Press Conference Questions!

[mu_hilltopper]

The 2pm press conference is open to the public.  I can't make it.

PLEASE.  Students, alumni .. someone.  ASK SOME TOUGH QUESTIONS.

Forget Buzz.  He's our coach now.  Ask questions of Cottingham and/or Fr. Wild.

1. A huge chunk of MU BBall fans are unhappy with this hire.  Who else was interviewed? 

2. Did they turn the job down?   

3. Are the fans over-estimating the stature of the MU Basketball program, or is the administration under-estimating it?

4. You do know we left Conference USA, right?

Add your own below!

[Henry Sugar]

1.  What decision criteria did you use to make this choice, and how were those decision criteria weighted?

[NavinRJohnson]

1.  What decision criteria did you use to make this choice, and how were those decision criteria weighted?

This is ultimately what I am hoping to have answered.

The question I have yet to get an answer to that I have been asking for the better part of 3-4 days, is what in Buzz Williams experience/resume makes him qualified for this job?

[CTWarrior]

"He blew us away in the interview.  He has the strong work ethic... yada yada yada"

That's the answer you're going to get, because there isn't much in his resume to suggest he can handle this job.  I like enthusiastic, hard working coaches, though and I think this guy may do well at MU.  I do not think, however, that if he does do well he will hang around at Marquette if Illinois or Missouri or somebody like that comes calling.

[Henry Sugar]

What kind of offense do you run?  What kind of defense do you prefer?  How do you approach player development?

[pittisit98]

You've got no guarantee that anyone is going to stay long anywhere anymore.  Look at Bill Self.  He won the National Championship last nite, and today he's hinting he'll "listen" to OSU.  

(in other words.....CHACHING!!! BREAK OUT THE CHECKBOOK, KANSAS)

[ATWizJr]

this is not the time to ask questions that appear to be insulting or demeaning.  A time and place for everything.

[mu_hilltopper]

When is that time, then?

This isn't the time to ask  questions about basketball .. anyone can ask and get those answers at any time.  

This is to ask about the process, and how we ended up where we are today, and what the Administration has to say for themselves, and what they have to say to all the fans who are PISSED OFF about this situation.

[NavinRJohnson]

I do not think, however, that if he does do well he will hang around at Marquette if Illinois or Missouri or somebody like that comes calling.

This may be my biggest concern...the fact that until last summer he had never spent any time outside of the West/SouthWest - primarily Texas. If he does well for a couple years, does anyone honestly believe he won't take the first Texas/Big 12 job that becomes available to him?

What sort of recruiting track record does he have in the great lakes region? None I am aware of. He has shown he can get players out of Texas, but that alone onviously isn't going to get it done. So while Crean never got squat out of  Michigan while he was here as we had all hoped he would, he at least had inroads to Illinois and Indiana as well as Wisconsin. This in my opinion is the biggest challenge Buzz faces, and keeping him here if he does well is the biggest challenge MU faces.

[MURFC]

I am interested to know what type of buyout will be built into this contract.  Since Marquette has leverage on Buzz, I would hope that the barriers to exiting Marquette (if he does well) will be made higher than they were with Crean's contract. 

Obviously, it will be difficult to get contract specifics, but possibly someone can phrase a question such as:  "What has the administration done to ensure we maintain our new coach for the duration of his contract?  Have more significant exit clauses been put in place than what existed with Coach Crean?"

[ATWizJr]

'topper,

it would be rude and unjustifiably pessimistic and an insult during the introduction of the new coach to ask who else was interviewed, why did they turn us down, are we a second rate program, etc.  Let's not rain on MU's parade.  Let's vow to support the new coach and judge him by how the prograrm does.

The right time to ask these, and in a less abrasive form, is not now.

[Marquette_g]

NRJ,

You are aware of the number of extremely large metropolitan areas in the state of Texas rich with basketball talent.  

From an earlier CrackedSidewalks article during the O'Tule recruitment:
One very important thing to digest is the fact that Greater Houston set a national record in 2006 with the most seniors from a single city (43) to pledge / sign with D1 schools. Not New York, not LA, or any other city have exceeded that number. Last season we had (38) to ink with D1 colleges totalling (81) during a two year span. Therefore, if those players were lined up along a wall, #43 would still be a Division One player. In an effort to allow those stats a chance to soak in, think of how many D1 signees were from your state within the past season.

In order to be successful we need to get 3 good players a year regardless of what state their high school is in.  I'm fine with Texas recruits  - If we can get them.

 

[StillAWarrior]

This may be my biggest concern...  If he does well for a couple years, does anyone honestly believe he won't take the first Texas/Big 12 job that becomes available to him?

I really, really hope that this becomes a problem for us.  If he does well, all the hand-wringing about his hire will be moot.  We all want him to do well.  If he does, we'll deal with the natural consequences of success.  Those are the problems I'd like to have.  Sure, it got annoying to worry about Crean leaving every single time there was a good opening, but that always was a measure of the program's performance.  When we stop worrying about other schools poaching our coach -- that's when we know we have a problem.

Buzz isn't the hire that I hoped for, but I'm behind him 100%  He's the head basketball coach at Marquette University.  By virtue of that title, he's got my support.  I hope that people asking questions at the presser will offer him the same support and respect.  I'm a Marquette fan, and he's our coach.  In my mind, that entitles him to some respect (and a grace period).  Others obviously disagree, but I hope they'll support Buzz because he's the coach of our team.  We can (and will) revisit the topic next April.

Go Marquette!

[Henry Sugar]

Your recruiting strength has been connections in Texas, even when you came to Marquette.  How are you going to establish local connections to recruit Wisconsin and Illinois players?

