Buzz would be the next Jamie Dixon or Tom Izzo

[MR.HAYWARD]

I know it may not be the sexy candidate.  But who is to say some moderately succesful mid-low major coach is the route to go.  The last two times MU tried that it failed miserably.  Again, i know it might not be the sexy hire and might leave the uniformed fans wondering why we could not make more of a "splash".  But Buzz is simply the best guy for the job, no spin here, I firmly beleive that and have felt since Crean left that the three best hires would be Bennet, Miller or Buzz, and not necessarily in that order.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Listen --
Buzz may be a fantastic coach and a fantastic guy. He may be the best recruiter ever. But there's a lot more to being a head coach at a MAJOR, MAJOR Division 1 basketball program. Can he handle the media? Can he handle speaking to alums? Can he deal with issues within the department? Can he even handle Big East Media Day in NYC? Where is his experience?

This is a joke!!

There's is absolutely NO WAY IN HELL that he is prepared to lead a team that should contend for a Big East title next year!!

Now, Mr. Hayward I respect your opinion but we need to look at the big picture here. Dixon served under Howland for years. Izzo was at MSU for YEARS!! Buzz hasn't even been here long enough to procreate! And yet you think this is enough time as an apprentice?

[ATWizJr]

why not keno davis?  just named national coach of the year from drake?

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Davis has shown absolutely no apptitude as a recruiter.

[MR.HAYWARD]

Sorry PRN but Buzz has been an assistant for 13 years and you say he cannot do this, cannot do that...how in the He11 do you know?  How did you know Crean and Dixon could? Actually he can, and he was the #1 guy at Texas A&M with Gillespie before MU.  You like to focus on his Mu class, try focusing on his A&M classes when A&m was the last place anyone wanted to go.  the guy will be a great coach, his recruiting simply a bonus, he will be a great coach somewhere I hope we dont let him get away.  For a guy that hated Crean somuch becuase You "knew how he was"  it is unbeleivable you would hate on some one you know absolutely nothing about.  sounds like you are jsut a hater/loser

[ecompt]

PRN, maybe we should all come to realize that MU is not the dream job it once was, and your characterization of MU as a "MAJOR, MAJOR" Division I program is a bit much. We are a terrific basketball program playing in the most visible conferences in the country. But we can't get the top-flight kids we need to be a legitimate NCAA contender. We play in an awful climate and we actually make our kids attend class. While we're one of the top Catholic basketball schools in the country, I doubt whether you will ever see a Catholic school win a national championship again. Georgetown may come close, but the rest of the Catholic schools are wannabes compared to NBA teams like Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina, etc. I would have put Indiana in that group but I hope they go 3-26 next year and forever more.

[79Warrior]

Listen --
Buzz may be a fantastic coach and a fantastic guy. He may be the best recruiter ever. But there's a lot more to being a head coach at a MAJOR, MAJOR Division 1 basketball program. Can he handle the media? Can he handle speaking to alums? Can he deal with issues within the department? Can he even handle Big East Media Day in NYC? Where is his experience?

This is a joke!!

There's is absolutely NO WAY IN HELL that he is prepared to lead a team that should contend for a Big East title next year!!

Now, Mr. Hayward I respect your opinion but we need to look at the big picture here. Dixon served under Howland for years. Izzo was at MSU for YEARS!! Buzz hasn't even been here long enough to procreate! And yet you think this is enough time as an apprentice?

Major, Major program....no way. You must live in milwaukee becuase on the WC we are not even close to be considered that.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Hayward, you might be right.  The difference is that Dixon was their with HOwland for a long time building Pitt.  Same for Izzo.

Buzz has one year with MU, so the track record isn't there

[Pakuni]

Hayward, you might be right.  The difference is that Dixon was their with HOwland for a long time building Pitt.  Same for Izzo.

Buzz has one year with MU, so the track record isn't there

On the one hand, you're correct. Dixon was with Pitt longer than Williams has been at MU. But that doesn't mean he was any more experienced or prepared when he landed the Pitt gig.

Dixon was at Pitt with Howland for four years. His prior experience was as an assistant at mid- and low-major programs like Northern Arizona, Hawaii and UC-Santa Barbara.

