Buzz Williams

[MochaJoe]

Biggest Issue with Buzz squad this year is Wade Taylor is probably the worst player of the last 20 years that people claim to be good

Most laughable thing is hes on all the POINT GUARD lists.

I could score 13 per game if I took 25 shots too lol

[Uncle Rico]

Biggest Issue with Buzz squad this year is Wade Taylor is probably the worst player of the last 20 years that people claim to be good

Most laughable thing is hes on all the POINT GUARD lists.

Lot of AJ Storr in his game

[MochaJoe]

Lot of AJ Storr in his game

Worst comp of all time

[Uncle Rico]

Worst comp of all time

Heartbreaking

[wadesworld]

I called out this fraud in 2011.  It was the most prescient commentary of my life.  He’s a bum.  Don’t forget, he bailed on New Orleans before doing the same to MU and VT.

A college coach moving to different jobs? No way!

[NCMUFan]

Buzz's Marquette teams were a lot of fun to watch.
Always competitive.
When the second generation Big East broke up, Buzz moved on.
We could have done much, much worst.
So much for the past.
Nothing worth dwelling on.

[dgies9156]

Life is too short to worry about a half-baked, dime store hillbilly.

We are Marquette! We’re back! Get used to it!

[MU82]

Like Crean, just another ex that I have forgiven and moved on from.

This.

[bradforster]

A college coach moving to different jobs? No way!

“I‘ll stay as long as they’ll have me.”  Perhaps MU kicked him to the curb.  Either way, I’m glad he’s an hour up the road from me in Texas instead of roaming the sideline at Fiserv.  Let this itinerant man travel wherever he wants to go.

[wadesworld]

“I‘ll stay as long as they’ll have me.”  Perhaps MU kicked him to the curb.  Either way, I’m glad he’s an hour up the road from me in Texas instead of roaming the sideline at Fiserv.  Let this itinerant man travel wherever he wants to go.

Do you really think any college coach ever is going to go to the press and say, “Yeah, I’m shopping around for the highest bidder.” Or, “I can’t stand this job and will take the next open job available.”

Come on. Leadership changed. They “messed with his happy,” and both sides were okay with his leaving.

[WhiteTrash]

That's just the price of being a successful coach at a top 20-30 program. I am not super worried he's going to leave any time soon. I honestly wouldn't begin to worry until MU Leadership changes over because it seems he has a great working relationship with Lovell/Scholl.

We would all be upset if Shaka wasn't a hot name.

[4everwarriors]

Crean sucks

[warriorchick]

February 24, 2012

Twelve years ago today Buzz Williams (@TeamCoachBuzz) dances on the court to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” following #10
@MarquetteMBB rallying from a 15-point deficit to defeat West Virginia (@WVUhoops) 61-60 on February 24, 2012

This dancing was nothing compared to the dancing that was going on in Zilber Hall and the executive offices of The Al when Buzz announced he was leaving.

[pbiflyer]

This dancing was nothing compared to the dancing that was going on in Zilber Hall and the executive offices of The Al when Buzz announced he was leaving.

That's not what I heard, in fact, I have video proof they wanted him to stay:

[Goatherder]

“I‘ll stay as long as they’ll have me.”  Perhaps MU kicked him to the curb.  Either way, I’m glad he’s an hour up the road from me in Texas instead of roaming the sideline at Fiserv.  Let this itinerant man travel wherever he wants to go.

It is more complicated than they wanted him to stay or wanted him to go.  Life always is.  Buzz came in under one administration with one AD and president.  Then the AD who hired him got fired and the president retired.  Their replacements did such a great job that they were both gone after two years.  Reportedly, the relationship between the AD and Buzz was absolutely toxic from the very beginning, communication was limited at best, and he had good reason to think that his time at Marquette was limited.  You will recall that right after the incident pictured above, which was really a pretty minor thing and not intended to insult anybody, the AD was publicly critical of his basketball coach, but had not approached him directly.  That is not exactly the way to make your basketball coach feel supported. 

You can draw whatever conclusions you like, but the fact is that both the president and the AD were pretty much forced out of their jobs.  Fr. Wild graciously agreed to return as president, and Bill Cords made a significant sacrifice to return as AD, and it seems the relationship between Buzz and Cords was not what he had under Cottingham.  Add to this Buzz's view that non-football schools would not be able to compete (Not such a crazy idea and it may yet prove to be accurate.  Recall that lots of people thought the current Big East would not be successful -at least until Villanova won it all) and the decision to leave does not seem so crazy.  From there he took on a less than coveted job at Virginia Tech.  Reportedly he wanted to land somewhere more stable, like Auburn, but did not get hired.  Va Tech has had sporadic success over the years.  Seth Greenberg, who is a pretty good coach, could not get it to work there. Buzz got them to the NCAA tournament for the first time in a long time.  No surprise he went on to a better situation at TAMU.  He has not been as successful as might be expected in a pretty tough SEC.  I would not give up on him yet.  In the meantime, consider that this is the guy who lead Marquette to an Elite Eight, three straight Sweet Sixteens, and its first ever BE title.  Does not seem to me that he owes Marquette much of an apology.

[JWags85]

This was probably supposed to be the year they were a top-15 type team, too.

A ton of minutes returned from last year and a lot of upperclassmen on the roster.

