sign on? If I were a big, I'd jump to play at Marquette because I'd have such little competition at the position. Am I missing something...? And please don't be mean, I'm really curious about it and might be overlooking something obvious, but go easy on me.   

Is it because we're such a guard-centric program?

The biggest thing is that there just flat out are not many bigs to go around.  That more than anything is probably the reason.  Probably next is the fact that Wisconsin is a small population state, so with less people, there are less bigs to choose from, whereas there are still enough guards and wing players to have a player from Wisconsin playing significant minutes on two top 50ish teams in the state.  Geography is less important than it used to be, but when the stars aligned and the Milwaukee area produced Robert Jackson, Scott Merrit, and Terry Sanders at the same time, good things happened.  Third is probably the lack of history relative to other programs in developing bigs.   

The one nice thing about "recruiting" a big man coach is that Father Wild can always reach into those deep pockets in hope of good returns for the school in March. 

[Sharpie]

Chris Grimm could probably get the job done.

[96warrior]

Ah, thanks Hoops Malone. Does seem like geography would be less of an issue since getting into the Big East. Much better national exposure than C-USA.

[Rockmic87]

IM SICK OF PEOPLE MAKING EXCUSES SUCH AS, THERES NOT THAT MANY BIGS OUT THERE! Pretty much every major conference team, has 2-3 bigs. We can recruit, attract, and lure bigs to MU. Yes, we do need a coach. Maybe a graduate assistant would work, such as Scott Merrit or Robert jackson. But there MU should be able to lure 1 big within the next recruiting class. They dont have to be a top 50 prospect, they can be a 3 star prospect....