Keno Davis officially hired by Providence

[TGM3]

Joey Meyer spent his life around basketball, too. Ask DePaul how that went.

If Buzz is able to match what Joey Meyer's accomplished at DePaul, (226-153; 7 NCAAs; 6 NCAA wins; 6 straight 20 win seasons; 9 NBA Draft picks) you guys did hit a home run. I'm sure the DePaul fans that complained about Meyer's back in the day would give anything to have that late 80s and early 90s of DePaul basketball taking place now.

[Nukem2]

Davis is a system guy who won with 2 walk-ons in his season at Drake.  Major major question:  can he recruit?  A very risky hire by PC.  Most guys can coach, but not all can recruit.  Name of the game in the BEast. 

[tower912]

I remember Rod Strickland actually laughing at our players during the Dukiet years .

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Joey Meyer is more responsible for DePaul's glory years than Ray was. Do you think Mark Aquirre, Gary Garland and Clyde Bradshaw were recruited by Ray Meyer?

[Nukem2]

Actually Aguirre went to DePaul because Al retired.  Otherwise, he would have gone to MU.  Joey was a clerk.

[MUfan12]

Joey Meyer spent his life around basketball, too. Ask DePaul how that went.

DING DING DING DING.

He won with Daddy's players in a down year for the conference. Hardly has proved himself.

[NYWarrior]

Joey Meyer spent his life around basketball, too. Ask DePaul how that went.

DING DING DING DING.

He won with Daddy's players in a down year for the conference. Hardly has proved himself.

Yup.  A risky hire for PC.......Davis got out of Drake just in time.

[Niv Berkowitz]

As much as I dislike the Buzz hire, I honestly don't love this hire and don't see it as much an improvement over Buzz at all. And I can tell you that I didn't want Keno for MU. Lowery and Brownell were lightyears ahead of Buzz, but it's over now.

Then again, it's tough to move on when you see other colleges hiring guys many people thought much more highly of than our current guy. It keeps the wound from healing.

[Pakuni]

Joey Meyer is more responsible for DePaul's glory years than Ray was. Do you think Mark Aquirre, Gary Garland and Clyde Bradshaw were recruited by Ray Meyer?

They may not have been recruited by Ray Meyer in the micro sense, but they went to DePaul because of Ray Meyer and what he built there. Ray's presence and accomplishments brought those guys to DU, not the smooth talking of one Joey Meyer.

That said, Joey got hosed by DePaul and stabbed in the back by Bill Bradshaw. He didn't ruin DePaul hoops. In fact, DePaul hoops remained pretty solid for several years post-Ray. Things took a turn for the worse when Bradshaw came in and began to undercut Joey's ability to recruit and bring in players who had been accepted under the prior administration. That, in turn, ruined Joey's credibility with high school coaches, particularly in the Chicago Public League. Joey was by no means a great coach, but he doesn't deserve all the blame, or even a majority of the blame, for DePaul's downfall.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Joey did a lot of good things at DePaul....their demise was as much about their inability to support the basketball program with crappy facilities, terrible leadership, etc.

That being said, the ship sank under his watch and so he's going to take the heat for it.


As for the Providence hire, I think their fans are pretty excited right now...I don't see a lot of factional splits or second guessing, and that's half the battle.

[Pakuni]

As for the Providence hire, I think their fans are pretty excited right now...I don't see a lot of factional splits or second guessing, and that's half the battle.

The guy who finally lands a prom date from girl #8 after his first seven choices rejected him is pretty excited also. Not so much because he got the most beautiful girl in school, but because at long last someone said 'yes."

[ChicosBailBonds]

Let's not forget that Providence gave Keno $1 million per year to the national coach of the year (by one publication) and Drake was paying him $160K and promised to push him to $300K.   This for a guy that took Drake to the NCAAs for the first time in 36 years.

No brainer in so many ways....Keno has to take that offer.

By the way, Providence has a senior laden class much like we do.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Joey Meyer is more responsible for DePaul's glory years than Ray was. Do you think Mark Aquirre, Gary Garland and Clyde Bradshaw were recruited by Ray Meyer?

They may not have been recruited by Ray Meyer in the micro sense, but they went to DePaul because of Ray Meyer and what he built there. Ray's presence and accomplishments brought those guys to MU, not the smooth talking of one Joey Meyer.

