Question for PRN and Other Like Minded Critics

[Tugg Speedman]

Buzz is the coach.  That is not going to change.  Whining that the BOT made of Trustees made a "gold" decision is a waste of time (btw, count me as one of the three or four people on this planet outside of the bot that liked "gold").  So, arguing for getting rid of Buzz is not an option.

Your now an advisor to Cottingham and Buzz.  What say you?

I'll start.  Take Hurley's criticsm that you're inexperiecned to heart, until next season is over, you are inexperienced and it will hurt on the recruiting trail.  This is fact.

Assemble a VERY strong group of assistant coaches.  If you can get a former D1 HC, do it.  This is the only way you can counter-act this criticism.  MU is believed to have money to spend.  Spend it on assistants.

[Niv Berkowitz]

You are right. This is what MU will have to do. BUT....considering the reasons Cottingham gave for hiring Buzz, it's reasonable to expect people to continue to voice their displeasure.

For Christ sake, he said "continuity" were one of the main reasons for hirinig the guy. That may be true from a one-season, short-term perspective given who's returning, but to then see MU lose it's best recruits for next season is just hard to watch, considering many of us said "told you so".

Now, it's wayyyyyyy to early to be able to offically say that (told you so), but it continues to leave a terrible taste in some people's mouths (mine included).

Buzz is under enormous pressure to win this year. The problem is...even if he does win, like Crean, how much credit will go to Buzz? Won't credit be given to the leadership of the three seniors instead of Buzz? Similar to Wade getting all the credit for the Final Four run instead of Crean? These are the reasons people are skeptical and frightened that this program will be in the toilet in 2009/2010 and it will be hard to get out of it.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Buzz is the coach.  That is not going to change.  Whining that the BOT made of Trustees made a "gold" decision is a waste of time (btw, count me as one of the three or four people on this planet outside of the bot that liked "gold").  So, arguing for getting rid of Buzz is not an option.

Your now an advisor to Cottingham and Buzz.  What say you?

I'll start.  Take Hurley's criticsm that you're inexperiecned to heart, until next season is over, you are inexperienced and it will hurt on the recruiting trail.  This is fact.

Assemble a VERY strong group of assistant coaches.  If you can get a former D1 HC, do it.  This is the only way you can counter-act this criticism.  MU is believed to have money to spend.  Spend it on assistants.

Honestly, I think that is a very good question because I find this situation to be increasingly unsalvagable. As I've said, by hiring a green coach, we've basically given the finger to next year's departing seniors. If we don't SIGN a huge class next year, I wouldn't be opposed to cutting bait. I'm serious.

I have a very difficult time believing that Cottingham was behind this hire. I think there are people pulling strings and he was forced to accept something he didn't completely support. That's what I keep telling myself.

I guess I'd tell Cottingham to sit Williams down. Tell him to forget about Taylor and start putting a staff together. And I'd tell him all assistants need approval from the athletic department. I'd go so far as to require at least one former MU player (Wardle would be ideal) and somebody with some significant experience.

I'd also want to set expectations for signees. One JUCO a year seems plenty to me. If I'm Cottingham, I don't want Marquette University's basketball program to turn into the 1990's Cincinnati Bearcats that's for damn sure.

The whole thing is going to be interesting to watch. Unfortunately, I think it's going to be interesting in a bad way. 

Speaking of Wardle, I would have been less upset if they'd hired him. Slightly less coaching experience, but more familiarity with MU, big time NCAA basketball and the Midwest. Think about it. Would Wardle be more qualified if he had spent 4 years as an assistant coach with Texas-Arlington?

[Hards Alumni]

well said... well except for the Wardle bit, but I understand the idea.

[downtown85]

the fish rots from the head...

basically, we had a green AD, who is a lawyer and has questionable skills to run a major multi-million dollar a year business that is the MU athletics department.  How can anyone expect him to have a "vision" of building the athletics department and our most important sport, men's basketball?  The question is, who made the decision to hire Cottingham?

i think the ball was dropped a long time ago.  if i remember correctly, Cord's retirement didn't exactly take everyone by surprise.  We could have been identifying and interviewing candidates BEFORE he left not afterwards.  Then after he left, there was more than 1 year before Cottingham was made permanent.  Again, he was supposed to be conducting a search for an AD who could continue to build on our current success, not only in basketball (although that is the most important) but other sports as well.  Can anyone seriously imagine that there was not one qualified candidate in the whole country who would want the job of MU's AD?  I would imagine that a proper search conducted by a proper search firm would have found more than 5 very well qualified candidates over the 1 year period the search was going on.  Basically, the AD search was a major screw up and we know it.

The question is who screwed up?  You find the answer in who does the AD report to?  I believe it is Fr. Wild.  Also, who did Wild delegate the AD search task to?  Again, it was a fiasco but who is to blame?  It's Wild for delegating and Cottingham for screwing it up.

Now you have a green lawyer/AD caught like a deer in the headlights by the "MU-family oriented" Crean leaving in the middle of the night.  Cottingham was and is way, way, over his head.  I do not think you correct the coaching problem without correcting the AD problem.  So the bottom line is that Buzz talked his way into a job where he has no business even applying for.  He probably used his sales skills and subtle pressure on a guy who's cosy AD job suddenly had gotten very hot.  The AD now thinks this was great and is running advertisements in the newspaper.  Give me a break.  BTW, i bet if Tyshawn Taylor saw the add, he would've changed his mind.   

[ChicosBailBonds]

Yup....all we can do is give him a chance and see what happens but the guy has to sign a killer class.  I think the leash is short as well.  Dukiet got three years....sounds about right.  And if Buzz isn't successful (I pray he is) then I'd start first by saying to Cottingham, thanks for your service...Fran's waiting for you at a bar for a drink to discuss your next options.

Then you bring in an AD that has done this for 15+ years, let him/her make the decision on the coach (an easy decision) and you go from there.

But that's all down the road hopefully to never happen.