Typical Al

[Warrior Code]

Why should we be erasing our history, hey?

#makemarquettegreatagain

[79Warrior]

Why should we be erasing our history, hey?

#makemarquettegreatagain

Exactly.

[Uncle Rico]

Al broke barriers. Does that make you feel uncomfortable?

Not at all.  He should be celebrated and revered but at some point, you move on.  Too many Marquette fans live in the past

[Lennys Tap]

Not at all.  He should be celebrated and revered but at some point, you move on.  Too many Marquette fans live in the past

Sounds contradictory. And arbitrary.

[Uncle Rico]

Sounds contradictory. And arbitrary.

I accept all criticism on this subject because I was only 1.5 years old in April of 1977. 

I think college sports programs suffer from the success of their past.  Nebraska football, UCLA basketball and so on.  Building new legacies are often burdened by the expectations of the past, some of which may not be realistic

[Lennys Tap]

I accept all criticism on this subject because I was only 1.5 years old in April of 1977. 

I think college sports programs suffer from the success of their past.  Nebraska football, UCLA basketball and so on.  Building new legacies are often burdened by the expectations of the past, some of which may not be realistic

This, OTOH, sounds logical. Once elite programs will always, to a point, be haunted by their pasts. UCLA will never be the UCLA of John Wooden, Marquette will never be the Marquette of Al McGuire. I get that younger fans tire  of us old timers reminiscing, but I have no illusions we'll become the MU of the 70s again. I only wish the younger fans could have experienced it - they (you) would have loved it.

[The Sultan]

I mean, the thread clearly has Al in the title.  If you don't want to talk about Al....then don't.

[Hards Alumni]

This, OTOH, sounds logical. Once elite programs will always, to a point, be haunted by their pasts. UCLA will never be the UCLA of John Wooden, Marquette will never be the Marquette of Al McGuire. I get that younger fans tire  of us old timers reminiscing, but I have no illusions we'll become the MU of the 70s again. I only wish the younger fans could have experienced it - they (you) would have loved it.

Post of the year.  I am 38, best I got was Wade in the Final Four... which was pretty awesome.  But the way you guys describe the vibe in the late 70s...

I think we can all be jelly of that.

[augoman]

the best was the drums..., other coaches used to moan about playing us at home and they'd talk about the fans, the crowds, the players, the uniforms, then they'd say " and those drums!"  really rattled the visiting players when we'd press them and the war drums would start and the crowd would do the thunderclap.

[The Sultan]

the best was the drums..., other coaches used to moan about playing us at home and they'd talk about the fans, the crowds, the players, the uniforms, then they'd say " and those drums!"  really rattled the visiting players when we'd press them and the war drums would start and the crowd would do the thunderclap.

The Hamms beer song.

[muwarrior69]

If you're talking about the guy between Butch and Toone, that's Ulice Payne.

When student athlete actually meant something.

https://wallmine.com/people/33981/ulice-jr-payne

[GooooMarquette]

This, OTOH, sounds logical. Once elite programs will always, to a point, be haunted by their pasts. UCLA will never be the UCLA of John Wooden, Marquette will never be the Marquette of Al McGuire. I get that younger fans tire  of us old timers reminiscing, but I have no illusions we'll become the MU of the 70s again. I only wish the younger fans could have experienced it - they (you) would have loved it.

Nailed it.

I grew up watching Al, and was a HS freshman when we won it all in 76-77. While I still hope for an occasional Final Four and hopefully another Championship, I don't expect MU to have a run of sustained excellence like we did in the 70s. I reminisce about the great memories of our collective past to bring back fond memories with a few here who shared the experience, and to give the younger fans a sense of how special things were.

[muwarrior69]

This, OTOH, sounds logical. Once elite programs will always, to a point, be haunted by their pasts. UCLA will never be the UCLA of John Wooden, Marquette will never be the Marquette of Al McGuire. I get that younger fans tire  of us old timers reminiscing, but I have no illusions we'll become the MU of the 70s again. I only wish the younger fans could have experienced it - they (you) would have loved it.

The game was so different back then. UCLA was always in the West regional and for them a cake walk with no real competition. Whereas, MU, Big 10 and SEC champions played in the Mid East regional. UCLA always had the easiest path to the championship, albeit having really good teams; but they only had two competitive games as the field was only 24 teams for most of their 10 game championship run.

[The Sultan]

Not only that, but teams usually only had to win two games to get to the Final Four.  And as you mentioned, those games were against the Big Sky, PCAA or WAC champions.

[WhiteTrash]

And not only that, they cheated by paying players.

[4everwarriors]

Eat your hearts out. In my freshman year at MU, we won the NIT. My last year at Marquette, the Warriors won the NCAA. In between, we never lost. On rare occasion, the clock ran out when we were trailing, hey?

[warriorjoe]

As Louie Carnesecca told me during one of the interviews for my book on Al, "Al knew when to leave before people got tired of him."

