[PaintTouches]Greska: Pulling the curtain on Buzz Williams

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Haven't heard much from Tower or TAMU lately.......

I have about three dozen posts since the news broke...not sure what constitutes hearing much.

Personally, most of what I have seen on scoop is sour grapes. People who swore that they would wish Buzz well when he left have torn him a new one.

I don't know what rumors are true. What I do know is that Buzz was loved when he was taking us to the Elite 8. He was the same person then that he is now. We looked at his oddities and eccentricities as endearing and bold. Now we are calling him crazy for the same reasons.

All I know is, Buzz is the second best coach that has coached my alma mater. He left my program better than how he found it. That is good enough for me.

Time to move on. I am excited for the next era of Marquette hoops. I'm especially excited for having a coach who won't be tied to the coaching carousel for at least a few years. That was part of the Buzz package that I always hated.

[4everwarriors]

Maybe Chicos can send this off to Deadspin too, hey?

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

Waiting for the slurp response.

Your mom's on here?

[warriorchick]

So, Andrei,

Are you guys going to keep "Paint Touches" as the name of your blog?  I assume you chose it in the first place because of Buzz.

[mumagz84]

Very well done.  

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Impressive work.

[chapman]

An excellent piece.

Waiting for the slurp response.

Most packed their bags and ran away from Scoop as soon as it was hinted that all was not right in Whoville.

[mu_hilltopper]

So, Andrei,

Are you guys going to keep "Paint Touches" as the name of your blog?  I assume you chose it in the first place because of Buzz.

Yow, excellent point.  

[BenCat12]

I have about three dozen posts since the news broke...not sure what constitutes hearing much.

Personally, most of what I have seen on scoop is sour grapes. People who swore that they would wish Buzz well when he left have torn him a new one.

I don't know what rumors are true. What I do know is that Buzz was loved when he was taking us to the Elite 8. He was the same person then that he is now. We looked at his oddities and eccentricities as endearing and bold. Now we are calling him crazy for the same reasons.

All I know is, Buzz is the second best coach recruiter that has coached my alma mater. He left my program better than how he found it. That is good enough for me.

Time to move on. I am excited for the next era of Marquette hoops. I'm especially excited for having a coach who won't be tied to the coaching carousel for at least a few years. That was part of the Buzz package that I always hated.

Buzz was a fraud.  I posted back in January, good motivator, good recruiter, below average coach.  The same holds true today.  If we replace him with any one of the three guys being mentioned, it will be a huge upgrade.  The guy got by on a huge budget,  Crean's leftovers and JUCO's.  Player development and X's and O's were a failure and will continue to be a failure at VT.  Haven't been this excited about the future of MU basketball since I saw Wade play for the first time.  Good riddance Brent.

[muwarrior69]

So, Andrei,

Are you guys going to keep "Paint Touches" as the name of your blog?  I assume you chose it in the first place because of Buzz.

I was thinking the same thing.

[mu03eng]

Buzz was a fraud.  I posted back in January, good motivator, good recruiter, below average coach.  The same holds true today.  If we replace him with any one of the three guys being mentioned, it will be a huge upgrade.  The guy got by on a huge budget,  Crean's leftovers and JUCO's.  Player development and X's and O's were a failure and will continue to be a failure at VT.  Haven't been this excited about the future of MU basketball since I saw Wade play for the first time.  Good riddance Brent.

I'm sorry, you don't have the results MU had with 3 sweet sixteens in a row and an elite eight and have a fraud as a head coach.  Buzz fooled some people(apparently not you and Willie) as to what his total character was.  Buzz was a solid coach who helped MU attain heights not seen since Al.  Do I wish I had my eyes more open as to the total picture, yes.  Do I change any of my opinions as to Buzz the coach, no.

The future for MU is relatively bright some in large part due to Buzz.  Clearly he had flaws but he had major contributions that can't be dismissed just because he proved to be an unnatural carnal knowledger after the fact.

[WarriorHal]

Great article. I was just discussing with others that everything changed on the infamous Halloween weekend.

Has it ever been publicly revealed which players were involved?

[mu03eng]

Has it ever been publicly revealed which players were involved?

No not really, and it shouldn't be disclosed.

[mu03eng]

One light criticism of the article.  There is a lot of great content in the article, why wasn't this made available sooner?  Some of us don't have inside sources to know these types of things.  If something like this can be published after Buzz left, some of this should have been published while he was here.

[mattyv1908]

Haven't heard much from Tower or TAMU lately.......

Speaking of slurpers.

Where did the self proclaimed thought police of Marquette fandom Sultan go?

[marquette09]

Great article, one question on timing, though.  You said Buzz wanted SMU, but couldn't leave because we just went to the elite 8.  I though, SMU opened up in 2012 and, obviously the elite 8 was last year?

Overall, though, great article and a great read.  

[BenCat12]

I'm sorry, you don't have the results MU had with 3 sweet sixteens in a row and an elite eight and have a fraud as a head coach.  Buzz fooled some people(apparently not you and Willie) as to what his total character was.  Buzz was a solid coach who helped MU attain heights not seen since Al.  Do I wish I had my eyes more open as to the total picture, yes.  Do I change any of my opinions as to Buzz the coach, no.

The future for MU is relatively bright some in large part due to Buzz.  Clearly he had flaws but he had major contributions that can't be dismissed just because he proved to be an unnatural carnal knowledger after the fact.

