Marquette rated as one of the most underrated jobs in the country

[muguru]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/candid-coaches-which-school-is-the-most-underrated-job-in-college-basketball/

On Marquette

    "The Marquette job, the resources are out of this world and they want to be really good. The facilities are getting even better and the brand new arena helps too. If you have even close to being good the support shows up too."
    "Loyal, passionate fan base. Great tradition. No football. Pro city and they invest big time in hoops."
    "Huge budget, passionate fans, NBA facility, history of pros, recruiting base but can recruit nationally."

I have said it before, this job...when open CAN/WOULD/HAS drawn better names then a lot of people think.

[The Sultan]

Yes.  A whopping 4% of the respondants picked Marquette.

But again, during the last coaching search, all of the same conditions existed.  And the only sitting high major coach to seemingly express any interest has since left two jobs and is barely above .500 at his third.  And other fired one with head coaching experience has been to one NCAA tournament at the school that eventually hired him.

Look, I don't care if you want to get rid of Wojo, but if you think there are going to be a list of high major coaches interested in Marquette, you are going to be incredibly disapointed.  Like before, it will very likely either be a major D1 assistant or a mid-major head coach.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Yes.  A whopping 4% of the respondants picked Marquette.

But again, during the last coaching search, all of the same conditions existed.  And the only sitting high major coach to seemingly express any interest has since left two jobs and is barely above .500 at his third.  And other fired one with head coaching experience has been to one NCAA tournament at the school that eventually hired him.

Look, I don't care if you want to get rid of Wojo, but if you think there are going to be a list of high major coaches interested in Marquette, you are going to be incredibly disapointed.  Like before, it will very likely either be a major D1 assistant or a mid-major head coach.

I might add here that Coach K was quoted as saying many of those same positives about MU at the time.  More so, MU was a mess.  No President. No AD. A new conference. A new TV deal with new networks. Even donor dissent. I think the many positives outdrew the significant negatives in luring Wojo and others to apply, which says a lot about the job.

[We R Final Four]

I have said it before, this job...when open CAN/WOULD/HAS drawn better names then a lot of people think.

Marquette HAS drawn better names then(than) a lot of people think??
What the hell does this even mean?
Regarding the CAN and WOULD...see Sultan's response.

[Its DJOver]

"CBS Sports college basketball writers Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander surveyed more than 100 coaches for our annual Candid Coaches series."

IMO, "more than 100" likely mean between 100 and 150.  That means at most 6 coaches think that MU is underrated.  Not that they would necessarily leave their own job for it, but that it is likely better than the national perception.   Given that a significant percentage of the people that make up the "national perception" don't even know where MU, and thus wouldn't know it's in an NBA city, or it's reputation at putting players in the NBA, this does not surprise me.  My take away from this is that MU is not as well known as some of the BB or Big State Schools, to which my response it - "duh".

[WhiteTrash]

Look, I don't care if you want to get rid of Wojo, but if you think there are going to be a list of high major coaches interested in Marquette, you are going to be incredibly disapointed.  Like before, it will very likely either be a major D1 assistant or a mid-major head coach.

I agree with you. There are but about 10 jobs a major program coach would leave for (barring a unique situation like Buzz being 'encourage' to look elsewhere). Even schools like Arizona and Texas looked to mid-major conferences for their current coaches. Marquette is no better or worse than schools like NC State, Illinois, Baylor, Stanford, etc. when it comes to getting a new coach.

That said, MU is a very attractive job and will have lots of great candidates when the day comes to replace Wojo. 

[#UnleashSean]

Yes.  A whopping 4% of the respondants picked Marquette.

But again, during the last coaching search, all of the same conditions existed.  And the only sitting high major coach to seemingly express any interest has since left two jobs and is barely above .500 at his third.  And other fired one with head coaching experience has been to one NCAA tournament at the school that eventually hired him.

Look, I don't care if you want to get rid of Wojo, but if you think there are going to be a list of high major coaches interested in Marquette, you are going to be incredibly disapointed.  Like before, it will very likely either be a major D1 assistant or a mid-major head coach.

