Tom Crean is neither a topnotch recruiter nor coach

[MU Avenue]

When Coach Crean was hired, we read or heard so many stories about his being among the nation's elite recruiters. Over the past nine years, I have seen spotty evidence of that -- especially if the players being recruited were big men.

Throughout Crean's time at Marquette, his teams lacked a discernible offensive plan or strategy, other than to pass the ball aimlessly until little time remained on the shot clock and then have whomever had the ball toss up a shot from wherever he happened to be.

Thus, it was not unusual for Marquette to fall behind by a dozen points or more early in games and then trail until making a late surge that often involved a barrage of low-percentage jumpers or a panoply of crazy, spinning, off-balance shots.

There was also that lack of motivation that often resulted in Marquette's playing to the level of its competition -- or worse. Think back: In too many games, MU found itself having to play panicky, catch-up basketball, often against teams that it should have controlled easily or even dominated.

Crean seems like an OK guy who landed a plum coaching job at Marquette. He received total and seemingly unconditional support from the university and most fans. I hope he knows that he would have felt much, much more heat at many other schools.

I am glad Crean got what he apparently wanted: to leave Marquette and get out of Milwaukee. If he succeeds at Indiana, great. If not, so be it.

Crean's departure is not horrible news or a grim development for Marquette. The guy had an OK run at Marquette that got him closer to where he wanted to be all along.

There are many outstanding coaches out there, one of whom will bring consistent, reliable recruiting and coaching acuity to Marquette University.

[MR.HAYWARD]

i rilly cudnt agree more

[79Warrior]

When Coach Crean was hired, we read or heard so many stories about his being among the nation's elite recruiters. Over the past nine years, I have seen spotty evidence of that -- especially if the players being recruited were big men.

Throughout Crean's time at Marquette, his teams lacked a discernible offensive plan or strategy, other than to pass the ball aimlessly until little time remained on the shot clock and then have whomever had the ball toss up a shot from wherever he happened to be.

Thus, it was not unusual for Marquette to fall behind by a dozen points or more early in games and then trail until making a late surge that often involved a barrage of low-percentage jumpers or a panoply of crazy, spinning, off-balance shots.

There was also that lack of motivation that often resulted in Marquette's playing to the level of its competition -- or worse. Think back: In too many games, MU found itself having to play panicky, catch-up basketball, often against teams that it should have controlled easily or even dominated.

Crean seems like an OK guy who landed a plum coaching job at Marquette. He received total and seemingly unconditional support from the university and most fans. I hope he knows that he would have felt much, much more heat at many other schools.

I am glad Crean got what he apparently wanted: to leave Marquette and get out of Milwaukee. If he succeeds at Indiana, great. If not, so be it.

Crean's departure is not horrible news or a grim development for Marquette. The guy had an OK run at Marquette that got him closer to where he wanted to be all along.

There are many outstanding coaches out there, one of whom will bring consistent, reliable recruiting and coaching acuity to Marquette University.

OK run at Marquette? Who had a better run? Al McGuire?  TC had a great run at MU. what stupid comments. If you think recruiting kids to Milwaukee to freeze their asses off in theology class is easy have at it.

[dw3dw3dw3]

Im an optimist so I'm hoping for the best... I agree that Tom Crean wasn't a top 10 recruiter or a top 10 coach, however he was a good coach and a good recruiter. There were many other things he did though which made the atmosphere around games and MU bball in general much more exciting over the past 8-9 years. We are not going to get someone who is great at both recruiting and coaching or if we do, what other values are we giving up? Game atmosphere through PR/marketing efforts, academics, integrity?  Just hoping for the best.