Top of the Food Chain

[brewcity77]

So seriously, what are the drawbacks to TJO? Milwaukee guy. Young. Earned his stripes in the mid-majors. What's his buyout at UNLV?

He's never been at a job longer than 3 years, so you don't know if he can build long-term. Compared to a Wes Miller or John Becker type that have have built what they have now.

I like TJO & think he could be a great hire, but all hires have risk.

[Silent Verbal]

Bennett stayed at Virginia, which was never his home before that move. Buzz got Sweet 16s. Whoop-di-freaking-doo. Bennett got league titles, 1-seeds, and won the big one. That matters. What Buzz did didn't to anyone outside Milwaukee.

So now we're not even blaming Buzz's last season for Wojo's lackluster tenure at Marquette.  We're blaming the fact that he was ever hired to begin with.

We didn't lose to DePaul last night because Buzz got hired 11 years ago.  We lost because our coach who's been here for 6 years is arguably the worst coach in the conference.

[Warriors, Come Out and Playeeyay]

Things to consider if Wojo stays :

- How many students show up to Midnight Madness?
- How many students show up in the student section?
- How many more departures from season tickets are there?
- What response do the donors of the program have?  Less donations?
- How will the optics of more boo'ing next year affect recruiting?

Random other thoughts :
if I am Wojo, I tell the current team that the Freshman will start next year.  Noone has been good enough to earn a starting bid. 
Wojo needs to relate to the fanbase.  Crean (sucks) used to do a great job of getting on the big screen before the games and pumping up the crowd/students.  Buzz came out, walked through the student section, slapped high fives, etc.  Wojo goes to the bench, has the same deer in headlights look, and moves on to gametime.

[MUDPT]

The only P6 head coaches that would be interested in MU are those who are either desperate for a change for job reasons or those at the couple of places where Marquette would be a significant enough upgrade.  For instance, Washington State.

Kyle Smith is a really good coach. Only been WSU for this year though.

[brewcity77]

So now we're not even blaming Buzz's last season for Wojo's lackluster tenure at Marquette.  We're blaming the fact that he was ever hired to begin with.

We didn't lose to DePaul last night because Buzz got hired 11 years ago.  We lost because our coach who's been here for 6 years is arguably the worst coach in the conference.

No, it's on the administration for rushing the hire after Crean left. Buzz was always going to be there. Had they done as thorough a search in 2008 as they did in 2014, this would be a completely different program. Buzz didn't hire himself.

[Silent Verbal]

No, it's on the administration for rushing the hire after Crean left. Buzz was always going to be there. Had they done as thorough a search in 2008 as they did in 2014, this would be a completely different program. Buzz didn't hire himself.

Didn't Bennett originally say no and then call back later and say yes?  Or wasn't he waiting to see if the LSU job opened up because his wife is from there?  If he said "no" or was waffling, I don't blame MU for looking at other options.

[brewcity77]

Didn't Bennett originally say no and then call back later and say yes?  Or wasn't he waiting to see if the LSU job opened up because his wife is from there?  If he said "no" or was waffling, I don't blame MU for looking at other options.

He turned down Marquette to pursue LSU, then called back to ask if the job was still available a half-hour after Buzz signed.

At the time, I was in shock Crean left after all the jobs he had flirted with and not left, but even more shocked they handed the reins to the first year assistant less than a week later. It was rushed, and even if you end up with Buzz, I felt that wasn't a thorough enough search, especially when you ended up with a future Hall of Famer calling to ask for your job.

[f/k/a humanlung]

He turned down Marquette to pursue LSU, then called back to ask if the job was still available a half-hour after Buzz signed.

At the time, I was in shock Crean left after all the jobs he had flirted with and not left, but even more shocked they handed the reins to the first year assistant less than a week later. It was rushed, and even if you end up with Buzz, I felt that wasn't a thorough enough search, especially when you ended up with a future Hall of Famer calling to ask for your job.

Should have Respected The Process...

[CountryRoads]

He turned down Marquette to pursue LSU, then called back to ask if the job was still available a half-hour after Buzz signed.

At the time, I was in shock Crean left after all the jobs he had flirted with and not left, but even more shocked they handed the reins to the first year assistant less than a week later. It was rushed, and even if you end up with Buzz, I felt that wasn't a thorough enough search, especially when you ended up with a future Hall of Famer calling to ask for your job.

You are a great poster and love your work with CS, but this is an extreme take and an odd moment to point back to all these years later. I mean this is like the Butterfly Effect. Buzz turned out ok for MU and it's hard to argue they didn't get a steal there. 

[keefe]

Nope, because we recovered from Dukiet relatively quickly. If we don't hire Buzz, we hire Tony Bennett. And unlike Buzz, he likely would've stayed. Put TB in here for the past 11 years and we'd be in a vastly different place.

This is not correct

[muguru]

And so it begins...

https://twitter.com/ACCSports/status/1235315275605708802?s=20

[brewcity77]

You are a great poster and love your work with CS, but this is an extreme take and an odd moment to point back to all these years later. I mean this is like the Butterfly Effect. Buzz turned out ok for MU and it's hard to argue they didn't get a steal there.

If it's extreme to say I wish they would've done a thorough search that would've landed us a Hall of Famer, then I'm an extremist.

Taking the first warm body that said yes gave us a little fun, but opened more cans of worms than anyone in administration wanted.

If we're in the market, I want a thorough process. Maybe it ends up with another Wojo, but looking at the competition, both Martin & Howland were as bad or worse. If Marquette hired Stan Johnson less than a week after Wojo departed, I would not be happy.

[f/k/a humanlung]

If it's extreme to say I wish they would've done a thorough search that would've landed us a Hall of Famer, then I'm an extremist.