There were a ton of question marks surrounding Marquette that will not be there during the next coaching carousel

[The Sultan]

I agree with you. There are but about 10 jobs a major program coach would leave for (barring a unique situation like Buzz being 'encourage' to look elsewhere). Even schools like Arizona and Texas looked to mid-major conferences for their current coaches. Marquette is no better or worse than schools like NC State, Illinois, Baylor, Stanford, etc. when it comes to getting a new coach.

That said, MU is a very attractive job and will have lots of great candidates when the day comes to replace Wojo. 

Oh yeah.  I agree with this completely.  Just look at the high major hires the last few years.  You have high profile programs the likes of UCLA and Louisville hiring solid coaches from other programs, or you have A&M hiring Buzz with geographic connections.  But outside of that, it is pretty rare.

[shoothoops]

Yes.  A whopping 4% of the respondants picked Marquette.

But again, during the last coaching search, all of the same conditions existed.  And the only sitting high major coach to seemingly express any interest has since left two jobs and is barely above .500 at his third.  And other fired one with head coaching experience has been to one NCAA tournament at the school that eventually hired him.

Look, I don't care if you want to get rid of Wojo, but if you think there are going to be a list of high major coaches interested in Marquette, you are going to be incredibly disapointed.  Like before, it will very likely either be a major D1 assistant or a mid-major head coach.

There were 11 choices, highest ℅ was 7℅ and only a few achieved higher than MU's 4℅ in the poll.

[The Sultan]

There were a ton of question marks surrounding Marquette that will not be there during the next coaching carousel

Take a look at the coaches in the top seven conferences (B12, BE, B10, P12, ACC, American and SEC.)  Which successful coaches do you think would leave their current jobs for Marquette?

I have coaches who MAY want to move "home" in Oats or Weber.  And I have a couple moderately successful ones who may want to leave before the axe falls - like Brad Brownell.  (Which means I'm really stretching the definition of successful.)  But if you go down to the next level, the high mid-majors, I see a few who might fit that bill.  Mike Rhodes at VCU for instance.

[LloydsLegs]

"CBS Sports college basketball writers Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander surveyed more than 100 coaches for our annual Candid Coaches series."

IMO, "more than 100" likely mean between 100 and 150. That means at most 6 coaches think that MU is underrated.  Not that they would necessarily leave their own job for it, but that it is likely better than the national perception.   Given that a significant percentage of the people that make up the "national perception" don't even know where MU, and thus wouldn't know it's in an NBA city, or it's reputation at putting players in the NBA, this does not surprise me.  My take away from this is that MU is not as well known as some of the BB or Big State Schools, to which my response it - "duh".

I think you misunderstand the poll.  4% think MU is THE MOST underrated; it is possible that more think that is somewhat or even very underrated, but not THE MOST underrated.  The schools getting the most votes only have 6 or 7% of the vote.  Kind of a silly way to do a poll, IMO.

[Galway Eagle]

Take a look at the coaches in the top seven conferences (B12, BE, B10, P12, ACC, American and SEC.)  Which successful coaches do you think would leave their current jobs for Marquette?

I have coaches who MAY want to move "home" in Oats or Weber.  And I have a couple moderately successful ones who may want to leave before the axe falls - like Brad Brownell.  (Which means I'm really stretching the definition of successful.)  But if you go down to the next level, the high mid-majors, I see a few who might fit that bill.  Mike Rhodes at VCU for instance.

Tom Crean

[Its DJOver]

I think you misunderstand the poll.  4% think MU is THE MOST underrated; it is possible that more think that is somewhat or even very underrated, but not THE MOST underrated.  The schools getting the most votes only have 6 or 7% of the vote.  Kind of a silly way to do a poll, IMO.

Ah, I see.  I did misinterpret that.  I still think that it both a weird way to format a poll, and a weird poll.  Not a ton of new information was gained from it.

[LloydsLegs]

Ah, I see.  I did misinterpret that.  I still think that it both a weird way to format a poll, and a weird poll.  Not a ton of new information was gained from it.