Go Warriors!

[dgies9156]

While I still hope for an occasional Final Four and hopefully another Championship, I don't expect MU to have a run of sustained excellence like we did in the 70s.

I do.

In the Al years, we were a great team -- a blue blood by today's standards. But we did not break the Final Four until 1974 and didn't win until Coach Al's last game.

It's tough because more colleges are focusing on basketball and the reduction in prejudice in college athletics means great players of all races, nationalities, religions etc., have more schools to attend. So the talent is more disbursed. But a coach who is a good recruiter and a good bench coach who can hold a team together and instill confidence in 18-22 year olds can make a school great again.

It's in our DNA. We need to find our way back. Period.

[Scoop Snoop]

I understand the "move on" attitude of the younger posters but they also need to understand the value of the great memories that are an inherent part of those of us who experienced the Al Era. If the Wojo Era consisted of more than only one promising great season which ended up as a total fiasco, we would probably be much quieter. Translation: yes, it is futile to live in the Al past but it is a better place than the Wojo present, so.... we reminisce sometimes. So what?

Al was exciting, Marquette's fans were insanely wild (and, as noted, totally rattled opponents and their coaches) and became an integral part of the home games, and Marquette kicked ass. What's not to like?

[The Sultan]

This reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad just would go on and on and on about Vince Lombardi...Bart Starr....Paul Hornung, etc.  It got to the point where it was really annoying to me but it was obviously meaningful to my dad.

And it really never went away until the Holmgren / Favre era exorcised those ghosts.

Can Marquette do the same?  Sure.  If Villanova could, why can't Marquette?  But the odds are long. 

[dgies9156]

This reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad just would go on and on and on about Vince Lombardi...Bart Starr....Paul Hornung, etc.  It got to the point where it was really annoying to me but it was obviously meaningful to my dad.

And it really never went away until the Holmgren / Favre era exorcised those ghosts.

Can Marquette do the same?  Sure.  If Villanova could, why can't Marquette?  But the odds are long.

Brother Fluff, you been to Green Bay lately? Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung and that marvelous defense will never die. 10,000 years from now, they'll still be out there and folks will be talking about the legend of St. Vincent of Green Bay.

Same with Coach McGuire and the Warriors. No matter when we win our next few Nattys, Coach McGuire will always be linked with Marquette University. Heck, he made Marquette a national institution. The visibility we received from having a great basketball program led to visions of greatness in other things the university did. Coach McGuire took Marquette on the path from being a Loras College to being a well-respected national university. Loras is a good school, no doubt, but we went from having an audience in Milwaukee County to having a national view. And, we adoped Coach McGuire's arrogant/obnoxious attitude to boot.

[The Sultan]

Brother Fluff, you been to Green Bay lately? Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung and that marvelous defense will never die. 10,000 years from now, they'll still be out there and folks will be talking about the legend of St. Vincent of Green Bay.

Same with Coach McGuire and the Warriors. No matter when we win our next few Nattys, Coach McGuire will always be linked with Marquette University. Heck, he made Marquette a national institution. The visibility we received from having a great basketball program led to visions of greatness in other things the university did. Coach McGuire took Marquette on the path from being a Loras College to being a well-respected national university. Loras is a good school, no doubt, but we went from having an audience in Milwaukee County to having a national view. And, we adoped Coach McGuire's arrogant/obnoxious attitude to boot.

You misunderstand.  The feeling that the past is overwhelming the present won't go away until we reach the same level of success. 

[tower912]

Al was the man.    He did amazing things at MU.     He was truly cutting edge.    He was at the forefront of BLM 40 years early.    He allowed self expression, protest, a player to cut down his part of a net with a switchblade, told his players to use basketball, not let basketball use them, encouraged a player to turn pro early to the detriment of his team, fought with players, rode Harley's....   the list goes on and on.

The exact same stuff that Al did 45 years ago would get him vilified by some on scoop today.    Compare the reaction to Coach Wojo and Todd Smith's words and actions regarding protests the past few weeks to the canonization of a man who was far more radical.   


Just sayin'.    aina


A great man on so many levels.

  https://www.facebook.com/AlMcGuiresWarriors/photos/al-was-a-visionary-a-pioneer-in-race-relations-he-told-us-were-going-to-respect-/1548630578582753/

https://www.chron.com/sports/college-basketball-men/article/Color-never-blinded-McGuire-s-love-1997725.php

https://medium.com/@timothyjlarose/how-al-mcguire-changed-more-than-just-a-basketball-uniform-734ad30ddaf6

[muwarrior69]

You misunderstand.  The feeling that the past is overwhelming the present won't go away until we reach the same level of success.

Back then they played real football. Today its just a tad above touch football.

[The Sultan]

Back then they played real football. Today its just a tad above touch football.

I've seen the highlights.  Nothing could be further from the truth.