Taking the first warm body that said yes gave us a little fun, but opened more cans of worms than anyone in administration wanted.

If we're in the market, I want a thorough process. Maybe it ends up with another Wojo, but looking at the competition, both Martin & Howland were as bad or worse. If Marquette hired Stan Johnson less than a week after Wojo departed, I would not be happy.

Imo, Howland started at Mississippi State in a deeper hole with far less tradition and resources, despite this, he has steadily advanced the program.  Can we same the same has happened at MU?

[jesmu84]

Imo, Howland started at Mississippi State in a deeper hole with far less tradition and resources, despite this, he has steadily advanced the program.  Can we same the same has happened at MU?

Cheaters never prosper

[Eldon]

Cheaters never prosper

Did Howland cheat?

[BallBoy]

It isn't who is available now. It is who is going to want be here in 5 to 6 years in when "It's Indiana, It's Indiana" or bolt to Blacksburg comes along.

In our history, we have had two coaches over 10year. One of them lead us to a national title. A total of 4 at nine or more.  most are <6.

Going back to Al, the only first time coach with a tenure of >6 years was Crean. Our best hires were first time coaches who left for something else.

Going back to Al, our worst hires were Mike Deane and Dukiet. both had previous coaching experience.  both were asked to leave.

[JWags85]

He's never been at a job longer than 3 years, so you don't know if he can build long-term. Compared to a Wes Miller or John Becker type that have have built what they have now.

I like TJO & think he could be a great hire, but all hires have risk.

Becker took over a program that had won 4 conference titles in 5 years.  He's been a good coach and kept it at that level, but Lonergan built that program.  Becker's also been fortunate that the America East has been absolute garbage for the last 5+ years.  Respect his ability as a coach but he'd be a No Thanks for me.

We're def aligned on Wes Miller as Ive said before.  Think he could be the next Gregg Marshall.  Think he'd have had Marshall's Winthrop-like success in conference if not for Steve Forbes and Mike Young being really good as well.

[4everwarriors]

Besides Ma and Pa, hoo are da big donors, hey?

[shoothoops]

Bennett stayed at Virginia, which was never his home before that move. Buzz got Sweet 16s. Whoop-di-freaking-doo. Bennett got league titles, 1-seeds, and won the big one. That matters. What Buzz did didn't to anyone outside Milwaukee.

Respectfully I have an entirely different opinion.

I understand that you are making it a Buzz MU results vs TB UVA results thing. And you are doing so because of timing. But these are apples to oranges places. It is unknown at best how well TB would have done at MU. It is however known that in 4 of 6 seasons in Big East, Buzz won 14,14,12,11 games and never had a losing league record. In those six seasons he had an elite 8, sweet 16, sweet 16, and five NCAA appearances and a Big East Title. These are some of the best results in modern MU history. TB has had strong seasons at UVA. But we are comparing Buzz here to other MU coaches and their results.

Idealistically MU can some day find a coach that will win at high levels and also stay a long time. My first priority is winning. As Adrian told Rocky when she woke up from the coma, "Win."

[Dish]

I don't know who said it, but a poster did make an argument for firing Wojo this season that made sense to me. If Shaka were to somehow keep his job at Texas, MU could very well be the top job available on the market this season. That does give me some pause as it could that theoretically mean that we would have our pick of coaches. And despite my skepticism at Keefe' Beilein carpet bombing last night, maybe if he is desperate to get back into college coaching (he certainly can afford to wait a year if he wants), we could land him. So what jobs could legitimately come open that MU would have to compete with? This is what I came up with:

Texas
Miami (FL)
Kansas State
Wake Forest
Utah
Georgia Tech (unlikely)
Oregon State (unlikely)
Boston College (unlikely)
Northwestern (unlikely)

Did I miss anyone? There's usually one surprise departure that no one is expecting (though I think the national media would say MU is that surprise departure if it were to happen). I don't think any of the big name coaches are looking at retiring. Maybe the NBA picks off one of the top coaches but that usually doesn't happen until mid-summer. If Shaka hangs on and if this is the competition, then we may be at the top of the coaching search food chain.

Yup, I'm just jumping in this thread, but that was me that made that argument last night. I said Shaka saving his season could be the best thing that happened to MU.

I'm by no stretch comparing MU to these blue bloods, but soon be it age, scandal, NBA, or other, it's not entirely impossible next year (April 2021) to envision Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UNC becoming open (not all). If the MU job opened this spring, it would be the best opening by far.

I haven't read through this thread yet, so some of this I'm sure is argued here.

Timing is so vital in these coaching searches.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

So seriously, what are the drawbacks to TJO? Milwaukee guy. Young. Earned his stripes in the mid-majors. What's his buyout at UNLV?

I'd love to hear people's analysis on why they believe TJO would be an upgrade on Wojo. 

[wadesworld]

I'd love to hear people's analysis on why they believe TJO would be an upgrade on Wojo.

Agreed. He had success when he was left with the best player in the history of his conference. He helped recruit to Iowa State. Of course Wojo never had success recruiting to a high major program before coming to MU...

[79Warrior]

So now we're not even blaming Buzz's last season for Wojo's lackluster tenure at Marquette.  We're blaming the fact that he was ever hired to begin with.

We didn't lose to DePaul last night because Buzz got hired 11 years ago.  We lost because our coach who's been here for 6 years is arguably the worst coach in the conference.

Yep. Stupid.

[LAZER]

I'd love to hear people's analysis on why they believe TJO would be an upgrade on Wojo.

4 years of head coaching experience.

[ryegge]

‪#MUBB‬
‪Watching these other Big East games and I can see how far we have fallen. We definitely don't play with this hustle or intensity. We did at times this year, what happened ?? 😢‬

Players are the same so it has to be coaching right?

Another sad year for Marquette fans 😢