Agreed

[Golden Avalanche]

There were a ton of question marks surrounding Marquette that will not be there during the next coaching carousel

If you can see the future why are you being wasteful and spending time on Scoop?

[wadesworld]

'"The Marquette job, the resources are out of this world and they want to be really good."

What?  Clearly this coach wasn't invited to the Meat Lovers Summit.  The administration doesn't care one bit whether Marquette is good.  Just be an elite school.  Duh.

[Herman Cain]

Matt Norlander puts out quality research. He also has an open mind to MU and The Big East. So I rate him as a quality observer of College Basketball.

[duanewade]

Echos much of what I said the other day.  As usual I'm years ahead of Wojo and most of the rest of the board. 

Glad we have Herman who can match my insights and intellect.     


Recruiting would be a lot easier if Wojo could promote his great coaching track record of Sweet 16 appearances like Buzz could.  Of course he can't do that as he's been below average thus far and was borderline horrendous in his first two years.  However in spite of this he was able to land Marcus Howard before the start of his third season and has recruited well since then (due in no small part to Stan Johnson of course).   

However all these kids above have scheduled official visits which is key in getting MU more than a fighting chance.  I'll argue that the Fiserv Forum will be the greatest closer Marquette has in this recruiting cycle.  Having access to the Fiserv, as one of the anchor tenants, to show recruits and their families at anytime is huge!  During the recruiting tour we get to show recruits and their families our own/permanent Blue and Gold draped/decorated locker and training room.  I'm sure they also play some videos on the scoreboard as well to give the full visual sales effect to simulate what the game atmosphere is like and to further widen eyes of recruits.  This is further backed up by a top 10 in gross attendance for the 2018-2019 season with at least four sellouts in this last season. 

Add this to the Al McGuire Center, the amount of staff support MU has (with Barb Kellaher and her daughter doing a great job), the commitment to academics/graduation with numbers to back it up, the convenience of everything where campus is a 15 to 20 minute walk to the Fiserv, Mitchell Airport being a short bus ride for away game travel, away game travel always on private/chartered planes that come back after the night of away games to minimize lost class time.  Further add this to our strong history of sending players to the NBA, our contract with Fox Sports 1, adding UConn to the Big East, etc., etc. 

All of the above is expensive but since we make $25MM in annual revenues we in turn spend more money on our men's basketball program than every Div 1 basketball program except Duke.  It's also no surprise that other schools like St. Thomas are looking at Marquette and saying we want in on the "party". 

Marquette is an enigma in that we are private/Jesuit school with 10,000 students yet run circles around Power 5 schools who can't compete with all our above spelled-out advantages.  The above is no secret to coaches either who overtly gush about Marquette when our head coaching vacancy is available like Ben Howland did before we opted for Wojo. 

So as long as we can get kids on campus we'll never be out of it.  Finally if Wojo can't cut it then we'll have a long line of good coaches lined up outside on Wisconsin Avenue to choose from. 

https://youtu.be/5yUH7_cBpwc

[GooooMarquette]

Matt Norlander thinks the MU job is highly underrated. I agree, but I am biased.

Coaches - who generally know quite a bit about hoops and whose primary biases are to win and get money - don't seem to agree.

As much as I'd love to be wrong, I'm inclined to conclude that we are overrating the job.

[asdfasdf]

Take a look at the coaches in the top seven conferences (B12, BE, B10, P12, ACC, American and SEC.)  Which successful coaches do you think would leave their current jobs for Marquette?

I have coaches who MAY want to move "home" in Oats or Weber.  And I have a couple moderately successful ones who may want to leave before the axe falls - like Brad Brownell.  (Which means I'm really stretching the definition of successful.)  But if you go down to the next level, the high mid-majors, I see a few who might fit that bill.  Mike Rhodes at VCU for instance.

I'm curious to see how Darrin Horn fares at NKU. He has an MU connection (not that it matters), good pedigree as an assistant, and experience and success as a head coach at the mid-major level. He didn't fare too well as a head coach at the high-major level but I wonder how he would do if he got another bite at the apple.

