Vandy fans on MU...didn't realize their hatred of Al McGuire

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=189&f=2200&t=6923756

[4everwarriors]

Was at the game when we beat Vandy. Thought we caught a break with Michigan beating ND in the opener. Although our game vs. Campy Russell and UM was well contested. If I remember correctly, Eddie Daniels had a big role in our win.

[NersEllenson]

Wow - The below post from a Vandy fan by the name of Fan Since 1957 - gave me some great history on Al McGuire..almost more than I've read anywhere on our own boards - neat stuff:

was there for those games.  I was hoping for a chance to get revenge over Michigan.  The Wolverines upset Notre Dame to give us that chance, but we played poorly and lost.  All we could do was hit free throws.

Bo Ellis definitely dunked the ball and said in the postgame, "I didn't mean to dunk it."  I don't think that play affected the game, because it was a wide open layup.  It was going to go in without having to dunk it.

What hurt us was four no-calls that were goaltending.  There was no doubt about those four shots that Marquette blocked.  That was 8 points we did not get that we should have had.

The foul calls were about the same as they are today; they just don't call as many in the tournament, and that is why foul shooting doesn't become that big a factor in mid-March.

Our team lost their touch down the stretch and just plain wore out.  Remember, we basically used seven players per game that year and only went deeper when the game was easily in hand or if we had foul trouble.  Bob Chess was the number 8 player, and he did not appear all that often in 1974.

We were 20-1 and ranked about #4, and then we collapsed.  We lost at home to Tennessee, when Mears went back to his old methods, and then we lost to Florida in the regular season finale.  After that 20-1 mark, we went 3-4 the rest of the way.

I met Al McGuire and bought him a sasparilla at the Western Kentucky basketball tournament we were in back in December 1980.  He talked my ear off.  Here are some of the things I remembered from that afternoon.

1. He went to interview for the Marquette job from Belmont-Abbey, and he didn't really want the job.  His wife had told him to at least talk to them.  He planned on giving a no-frills interview and going back to North Carolina.  When he got to Milwaukee, he was told prior to the interview that he was being interviewed as a courtesy, and that the school had already decided on their choice--to elevate the assistant.

McGuire was furious, and he was not the type of person to surrender without a fight.  He went into the interview and knocked their socks off, telling them how he would bring Marquette back to national prominence, and even surpass what they had done under Tex Winter in the 1950's.  By the time he had finished with what he called the biggest BS job ever, he had convinced all concerned to change their minds and hire him.

2. Once he got to Marquette, he had numerous chances to go to Big Ten, ACC, and even SEC jobs.  By 1969, his family had fallen in love with living in the Milwaukee area and did not want to move.  He told me that he was making a decent living by then, but was not rich, nor close to earning what he could make at the schools trying to hire him.  He gave me some advice, that I still adhere to today: Don't go chasing a bigger paycheck if you love where you are and know you can continue to be successful at your current location.  He named a list of coaches in all sports that had chased the bigger payday and elevated themselves into the insurance business.

3. Here is a story I have not seen anywhere, but this is what he told me.  He said that the 1977 team that won the national championship was his weakest team since his first year at Marquette.  They just barely qualified for the NCAA Tournament and had to win their final games just to get in as the number 32 team, when there were only 32 teams.  He didn't even believe they could win their first game against a really good Cincinnati team.

They were trailing all through the first half and not playing well as a team, and McGuire was seething mad.  He had already announced he was retiring at the end of the season, and he felt as though the team was on the verge of quitting as well, except for Butch Lee, who wanted to average 40 points per game.

All through the first half, Bernard Toone kept bothering McGuire, asking him when he could go into the game and reminding him that McGuire had promised him he would play in the first half.  Toone did not get into the game in the first half.  As Marquette went to the locker room at the half, Toone went up to McGuire again and reminded him that he had told him he would play in the first half which did not happen.  McGuire cold-cocked him at the locker entrance, and they got into a real streetfight.  The rest of the team had to break up the fight.  McGuire didn't say a word to the team at the half.  They went back out in the second half and blew Cincinnati off the floor.  Then, they beat Kansas State, and Wake Forest to advance to the Final Four.  They had a tough semifinal game with UNC-Charlotte, and then beat North Carolina for the national title.

Remember this about McGuire:  The NCAA Tournament committee had placed Marquette in the Midwest Regional bracket instead of the Mideast Regional Bracket so that they could give preference to Notre Dame.  Marquette was a top 10 team, while Notre Dame was not.  McGuire declined the NCAA bid and took Marquette to the NIT instead, where they won it with ease.  Notre Dame fell quickly in the Mideast Regional, while Houston received an at-large bid in the Midwest to replace Marquette.  After that year, teams could not decline an NCAA Tournament bid for an NIT bid, and they would face probation if they did not accept the bid.

