Parrish: Ben Howland involved with Marquette.

[SWARM!]

Howalnd....yes please!

[Clam Crowder]

What guard could change their mind if the guy who coached so many absolute stud NBA PGS is our coach. If we get Howland I predict defections from the class will be minimal. I think this is going to happen.

[Coleman]

Book Howland! It's an upgrade!

[chapman]

What guard could change their mind if the guy who coached so many absolute stud NBA PGS is our coach. If we get Howland I predict defections from the class will be minimal. I think this is going to happen.

Agree.  And a healthy list of bigs too.  The guy put this list in the league:

http://espn.go.com/nba/players/_/college/26

[Class71]

What guard could change their mind if the guy who coached so many absolute stud NBA PGS is our coach. If we get Howland I predict defections from the class will be minimal. I think this is going to happen.

Agree. Howland will be a great fit and you will see some fire next year. The press reports -- forget about it!

[Clam Crowder]

Agree. Howland will be a great fit and you will see some fire next year. The press reports -- forget about it!

Player development was an deserved to be a HUGE knock on Buzz. I honestly can think of 3 players that showed huge improvement from year to year Jae, Jimmy, and Van. Everyone else...see Jamil Wilson really didn't get significantly better. Also Derrick as an example there.

Howland has had some guys for 1 year some for 2 some for 3 but those guys...alot of them have grown to be great players.

Credit UCLA all you want but you can be at a school like that an fail.

I want Howland. Lets hope MU moves swiftly finds their guy and lets him work to keep all of these players where they are.

[avid1010]

Here's the thing with Ben.  I have worked with him several times as a spokesperson for some of our products.  He's a very good basketball mind, not one that does really well with alumni in my opinion. I don't think he cares for that aspect of the job.  He's somewhat introverted.  The style of basketball he plays is so different than what MU fans have seen the last 15 years, I have a feeling it would be a turnoff for many here.  Emphasizes defense and then defense and then defense.  

Just my opinion.  The SI article on UCLA didn't help matters and the whole recruitment of Shabazz was squirmy as hell.  


By the way, some of the well connected UCLA fans here believe Ben might be heading to Wake Forest or potentially USF.

i'm impressed that you could tell he had a good basketball mind and fails with alum based upon his sponsorship of your products.  

i'd be very happy with howland...if he could be successful at MU, and he could groom the next MU coach before he leaves MU could have more stability.  my concern is recruiting...but i have no clue what he has left for connections, and all that goes in to the recruiting process.

[79Warrior]

Fine you met him before and had brief conversations. But how do you know he doesn't do well with alumni?

I have met Ben several times at UCLA events when he was there. He was perfectly fine. Most coaches hate the "alumni thing" but they know they have to do it. Howland would be a very good hire for MU.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Put me in the Howland camp

[denverMU]

Crean to MU, ITS MARQUETTE, ITS MARQUETTE, ITS MARQUETTE!

[muwarrior69]

If Howland becomes the next MU coach I am sure he and Lavin will have a lot to talk about.

[77ncaachamps]

I'd sign up Howland.

Been there.
Experienced.
Name recognition.
He'll be top dog once again (UCLA FB was starting to outdraw UCLA BK).
Probably his last or next to last stop.
Buys MU time to prepare for his eventual successor.

[breadtree]

(just because UCLA doesn't think 3 straight Final Fours is good enough doesn't mean it's true),

He didn't get fired for losing. He got fired for letting his players completely melt down.  Seriously, read the SI article.

[TJ]

He didn't get fired for losing. He got fired for letting his players completely melt down.  Seriously, read the SI article.

ok. I didn't know there was an SI article.

Still, on first thought and apparently without knowing all of the details this sounds good to me.

[breadtree]

ok. I didn't know there was an SI article.

Still, on first thought and apparently without knowing all of the details this sounds good to me.

Sorry, didn't mean to call you out.  Just pointing out that there's a reason a coach with 3 Final Fours was unemployed and it's not 360 clueless ADs

[Clam Crowder]

I thought we already established he would be losing money by taking a job this year...

If Bruce Pearl got 2.2 mill after his shenanigans Howland deserves a chance.

[TJ]

Sorry, didn't mean to call you out.  Just pointing out that there's a reason a coach with 3 Final Fours was unemployed and it's not 360 clueless ADs

ok, read it. Interesting article, but I would still consider him for the position if I were Cords. Many red flags there, but it's also certainly possible that Howland wants to do things differently next time and can convince administration of that. Plus, MU is not the same animal that UCLA is. That's not to say there's nothing to be concerned about, just that some of the problems listed in the article were uniquely UCLA.

[Jay Bee]

Sorry, didn't mean to call you out.  Just pointing out that there's a reason a coach with 3 Final Fours was unemployed and it's not 360 clueless ADs

Yep. The reason is Ben wouldn't have been paid $2.3MM to not work this season. He would have been a wackjob to have worked this season, IMO. But guaranteed he's been planning for his next gig by watching games and considering what he wants in his next job.

[ChicosBailBonds]

i'm impressed that you could tell he had a good basketball mind and fails with alum based upon his sponsorship of your products.  

Yeah, because that's how I could tell.  Actually, had the chance to work with him for two years.  SEPARATELY, with friends in the UCLA athletic department, and I'm close to some UCLA alums out here connected to the hoops program, etc, I was able to observe the rest.  I didn't get the chances to rub elbows with their AD over the years based on my good looks or hiring Ben as our spokesperson. 

Always glad to share a few tidbits here, even if it requires a bit of mocking from those cramming into the clown car.

[keefe]

Book 'em before he reaches his senses finds out about Scoop!

[WesleyPipes]

ok, read it. Interesting article, but I would still consider him for the position if I were Cords. Many red flags there, but it's also certainly possible that Howland wants to do things differently next time and can convince administration of that. Plus, MU is not the same animal that UCLA is. That's not to say there's nothing to be concerned about, just that some of the problems listed in the article were uniquely UCLA.

I just posted this in another thread, but I get the feeling that there was a fair amount of alumni overseeing at UCLA... The article made it seem like he wanted to discipline, but didn't always have the ability. My $0.02

[keefe]

If he likes defense then he definitely will like Derrick!

Please! He likes "defense." There was absolutely no mention of "lock down defense."

[murphmurphy]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/magazine/02/28/ucla/

Everyone on this blog needs to read this article.  If this article is true, Ben Howland could be the worst coach MU could hire.