[Marquette_g]

Who cares about Illinois and Wisconsin players if, and this is a big if, we can get talent from Texas and elsewhere.  I don't get the fixation on saying our players are local.

If we believe we are a national program, which is one of the dominant themes of whey Buzz was the wrong choice (a thought I agree with), then why do we care where we get players from.  I highly doubt Kansas and Memphis got to the title game yesterday by concerning themselves what players came from the states of Kansas and Tennessee. 

It just seem contradictory to worry about whether we can get instate talent in one breathe, and then say that we are a national program who needs a high-profile coach in the other.

[StillAWarrior]

I am interested to know what type of buyout will be built into this contract.  Since Marquette has leverage on Buzz, I would hope that the barriers to exiting Marquette (if he does well) will be made higher than they were with Crean's contract.

One thing to keep in mind regarding the contract of a new coach like Buzz is that Marquette also probably wants some flexibility to get out of the deal.  Sure, we have some leverage, but we gave him a six year deal.  So, I'm sure that there is some sort of buyout if Buzz wants out of the deal.  On the other hand, there probably is some sort of buyout in case three years from now, Marquette decides it made a mistake in hiring Buzz.  Frankly, on a "first" contract with a new coach (as opposed to a re-tooling for an existing coach), I'd be willing to risk losing him to another school without too much of a buyout in exchange for a reasonable buyout from our end in case things don't work out.

But, I don't want to think about that now.  I want to think about winning basketball games.  I hope this works out and we have reason to renegotiate in three years and the need to protect ourselves from all those schools that want Buzz.

Go Marquette!

[mugrad99]

Just need to hire some decent assistants who know Chicago.

And by the way, the ex-coach landed one recruit from Indiana, and many on this board were ready to show that recruit the door  

[nyg]

Buzz,

     "Have you identified your staff yet?"
     "In view of the fact you are the Head Coach and now have overall program responsibilities which will require you to be around your team and the university, which staff member will be you primary recruiter?  Who will be the assistants to hit the streets?

[BuzzSucksSucks]

"Was Tom Crean consulted in this hire?"

[NavinRJohnson]

Who cares about Illinois and Wisconsin players if, and this is a big if, we can get talent from Texas and elsewhere.  I don't get the fixation on saying our players are local.

If we believe we are a national program, which is one of the dominant themes of whey Buzz was the wrong choice (a thought I agree with), then why do we care where we get players from.  I highly doubt Kansas and Memphis got to the title game yesterday by concerning themselves what players came from the states of Kansas and Tennessee. 

First of all, as this hire clearly demonstrates, MU is not Kansas or Memphis. The problem with a school like MU having Texas as its primary recruiting market is where MU ranks on the list. Of course there is a lot of talent there, but once you get past Texas, A&M, Oklahoma, OSU, etc. along with the true national powers (UCLA, UNC, Kansas, etc.), what does that leave? If Buzz is not able to make serious Inside out in-roads, and quick, we are going to be in trouble. For MU to succeed, getting players from WI, IL, OH, IN is an absolute must. Not saying it can't be done, just saying that's the way it is.

[Captain Suizo]

The 2pm press conference is open to the public.  I can't make it.

PLEASE.  Students, alumni .. someone.  ASK SOME TOUGH QUESTIONS.

Forget Buzz.  He's our coach now.  Ask questions of Cottingham and/or Fr. Wild.

1. A huge chunk of MU BBall fans are unhappy with this hire.  Who else was interviewed? 

2. Did they turn the job down?   

3. Are the fans over-estimating the stature of the MU Basketball program, or is the administration under-estimating it?

4. You do know we left Conference USA, right?

Add your own below!

You may be upset with the answers.  Yes, we reached out to others.  Yes, we were turned down.  Yes, you are in the Big East but have overachieved.  Yes, I would rather pull up a similar sized program than risk pulling down a program that has done well.  If winning in the Big East was easy, The Orange would not have such a problem.  Great history, great recruits, hall of fame coach.  Buzz is going to have to work just like any other coach we get.
 

[StillAWarrior]

The problem with a school like MU having Texas as its primary recruiting market is where MU ranks on the list. Of course there is a lot of talent there, but once you get past Texas, A&M, Oklahoma, OSU, etc. along with the true national powers (UCLA, UNC, Kansas, etc.), what does that leave? If Buzz is not able to make serious Inside out in-roads, and quick, we are going to be in trouble. For MU to succeed, getting players from WI, IL, OH, IN is an absolute must. Not saying it can't be done, just saying that's the way it is.

I agree completely.  Honestly, I think the importance of in-state and regional recruiting for a program like Marquette's cannot possibly be over-stated.  Marquette needs to at least hold its own for Wisconsin kids.  Then, it must be very competitive in Illinois (especially Chicago), Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.  If we recruit well in these areas, the occasional kid from Texas, Alabama or New York are gravy that will hopefully put us over the top.  But, if we're going to try to rely on kids from Texas (or other regions) as our base, then we're going to be in big, big trouble.  The team needs 13 scholarship players.  I suspect that at any given time, we're going to need to rely on approximately 8-10 of those being from the region.  Outside true national powers, most states that do well dominate their state/region in recruiting, and cherry pick elsewhere.  I'm sure someone can educate me if there are any programs out there who are successful via a recruiting pipeline to another part of the country.

[NavinRJohnson]

If winning in the Big East was easy, The Orange would not have such a problem.  Great history, great recruits, hall of fame coach.  

Interesting example. They won the national title just 5 years ago. Since then have been hurt by injuries and the NBA, and have had one losing BE season - a year in which the just happened to win the Big East Tournament,, and will likley enter next season as the favorites to win the Big East. Not sure I would say they've had a problem. What is your point?