That said, Joey got hosed by DePaul and stabbed in the back by Bill Bradshaw. He didn't ruin DePaul hoops. In fact, DePaul hoops remained pretty solid for several years post-Ray. Things took a turn for the worse when Bradshaw came in and began to undercut Joey's ability to recruit and bring in players who had been accepted under the prior administration. That, in turn, ruined Joey's credibility with high school coaches, particularly in the Chicago Public League. Joey was by no means a great coach, but he doesn't deserve all the blame, or even a majority of the blame, for DePaul's downfall.

Bill Bradshaw....worst AD I have ever met by a wide, wide, wide margin.  TERRIBLE.

[ChicosBailBonds]

As for the Providence hire, I think their fans are pretty excited right now...I don't see a lot of factional splits or second guessing, and that's half the battle.

The guy who finally lands a prom date from girl #8 after his first seven choices rejected him is pretty excited also. Not so much because he got the most beautiful girl in school, but because at long last someone said 'yes."

Definitely, because he also got an experienced girl to go home with and not one that doesn't know what she's doing.    

Give Providence credit, they kept swinging and all it did was land them the NCAA National Coach of the Year....wow, they sure did terrible.   

[MUfan12]

I don't see a lot of factional splits or second guessing, and that's half the battle.

Half the battle that has been lost on our fanbase for awhile now. When Crean was here there were splits and TONS of second guessing.

And let's not even touch the nickname issue.

[dennycrane]

Do you think MU would ever hire a coach with so many ties to Bo Ryan? Don't see the search committee ever getting past that with Keno.

[IrwinFletcher]

Look....guys

I am not fond of the Buzz hire.  I agree that the process was flawed, and they had no need to rush...BUT....

It is done.   Let's give the guy the guy the benefit of the doubt.   We do not know what went on in the background.  As those of us who attended MU know, what happens in O'Hara Hall stays in O'Hara Hall.

I'll be all over the BoT and Athletic Administration if this thing goes bad, but its time to quit bellyaching about that which we cannot change.

We are giving the guy the benefit of the doubt, we're unloading on our administration...not on Buzz.  We're unloading on a process that was a joke.  We're unloading on the fact this whole thing started 2 months ago when an AD with not ONE OUNCE of athletics background was put into place to run a Big East athletic department.

You reep what you sow and MU looks absolutely silly.  But hey, all the negative press around the country and locally, everyone will view at as opposite day so we have that going for us.  

Quite frankly, the incompetence makes it even more unfair and difficult for Buzz.  Puts him in a situation that he has to hit a home run.  Why?  Because they hired someone with his background.  If MU had hired a Davis, a Les, etc, those coaches would have a little more latitude from the fans, etc because they've proven they can get it done.   But when they go down the Buzz path and with the negative press that goes with it, you're virtually forcing him out of the gate to do nothing short of hit a home run by a guy that is very green.  That's very tough, I feel bad for Buzz in that regard having to cut his teeth at this level as a head coach.

I think it is sad how you guys are ripping on the administration without having any idea of what the decision making process was.  Were any of you involved with any of the meetings/discussions/interviews?  Do any of you know anything about Buzz - what kind of person he is?  What his plans are for the team and the program?

Sure - Cottingham doesn't ahve a ton of experience with this.  But wasn't Bill Cords involved with this?  Do we no longer trust his input?

We hired Bob Dukiet and Mike Deane from mid-major universities.  They had a lot of coaching experience they could point to.  How did all that work out?

Let it go guys or go somewhere else and start your own board.  We know where you stand and expect you to tell us "I told you so" when it doesn't work out.  It certainly seems like that is what you are hoping for.

[Mayor McCheese]

With this announcement and our two highest rated recruits opting out, can we all agree that the decision to hire Buzz Williams is getting worse with each passing day?

Holy cripes!

The guy has 1 year of head coaching experience and got a seven year contract worth 7 million??? 

As opposed to the 6 year, $7 million contract our current coach signed...the one with 1 year of head coaching experience that wasn't even a fraction as successful as Davis' one year?

Are you kidding me? Drake hadn't made the NCAA in like 45 years and they earned a 5 seed.

I didn't want Davis, but he would have been leaps and bounds better than what we ended up with.

yeah he earned a 5 seed, and got bounced in the first round... PRN, we all know you wouldn't be happy with that, I am not the least bit concerned about that hire by PC.

[jce]

I remember Rod Strickland actually laughing at our players during the Dukiet years .

Who wasn't...

Well, I guess I wasn't when a drunken Joe Nethen was chasing me around outside of McCormick Hall...but still....

[warthogdriver]

It's Pee You...It's Pee You