[muguru]

Matt Norlander thinks the MU job is highly underrated. I agree, but I am biased.

Coaches - who generally know quite a bit about hoops and whose primary biases are to win and get money - don't seem to agree.

As much as I'd love to be wrong, I'm inclined to conclude that we are overrating the job.

You do understand this isn't Norlander's opinion, right?? These are coaches he asked directly. It was the Coaches that rated MU as like the third(tied) most underrated job in the country.

[Cheeks]

Echos much of what I said the other day.  As usual I'm years ahead of Wojo and most of the rest of the board. 

Glad we have Herman who can match my insights and intellect.     


Recruiting would be a lot easier if Wojo could promote his great coaching track record of Sweet 16 appearances like Buzz could.  Of course he can't do that as he's been below average thus far and was borderline horrendous in his first two years.  However in spite of this he was able to land Marcus Howard before the start of his third season and has recruited well since then (due in no small part to Stan Johnson of course).   

However all these kids above have scheduled official visits which is key in getting MU more than a fighting chance.  I'll argue that the Fiserv Forum will be the greatest closer Marquette has in this recruiting cycle.  Having access to the Fiserv, as one of the anchor tenants, to show recruits and their families at anytime is huge!  During the recruiting tour we get to show recruits and their families our own/permanent Blue and Gold draped/decorated locker and training room.  I'm sure they also play some videos on the scoreboard as well to give the full visual sales effect to simulate what the game atmosphere is like and to further widen eyes of recruits.  This is further backed up by a top 10 in gross attendance for the 2018-2019 season with at least four sellouts in this last season. 

Add this to the Al McGuire Center, the amount of staff support MU has (with Barb Kellaher and her daughter doing a great job), the commitment to academics/graduation with numbers to back it up, the convenience of everything where campus is a 15 to 20 minute walk to the Fiserv, Mitchell Airport being a short bus ride for away game travel, away game travel always on private/chartered planes that come back after the night of away games to minimize lost class time.  Further add this to our strong history of sending players to the NBA, our contract with Fox Sports 1, adding UConn to the Big East, etc., etc. 

All of the above is expensive but since we make $25MM in annual revenues we in turn spend more money on our men's basketball program than every Div 1 basketball program except Duke.  It's also no surprise that other schools like St. Thomas are looking at Marquette and saying we want in on the "party". 

Marquette is an enigma in that we are private/Jesuit school with 10,000 students yet run circles around Power 5 schools who can't compete with all our above spelled-out advantages.  The above is no secret to coaches either who overtly gush about Marquette when our head coaching vacancy is available like Ben Howland did before we opted for Wojo. 

So as long as we can get kids on campus we'll never be out of it.  Finally if Wojo can't cut it then we'll have a long line of good coaches lined up outside on Wisconsin Avenue to choose from. 

https://youtu.be/5yUH7_cBpwc

When Buzz was promoting his Sweet 16 appearances why did it lead to a 6th place finish and not even a bid to the NIT? 

[Cheeks]

You do understand this isn't Norlander's opinion, right?? These are coaches he asked directly. It was the Coaches that rated MU as like the third(tied) most underrated job in the country.

Third?  You may want to do that again.

[Dr. Blackheart]

When Buzz was promoting his Sweet 16 appearances why did it lead to a 6th place finish and not even a bid to the NIT?

Ask your buddy Larry Williams...

[MUHoopsFan2]

You sarcastically knock Wojo for lack of sweet 16 while not mentioning that fact he has been here and two sets of guys have left here before they were ready who should have been here all 4 years....

Especially Ellenson and the Hausers. I think he has done a fantastic job...and it take 4-7 years to establish your own program.

Cheatham had to leave to take care of his mother was it and be close to home, and Sandy Cohen couldn't work it out.

A player returning here or there would have done it...or a better run with injuries is where the lack of luck comes in and bad breaks, not bad coaching.

Had Henry stayed two more years like he needed you would have your sweet 16's...