Steve Czaben weighs in on Crean, Buzz and MU fans

[ChicosBailBonds]

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/czabe040908.html?14852

[79Warrior]

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/czabe040908.html?14852

Well written article. He is right on.

[Nukem2]

Czaben along with many just does not get it.  MU fans are upset how TC left and not that he left as most of us figured it would happen some day (MSU, not IU ).  He left his players high and dry and essentially mistreated them in the process.  Usuaually, in a high profile hiring, there are rumors and time passes etc etc.  Look at Roy Williams, Bill Self(twice now), etc.  TC left if the dark of the night.  I wish TC well and appreciate his efforts and results here at MU.  But, there will always be a bad taste aboput how it went down.

[MUWarrior06]

Czaben along with many just does not get it.  MU fans are upset how TC left and not that he left as most of us figured it would happen some day (MSU, not IU ).  He left his players high and dry and essentially mistreated them in the process.  Usuaually, in a high profile hiring, there are rumors and time passes etc etc.  Look at Roy Williams, Bill Self(twice now), etc.  TC left if the dark of the night.  I wish TC well and appreciate his efforts and results here at MU.  But, there will always be a bad taste aboput how it went down.

Czabe also chimed in today or yesterday or something about leaving his players "high and dry." By the response "Oh his players had to find out through the media."

Okay... what is Crean supposed to do, call up his players and say "Hey guys I'm going to interview for a job I might not take, just so you know." Or, "Hey IU, can you wait to announce this until I get back to WI and tell my players"? Please.

Czabe hit this right on the head. Coaches leave, that's what they do. Quit whining about how or when he did it. How else is he supposed to handle it. I think he did well. I applaude Czabe for a great article

[MUsoxfan]

Czaben along with many just does not get it.  MU fans are upset how TC left and not that he left as most of us figured it would happen some day (MSU, not IU ).  He left his players high and dry and essentially mistreated them in the process.  Usuaually, in a high profile hiring, there are rumors and time passes etc etc.  Look at Roy Williams, Bill Self(twice now), etc.  TC left if the dark of the night.  I wish TC well and appreciate his efforts and results here at MU.  But, there will always be a bad taste aboput how it went down.

Czabe also chimed in today or yesterday or something about leaving his players "high and dry." By the response "Oh his players had to find out through the media."

Okay... what is Crean supposed to do, call up his players and say "Hey guys I'm going to interview for a job I might not take, just so you know." Or, "Hey IU, can you wait to announce this until I get back to WI and tell my players"? Please.

Czabe hit this right on the head. Coaches leave, that's what they do. Quit whining about how or when he did it. How else is he supposed to handle it. I think he did well. I applaude Czabe for a great article

Seems like everyone in Crean's inner-circle knew other than anybody wearing MU Gold.   Izzo knew days beforehand.  If I'm TC, I fax over the contract and then immediately pick up the phone and start letting the most important people know.   Instead he had ESPN do his job for him.    As of now, I don't believe a word he's ever said and I will never believe any future word he'll ever speak.   He's a greedy scumbag.  He and IU deserve each other and I wish him the worst. 

[MUCrew]

Okay... what is Crean supposed to do, call up his players and say "Hey guys I'm going to interview for a job I might not take, just so you know." Or, "Hey IU, can you wait to announce this until I get back to WI and tell my players"?

Not necessarily like that, but yeah...that's what you SHOULD do.  You treat your players with respect and not like a stepping stone.  You say you love them, but you go and do something that negates everything you tell them.  Like I always say, to get respect you must give it. 

[MU06CU10]

Okay... what is Crean supposed to do, call up his players and say "Hey guys I'm going to interview for a job I might not take, just so you know." Or, "Hey IU, can you wait to announce this until I get back to WI and tell my players"? Please.

You're implying that Crean was actually in Indiana or far away when this all went down. He wasn't!

Like MUsoxfan said, all he had to do was tell them once the final contract fax went through, that nobody better say a word until AFTER he has told his players and informed Fr. Wild, etc. It's really not that hard. Coaches that actually care about their current players do it all the time -- I don't get why it's that difficult to understand.

NOBODY has suggested that he should have told anyone BEFORE he took the job. It would have been nice had Indiana gone through the correct channels, but when the coach is the one initiating the contact, I guess the courtesy permission call is an afterthought. Blah.