4. When Dick Vitale coached at Detroit, he took a team to Marquette one night.  This was McGuire's best team in his opinion--1975-76.  Detroit was on its way to their best season ever, making Vitale an up and comer.  Detroit came out and outplayed Marquette, which was undefeated well into the season.  At the half, Detroit led and looked like they had Marquette's number.  Vitale did not know something; the lockers at the arena in Milwaukee had pencil thin walls.  You could hear what was going on in the opposite locker if you were quiet enough, and the other locker had loud voices.

Vitale has a loud voice.  He screamed and yelled that "Marquette wasn't half the team his team was, and other things.  McGuire stayed quiet and made the team listen to what Vitale was telling his team.  The Marquette players got so mad, they went out in the second half and blew Detroit off the floor.

5. This chat took place before the second round of that tournament.  Vanderbilt had just totally destroyed an Iona team that had been in the NCAA tournament the year before.  McGuire said that the Vanderbilt team of that year, 1980-81, had more talent than the 1973-74 team he had played. 

That team had Charles Davis, Mike Rhodes, Hutch Jones, Jeff Turner, Al Miller, Jimmy Gray, Al McKinney, Brian Allsmiller, Ted Young, and James Williams as well as others.  It was loaded, but Richard Schmidt was too immature to handle the team, and it ended up being his last season at Vandy after we finished in 7th place when we were picked to contend for the Championship.   

McGuire was always considered a motivator who didn't really coach much.  I met Rick Majerus at Corky's BBQ when he was coaching Utah and the Utes were playing here in the NCAA Tournament.  I told him I had spent a couple hours with McGuire at the Holidome in Bowling Green, and Majerus told me that McGuire got a bad rap as a coach.  He knew how to get the best out of his players and how to treat them all differently.  He even had a player that lived in a commune while he was at Marquette and participated in flag burning and Vietnam War protests.  The player turned his back away from the flag when the National Anthem played, and McGuire allowed him to do so. 

He also allowed his star player one year, Jim Chones, to sign with a pro agent and quit the team just as the tournament was starting.  His quote: "I looked in his refrigerator."  Chones' family was close to homeless when he took the bonus and gave up his remaining eligibility.

I never thought of McGuire as a bad person.  He was a hustler who earned everything he ever got.  He was not a "yes" man, and he stood up for what he believed in. 

I remember how he refused to appear on Adolph Rupp's basketball show because he considered Rupp a racist who was hurting race relations in the Sout

[ChicosBailBonds]

Ners

There is a good video out there somewhere of Al that talks all about the interview process at Marquette.  What this Vandy fan has said is true.  McGuire did get very ticked off at the Jesuits and basically blasted them.  If I find the interview I'll post it.

[Goose]

I love when I see the 77 team was not a great team. We were ranked #1 to start the season and were loaded. It was not our best team but in top three in my mind. Best was team that lost to Ohio State and '75-'76 was awfully good. Glad to hear they still are pissed...when you are good everyone hates you. That is why I am pulling for ND football, I want to hate them again.

[NersEllenson]

Ners

There is a good video out there somewhere of Al that talks all about the interview process at Marquette.  What this Vandy fan has said is true.  McGuire did get very ticked off at the Jesuits and basically blasted them.  If I find the interview I'll post it.

Thanks Chicos - Merry XMas - And here's to another year of battling on occasion! 

[ChicosBailBonds]

Thanks Chicos - Merry XMas - And here's to another year of battling on occasion! 

Merry Christmas

Here's the video....Hilltopper had it

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=8776.0

About 4:30 mark until 8:00 mark is the part that begins what I was referencing

[Eye]

One question and one thought ...

First, anybody know who the coach was that had the inside track at the point McGuire interviewed?

Second, via the links, Wikipedia or some Internet searching, got into reading how Don Kojis went about setting up his retreat in California. Excellent reading!

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

First, anybody know who the coach was that had the inside track at the point McGuire interviewed?

Hank Raymonds

[karavotsos]

I met Al McGuire and bought him a sasparilla at the Western Kentucky basketball tournament we were in back in December 3.  

Sioux City Sasparilla?

[Eye]

That's kind of what I thought PRN. Judging by the tone of the interview, though, they made it seem like it was someone else. Thanks for the confirmation.

[🏀]

Sioux City Sasparilla?

I reckon that's a good one.