Williams only has one year at Marquette, but two others as an assistant at a major conference program and another as a head coach, something Dixon never had. And then there are the series of assistant positions at mid- and low-major programs.

As I see it, there isn't a whole lot of difference between those resumes.

Would Williams be as successful as Dixon? Boy, I have no idea. At the very least it's a risky hire for Marquette.  But his level of experience wouldn't prohibit success, as MU's last two successful coaches have shown.

The bottom line is not one of us have a clue about Buzz Williams' coaching ability or his level of preparedness to take over Marquette's program. And the pre-emptive hand-wringing by some is simply ridiculous because it's based entirely on conjecture and not knowledge.

[ChicosBailBonds]

True pakini, but I think the difference is that dixon brought "pitt" continuity because he was with pitt so long.

Totally true that people don't know if he can get it done or not...my guess is people are more concerned with the favt we would even have to make a risky hire to begin.  Fans were hoping to be beyond that now.

[classof70]

PRN, maybe we should all come to realize that MU is not the dream job it once was, and your characterization of MU as a "MAJOR, MAJOR" Division I program is a bit much. We are a terrific basketball program playing in the most visible conferences in the country. But we can't get the top-flight kids we need to be a legitimate NCAA contender. We play in an awful climate and we actually make our kids attend class. While we're one of the top Catholic basketball schools in the country, I doubt whether you will ever see a Catholic school win a national championship again. Georgetown may come close, but the rest of the Catholic schools are wannabes compared to NBA teams like Kansas, UCLA, North Carolina, etc. I would have put Indiana in that group but I hope they go 3-26 next year and forever more.

I think this observation is correct.  I too believe it is increasingly difficult for schools like MU to get to the top.  Oh, there are the yearly exceptions, like Davidson or Xavier, but in the end the big programs are going to dominate (see the final four this year). Couple all of this with a northern location, an urban campus and a slightly higher academic requirement and MU (or many other like schools) aren't going to be "major" programs.  It doesn't mean we won't have a highly competitive program, but getting the really top recruits and into the final four and finals will be rare.  Parenthetically, I wouldn't mind Buzz as a coach. 

[bilsu]

I will support the new coach until he shows me otherwise. Every coach starts out inexpirenced. Every successful coach needed a break somewhere. If Holland does not leave for Pitt, is Dixon still an assistant or would he have taken another job that floundered? This job is a chance for someone to succeed or fail. Give that new coach a chance. However, be realistic the biggest complainers here are the ones that were not happy with Crean. Marquette being a non-football school will never be considered a major program. Over the last 30 years I believe we have not made the NCAA tournament 50% of the time. Most of those times we have not got past the first round. Hardly, a school you would even consider being a basketball power. We are what we are, a school with a proud heritage and a clean background. Actually, the clean back ground might be part of the problem in finding a coach. Certainaly, a coach who does not do everything on the up and up should not consider even coming to MU. Buzz Perteen has only been here a year, but I am sure he knows the expections on how the basketball progam here needs to be run on the up and up. This does not mean he will be successful, but there is no guarantee that an outsider will be either.

[ecompt]

Bob Dukiet was successful at St. Peter's, Mike Deane was a hit at Siena. McKillop is a good coach, but I wonder if the DWade-TC scenario played itself at Davidson this year. How much of Davidson's success was due to Curry being unstoppable, and how muich was due to McKillop? Was TC a good game coach when we were in the Final Four? Buzz is the safe pick; whether it's the right pick, time will tell.

[MUSF]

Bob Dukiet was successful at St. Peter's, Mike Deane was a hit at Siena. McKillop is a good coach, but I wonder if the DWade-TC scenario played itself at Davidson this year. How much of Davidson's success was due to Curry being unstoppable, and how muich was due to McKillop? Was TC a good game coach when we were in the Final Four? Buzz is the safe pick; whether it's the right pick, time will tell.

Did you see the final play of the Davidson/Kansas game?

It look like something Crean would draw up. I'm not sold on McKillop.