Nothing I said was incorrect.  Buzz is a fraud.  Anyone who preaches character like he did and then covers up the things he covered up is a fraud.  He is a good motivator, good recruiter, and a below average coach and none of those comments were "after the fact."  My level of hatred for Buzz doesn't compare to Willie's.  I didn't mind him being here at first and I thought he could do great things if he improved in certain areas and hired better assistants.  But he chose to trip over his ego on his way to Blacksburg and that is fine by me.  Here is a news flash, the next coach will have flaws that will be pointed out as well, it comes with the territory and it is OK.  Criticizing a coach doesn't make anyone less of a fan or make you a better fan or person, for that matter.  Climb down from your tower.  

[willie warrior]

Haven't heard much from Tower or TAMU lately.......

Yeah, or the guys that checked out a week ago. Wonder if they will ever come out from under their beds. Or it could be that they are working on new material. Must be pretty hard to swallow that the school moved on their favorite coach after all their defenses.

Yeah, I know, I will be attacked personally for that.

[4everwarriors]

Nothing I said was incorrect.  Buzz is a fraud.  Anyone who preaches character like he did and then covers up the things he covered up is a fraud.  He is a good motivator, good recruiter, and a below average coach and none of those comments were "after the fact."  My level of hatred for Buzz doesn't compare to Willie's.  I didn't mind him being here at first and I thought he could do great things if he improved in certain areas and hired better assistants.  But he chose to trip over his ego on his way to Blacksburg and that is fine by me.  Here is a news flash, the next coach will have flaws that will be pointed out as well, it comes with the territory and it is OK.  Criticizing a coach doesn't make anyone less of a fan or make you a better fan or person, for that matter.  Climb down from your tower.  

Anyone try tippin' the bottle of sand over?

[Montana Warrior]

Excellent article.

He had his chance to be on the same list/in the same sentence as Al... in about 15 more years.  I personally would have given him that chance and would have enjoyed seeing "crazy" become "eccentric".

Bingo

[Eldon]

The Buzzard of Oz?

[SERocks]

So, Andrei,

Are you guys going to keep "Paint Touches" as the name of your blog?  I assume you chose it in the first place because of Buzz.

Don't know why they would change it.  Paint Touches is now as much a part of MU lore as Cracked Sidewalks is.

[willie warrior]

Nothing I said was incorrect.  Buzz is a fraud.  Anyone who preaches character like he did and then covers up the things he covered up is a fraud.  He is a good motivator, good recruiter, and a below average coach and none of those comments were "after the fact."  My level of hatred for Buzz doesn't compare to Willie's.  I didn't mind him being here at first and I thought he could do great things if he improved in certain areas and hired better assistants.  But he chose to trip over his ego on his way to Blacksburg and that is fine by me.  Here is a news flash, the next coach will have flaws that will be pointed out as well, it comes with the territory and it is OK.  Criticizing a coach doesn't make anyone less of a fan or make you a better fan or person, for that matter.  Climb down from your tower.  

Thanks Ben cat, but you are wrong. I do not "hate" the guy, whatever that means. I just did not believe what he was saying and doing--so I was critical. Now, if being critical of somebody who is doing things wrong is "hate", which I believe that many people accept, no wonder there are so many problems in our society.
The way Buzz left certainly demonstrates that there were lots of issues there, more than I know. I just saw somebody that was not genuine on many issues. Yes, I have been hard the last two days on the guy--because frankly he deserved it the way he fooled so many. What is more amazing is that so many people were fooled.
Obviously the people that made the decision thought long and hard before pulling the trigger.
I really get tired of people pulling out the "hate" mantra, similar to "racist" because they cannot tolerate their idols being called out. But you are entitled to your opinion.

[BenCat12]

Thanks Ben cat, but you are wrong. I do not "hate" the guy, whatever that means. I just did not believe what he was saying and doing--so I was critical. Now, if being critical of somebody who is doing things wrong is "hate", which I believe that many people accept, no wonder there are so many problems in our society.
The way Buzz left certainly demonstrates that there were lots of issues there, more than I know. I just saw somebody that was not genuine on many issues. Yes, I have been hard the last two days on the guy--because frankly he deserved it the way he fooled so many. What is more amazing is that so many people were fooled.
Obviously the people that made the decision thought long and hard before pulling the trigger.
I really get tired of people pulling out the "hate" mantra, similar to "racist" because they cannot tolerate their idols being called out. But you are entitled to your opinion.

You are right "hate'' was the wrong word, perhaps I should have used teal.  So many people use the term "hate" or "hater" I guess it worked its way into my vocab as well.  I agree with the rest of your post as well.

[willie warrior]

You are right "hate'' was the wrong word, perhaps I should have used teal.  So many people use the term "hate" or "hater" I guess it worked its way into my vocab as well.  I agree with the rest of your post as well.

OK, agreed. And I pledge I will begin to soften my "criticism" of Buzz. He did some good things at MU. Good recruits, and some damn good runs with less talent than a number of other teams had. It is just sad it ended this way for all concerned. We will likely lose some good kids from the program, and this whole thing has alienated some people. It also has placed great stress on decision makers. Behind the scenes must have been a mess.

Hopefully the next guy will be better and have greater success. But if we do not get one of the Holy Trinity being mentioned most, I hope we can still find a good guy.