[bilsu]

I have wondered what really went down here. Did Crean not give MU a chance to counter offer? Was he using the Indiana job to get a raise and MU said no. The part of him just up and taking the job on such short notice seems odd to me. He must have really wanted out of Marquette or the administration was willing to let him go. We as fans wanted better results out of him, I do not think that it is hard to imagine that Fr. Wild did also. If Mkabee and others were already transferring, I cannot believe that would set well with Fr. Wild. It could be the new athletic director screwed up the whole situation, but my gut feeling is that both sides Crean and Wild felt a change would be good. The hiring of Buzz is a different situation, which will either turn into a disaster in two years or become something realy good if he can raise the recruiting level. I am not convinced that Crean was that good of a coach so I am not worrying about a drop off in that area. Crean was hard working and good at promoting the program. He was a good coach until March, when he would turn the team conservative (play not to lose instead of playing to win). We lost to Stanford, because he turn it into a half court game (the conservative way) instead of a full court pressure game. Texas took the game to Stanford and blew them out.

[jaybilaswho?]

Crean should have had IU wait to declare anything until he had the chance to close all his doors here. He did not have to take it and immediately move to bloomington. You sold this program to those players. For him just to up and go, pretty much leaving them high and dry, shoes to those students, "this place isnt good enough for me, your not good enough for me".

Its been said about 700,000 times so far but the fact is he could have handled things much better than he did.

[Nukem2]

Amen.  but time to move on.

[Sixty]

Where can I get my "In Buzz we trust" shirt?

[MUinCO]

You know, the more I think about it based on what we know of Crean's personality I took this as a seize the opportunity type decision on his part. 

I don't believe he was ever interested in a raise at MU or a counter offer to IU…The shelf life on TCs "hot young coach" moniker was about to spoil if he stayed at MU with a another couple of years of mediocre success (good conference play…poor tourney play).  I can see him thinking...'I can survive, maybe, 2-3 years more at MU with 1st and 2nd round outs in the tourney…then my stock takes a serious dive and eventually I'm on the hot seat in short order…because really…who's going to keep paying me $1.6M for these results?  Meanwhile, I can go to IU…make a lot more money, get at a minimum a 2-3 year "rebuilding pass" because the program is in shambles, put together a #4 caliber BE team that will likely dominate the Big 10 and be a hero for the next 10+ years.'

So I don't blame him for taking the IU job…it was a risk worth taking and I think in his situation I would have done the same…though I probably would have given "notice" and gone out the right way…with a little fan fair and a parade out of town.  It's a shame he let his arrogance get in the way of a proper good bye and forever damaged his legacy at Marquette.

[MUWarrior06]

You know, the more I think about it based on what we know of Crean's personality I took this as a seize the opportunity type decision on his part. 

I don't believe he was ever interested in a raise at MU or a counter offer to IU…The shelf life on TCs "hot young coach" moniker was about to spoil if he stayed at MU with a another couple of years of mediocre success (good conference play…poor tourney play).  I can see him thinking...'I can survive, maybe, 2-3 years more at MU with 1st and 2nd round outs in the tourney…then my stock takes a serious dive and eventually I'm on the hot seat in short order…because really…who's going to keep paying me $1.6M for these results?  Meanwhile, I can go to IU…make a lot more money, get at a minimum a 2-3 year "rebuilding pass" because the program is in shambles, put together a #4 caliber BE team that will likely dominate the Big 10 and be a hero for the next 10+ years.'

So I don't blame him for taking the IU job…it was a risk worth taking and I think in his situation I would have done the same…though I probably would have given "notice" and gone out the right way…with a little fan fair and a parade out of town.  It's a shame he let his arrogance get in the way of a proper good bye and forever damaged his legacy at Marquette.

He left more money at MU. He was one of the top 5 paid coaches in the country I think


The rest is a great analysis

[MUinCO]

He left more money at MU. He was one of the top 5 paid coaches in the country I think

The rest is a great analysis

I agree, but money couldn't have been the ONLY factor in this decision.  If someone were to pay me $2.3M to shovel sh!t for a living...wait, nevermind, where's my shovel?