All The Negativity...

[Ahoya06]

I know we're a little underwhelmed, and maybe slightly disappointed that there was no big name "home run" hire, but why is everybody being SOOOOO negative right now? All things considered, we could have done a lot worse.

If everything that's been speculated here and elsewhere is true, then we contacted Miller, Bennett, Grant, et al, and they were just flat out not interested. I'm not sure what happened with Lowery, Brownell, or Drew, but I'd hedge that the same thing happened there too.

That said, when you boil it down, when the alternative is Brian Gregory or someone else of that caliber, what's the problem with Williams? He's already got a year with this program under his belt, he's a proven recruiter, has a rapport with the team, and will be great for continuity, and if nothing else, certainly deserves our support out of the gates to at least see what he can do.

Just my $.02 here, but I think we need to rally behind Coach Williams as he tries to get this thing back on track.

[Marquette_TEE]

Baa humbug!

[Marquette_TEE]

I'm kidding.  I agree.  It is just a sense that we think we're a bigger name program than we really are.  We thought we'd get a more recognizable name.

We have to come down to earth.  We're a 2nd tier program at best.  And I think I'll cut him some slack.  If he can recruit some studs, I'm excited.

Come to think of it, I don't think anyone jumped out of our shoes when TC was announced.  At least I didn't...

At least they didn't rehire Mike Deane.

[Ahoya06]

I remember the Tom Crean hire, and myself thinking "Who?"

And I do agree that this shows that we may not be as prominent a destination as we thought, at least in the eyes of other coaches. I certainly thought we were capable of drawing interest from bigger names, but that didn't seem to be the case.

[Chili]

I remember the Tom Crean hire, and myself thinking "Who?"

And I do agree that this shows that we may not be as prominent a destination as we thought, at least in the eyes of other coaches. I certainly thought we were capable of drawing interest from bigger names, but that didn't seem to be the case.

Crean was also hired in CUSA after Deane - not minus millions of fucking dollars. This is typical Milwaukee group think!!!!!!!!!!!!

[unionssuck]

This is worse than 2nd tier.  2nd tier would be hiring a mid major HC or a seasoned major asst coach again.

This looks to me like a 3rd or 4th tier hire.  I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

[Ahoya06]

This is worse than 2nd tier.  2nd tier would be hiring a mid major HC or a seasoned major asst coach again.

This looks to me like a 3rd or 4th tier hire.  I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

This is promotion from within, with a guy who's got a relationship with our existing players. Like I said earlier, Buzz very well could have been a candidate for other HEAD coaching vacancies (I've heard A&M, if it opened up through the Bill Self dominoes), so he was definitely on some people's radar screens.

Would I have taken Buzz over Sean Miller? No way.

Buzz over a Brian Gregory type or an outside assistant? Abso-frackin-lutely. Let's wait and see what he can do before we call him the next Bob Dukiet.

[Chili]

This is worse than 2nd tier.  2nd tier would be hiring a mid major HC or a seasoned major asst coach again.

This looks to me like a 3rd or 4th tier hire.  I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

This is promotion from within, with a guy who's got a relationship with our existing players. Like I said earlier, Buzz very well could have been a candidate for other HEAD coaching vacancies (I've heard A&M, if it opened up through the Bill Self dominoes), so he was definitely on some people's radar screens.

Would I have taken Buzz over Sean Miller? No way.

Buzz over a Brian Gregory type or an outside assistant? Abso-frackin-lutely. Let's wait and see what he can do before we call him the next Bob Dukiet.

Chris Lowery would be a 100% improvement over Buzz. Sorry, BAD FUCKING HIRE!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ahoya06]

Chris Lowery would be a 100% improvement over Buzz. Sorry, BAD frackING HIRE!!!!!!!!!!!

And we supposedly contacted Chris Lowery, if what was reported was true.

[Marquette_TEE]

I really hope we get the low down on who was contacted...I hope they don't try to cover it up like they did the infamous name change...

[Pakuni]

Chris Lowery would be a 100% improvement over Buzz. Sorry, BAD frackING HIRE!!!!!!!!!!!

And you know this how, exactly?
Hiring Buzz Williams is not without its risks. But unless you're sitting besides a crystal ball, get serious. You have no idea of what Buzz brings to the table as a coach, and neither do I. But I do know that the people he's worked for, i.e. Crean and Gillespie, have nothing but praise for not only his recruiting ability, but his coaching acumen.

Let's see how things work out before declaring who would be the better hire. This time nine years ago, people were on the old Ahoya board angrily denouncing Tom Crean's hiring and saying MU should have gone after Steve Alford or Quin Snyder. Oops.

[Ahoya06]

Chris Lowery would be a 100% improvement over Buzz. Sorry, BAD frackING HIRE!!!!!!!!!!!

And you know this how, exactly?
Hiring Buzz Williams is not without its risks. But unless you're sitting besides a crystal ball, get serious. You have no idea of what Buzz brings to the table as a coach, and neither do I. But I do know that the people he's worked for, i.e. Vrean and Gillespie, have nothing but praise for not only his recruiting ability, but his coaching acumen.

Let's see how things work out before declaring who woul be the better hire. This time nine years ago, people were on the old Ahoya board angrily denouncing Tom Crean's hiring and saying MU should have gone after Steve Alford or Quin Snyder. Oops.

Exactly. I'm not saying follow blindly, but rather, let's give the guy a chance, rather than knocking him 2 hours into his career.

[Chili]

Chris Lowery would be a 100% improvement over Buzz. Sorry, BAD frackING HIRE!!!!!!!!!!!

And you know this how, exactly?
Hiring Buzz Williams is not without its risks. But unless you're sitting besides a crystal ball, get serious. You have no idea of what Buzz brings to the table as a coach, and neither do I. But I do know that the people he's worked for, i.e. Vrean and Gillespie, have nothing but praise for not only his recruiting ability, but his coaching acumen.

Let's see how things work out before declaring who woul be the better hire. This time nine years ago, people were on the old Ahoya board angrily denouncing Tom Crean's hiring and saying MU should have gone after Steve Alford or Quin Snyder. Oops.

Call me Nostradamus.

[77fan88warrior]

I'm excited about a coach who has a strong chance of keeping current players and future players that he recruited. I would much rather have Buzz than some guy who is going to lose 2 classes of players. MU would not have hired Buzz unless they thought the greater good of this hiring outweighed the bad. The only really bad hire in the last 20 years was Bob Dukiet. Majerus wasn't great but he didn't have enough time and was in a bad era of player problems. I am much happier with BUzz than some assistant who never recruited for MU. I would rather see a recruiter who has recruited for a major basketball program than a small division 1 school that doesn't go to the tourney. 

Good Luck Buzz!

[downtown85]

The truth is we did not have time to go down very far on the list.  Crean left only a week ago. Look how long it took indiana to fill their position.  Sampson left in february.  Interviewing takes time and we didn't give enough time.  We didn't send anyone down to San Antonio to the final four. All the potential hires were there, formal or informal contacts could have been made.  I think the whole process was botched.  Amateur hour!