Some misses in recruiting.  Manny  Obaseki was A&M’s highest ever ranked recruit and he’s been middling. 

His recruiting hasn’t been great there.  Very curious what happens there.  And Sultan makes a good point, state of Texas has some good coaches within its borders.  Tough recruiting scene

I think thats the most surprising thing.  It was tracking like he did at VT.  Year 3 is good not great ( First NCAA appearance in a decade at VT, NIT Runner Up at TAMU).  Year 4 shows a ton of promise (Beat Duke and UVA late in the year at VT, made another NCAA this time as a top 8 seed).  Then Year 5 it shows results.  But his team this year is just bad.  The Non-Con losses to UVA, Memphis, and FAU haven't aged well and they really only have one opportunity for a "good" win left this week against South Carolina, who has been stumbling themselves.

[The Lens]

Crean sucks

Buzz is the 2nd best coach since Al.

Shaka is entering the conversation.

[rgoode57]

I really enjoy seeing Buzz lose since he left MU.

[frozena pizza]

With everything that’s happened to the program since then, it’s hard to believe this was only 12 years ago.  Feels like a distant memory.

I do remember this as a “Buzz being Buzz” type of game — multiple players suspended for the first half in an act of self-righteousness and somehow managing to pull a win out of his a$$.  IMO, this was also one of the games that cemented Crowder as a legit BE POY candidate.

Regardless of anyone’s feelings toward Buzz, him dancing on WV’s court after this win is a classic moment in MU fandom.

I still think of that game every time I hear Country Roads.  I loved that team and that was a great moment.  Say what you want about Buzz and how he left but until we get deeper in the tournament than he did (which would mean a FF) I'm not going to hate the guy.

[pbiflyer]

I still think of that game every time I hear Country Roads.  I loved that team and that was a great moment.  Say what you want about Buzz and how he left but until we get deeper in the tournament than he did (which would mean a FF) I'm not going to hate the guy.

We were at the MU WVU thanksgiving game in Charleston when Tyler started singing it during the foul shot. He became my favorite player right then.

[Lennys Tap]

It is more complicated than they wanted him to stay or wanted him to go.  Life always is.  Buzz came in under one administration with one AD and president.  Then the AD who hired him got fired and the president retired.  Their replacements did such a great job that they were both gone after two years.  Reportedly, the relationship between the AD and Buzz was absolutely toxic from the very beginning, communication was limited at best, and he had good reason to think that his time at Marquette was limited.  You will recall that right after the incident pictured above, which was really a pretty minor thing and not intended to insult anybody, the AD was publicly critical of his basketball coach, but had not approached him directly.  That is not exactly the way to make your basketball coach feel supported. 

You can draw whatever conclusions you like, but the fact is that both the president and the AD were pretty much forced out of their jobs.  Fr. Wild graciously agreed to return as president, and Bill Cords made a significant sacrifice to return as AD, and it seems the relationship between Buzz and Cords was not what he had under Cottingham.  Add to this Buzz's view that non-football schools would not be able to compete (Not such a crazy idea and it may yet prove to be accurate.  Recall that lots of people thought the current Big East would not be successful -at least until Villanova won it all) and the decision to leave does not seem so crazy.  From there he took on a less than coveted job at Virginia Tech.  Reportedly he wanted to land somewhere more stable, like Auburn, but did not get hired.  Va Tech has had sporadic success over the years.  Seth Greenberg, who is a pretty good coach, could not get it to work there. Buzz got them to the NCAA tournament for the first time in a long time.  No surprise he went on to a better situation at TAMU.  He has not been as successful as might be expected in a pretty tough SEC.  I would not give up on him yet.  In the meantime, consider that this is the guy who lead Marquette to an Elite Eight, three straight Sweet Sixteens, and its first ever BE title.  Does not seem to me that he owes Marquette much of an apology.

Goatherder
Excellent recap. Marquette was good for Buzz and Buzz was good for Marquette. Anyone without an agenda would agree.

[NickelDimer]

I missed Buzz during the mess that was Wojo. Fortunately those days are long gone now.

[MU82]

I appreciate the many  accomplishments Marquette had under Buzz.

I also appreciate the many accomplishments Marquette had under Crean.

Both were net positives for the basketball program.

Both are now ancient history.

Come March 13, it will have been exactly a decade since Buzz coached a game at Marquette.

Long gone. And the other guy’s even longer gone.

As our current coach preaches, ya gotta live in the present.

[Galway Eagle]

Goatherder
Excellent recap. Marquette was good for Buzz and Buzz was good for Marquette. Anyone without an agenda would agree.

I think 2 young ladies who had their lives changed in 2010-11 might disagree with your take that "buzz was good for Marquette"

His court success speaks for itself and brought MU back to the top tier but minor recruiting violations, brawl at 720 w/underage drinking, qdoba fight, constant transfers, and the cherry on top that was the Chicago tribune article detailing the SA are not separate from buzz which gave us a crappy rep. In fact I'd argue that the constant headache that was buzz's program is what directly lead to Wojo and the comfort of a clean program over winning. which was pretty inarguably not good for Marquette. Thus buzz pushed too far and the lingering effect of him caused a major drop off after all his success.

Edit: forgot to add attempting to get recruits in like a guy who set a classmates hair on fire and an addict. (Harris and Noskowiak)

[Uncle Rico]

Flush him.  It’s 2024