[MU06CU10]

I think what bothers me the most regarding the anti-Buzz people is the assumption that Marquette hasn't done it's due diligence in regards to the search. Everyone wanted Miller or Bennett or Grant -- it looks like they have all been contacted in some way by Marquette. Just because it isn't public doesn't mean it hasn't happened, so who's to say we haven't made overtures to other coaches. Tranghese is making calls for us, so you have to assume that Cottingham isn't going at this alone when he's so new. Bill Cords is involved so for me, hiring Buzz wouldn't qualify as a knee-jerk reaction.

It seems like we're only going to salvage half (at best) of the incoming class at this point. If we know that info, you know darn well that the AD knows that too. So...how about we assume that Marquette has done the right thing and if we pick Buzz, it's not because our new AD crapped his pants and pulled the trigger too quickly just to appease recruits and current team members, how about we assume that the people that know basketball and know the system have all come together and agreed that he has the potential to be the best shot for our FUTURE, not just the present.

Buzz could be great or he could be mediocre, but we know for sure that at the very least he's going to attract some good recruits to Milwaukee. His strength is people and he appears to be the closer that Tom Crean wasn't. Let's hope that if he is our choice, people will rally behind him and that he can surround himself with good basketball people. I'm just not ready to assume that we hired him solely to maintain stability...we could have just hired him on Wednesday or Thursday or yesterday if that were the case.

[mugrack]

Glad to see Bill Cords, the guy who brought us Bob Dukiet and Mike Deane is involved

[Pakuni]

Glad to see Bill Cords, the guy who brought us Bob Dukiet and Mike Deane is involved

Bill Cords 1) had nothing to do with Bob Dukiet and 2) did a fantastic job for Marquette. Anyone who compares the state of MU athletics in 1986 to where it stood in 2006 and concludes otherwise is foolish.

[MR.HAYWARD]

ACtually Cords hired Oneill, Deane and Crean three of the most sucessful coaches ever at Marquette.  Glad to see he is part of the process. Give me a Buzz

[Daniel]

It is hard to know enough about all the candidates to make an informed choice from our end of the room  But I think if we do choose Buzz, he has more on an immediate chance of success that Crean does.  And if he can retain a couple of recrutis, and continue recruiting maybe on a higher level now (since he now recruits as THE man, HC), then maybe we are ok for years to come too.  We just don't know enough.  If someone who really knows him says he knows xs and os, then maybe we got a guy.  I think there were many times we wondered about floor coaching over the last 9 years - again - what do we know - but sometimes, we admit, we wondered. Was Crean the best floor coach?  I think some would say no.  He did do a lot of good for us, and was a master at schmmoze and keeping us in the national spotlight - can Buzz do the same?  Who knows?  I don't.  But if he's the guy, I will support him to the hilt - and wish and pray he is spectacular for Marquette basketball and our university.

[lab_warrior]

So PRN's main concerns are how Buzz would deal with the media?!?!  You have to be joking, really.  This is BASKETBALL!  WHO CARES how he deals with the media.  My only concerns are can he recruit (seems that he's pretty decent at that) and X's and O's.  Media...LOL...gimme a break.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I have MANY more concerns than just the media, but I can damn well tell you that image is important in any profession...especially for the higest profile position at Marquette.

Where is this long list of recruits that he's landed? Surely you're not talking about the guys who aren't even on campus yet. The two guys from Texas? Those can't be the guys you're letting decide who coaches Marquette University. Can they?

Furthermore, why is everybody dismissing his past with New Orleans as inconsequential? He abandoned his post down there because MU was offering him more money (because Crean couldn't hold onto assistants).

Seriously, if he had stayed with Gillespie rather than take an assistant job that Crean was DESPERATE to fill, would he be a candidate? We wouldn't even take his phone call.

He's been here for 9 months and, as far as I can tell, has landed a couple of three star recruits.

[Pardner]

Furthermore, why is everybody dismissing his past with New Orleans as inconsequential? He abandoned his post down there because MU was offering him more money (because Crean couldn't hold onto assistants).

I looked into this a bit as I was concerned.  He actually replaced Monte Towe who bailed after Katrina to be an assistant with Lowe at NC St.  They were playing in a rec center.  The locker room was an open air space under the stands.  The school wasn't paying the coaches was the biggest issue. among other promises.  I am sure MU is digging deeper, but it sounds like it was a bad situation getting worse.