Posted by:
gwoelfel on
April 3, 2008 at
11:38PM CST
BY GERY WOELFEL
Chatter we’ve been picking up about the Marquette U. basketball situation:
* It’s hardly a secret Marquette officials would love to hire Tony Bennett as a successor to Tom "Hoosier Daddy’’ Crean.
But that’s about as likely to happen as the Warriors bringing back Bob Dukiet. Bennett appears to have his sights on the LSU job instead.
* While Sean Miller of Xavier is among several candidates already rumored for the MU job, here’s someone who is flying under the radar -- for now:
Frank Haith.
Haith guided the Miami Hurricanes into the NCAA Tournament this season, beating Saint Mary’s 78-64 in the first round before taking Texas to the limit 75-72.
Before taking over the Hurricanes’ program four years ago, Hait was an associate head coach under Rick Barnes at Texas.
Haith has had outstanding success as a recruiter. To wit: among the players he helped bring to Texas were LaMarcus Aldridge, now with the Portland Trail Blazers and T.J. Ford, a former Milwaukee Bucks guard now with Toronto. He also helped bring Dallas Mavericks star Josh Howard to Wake Forest.
* While Marquette officials were hoping two top-notch recruits -- Tyshawn Taylor and Nick Williams -- would stick around and consider playing for the new coach, both players are now likely to be granted their request to be released from their national letter of intents.
Naturally, several colleges are coveting their services and I've been told have already made "indirect’’ contact with them.
* There have been and continue to be rumblings that Trevor Mbakwe, MU’s promising freshman forward, will transfer. And it doesn’t have anything to do with Crean’s departure to Indiana.
* You don’t suppose Darrin Horn, the former MU assistant coach who guided Northern Kentucky into the NCAA tourney, would have loved to known Crean’s intentions before accepting the South Carolina job?
* After Tony Bennett, my next choice for the MU job would be Ray McCallum, a former Wisconsin assistant coach whom Indiana U. officials should have promoted to interim head coach after jettisoning Kelvin Sampson.
The doubters will point out McCallum’s subpar record (44-73) while head coach at Houston, but John Wooden couldn’t have turned around that deplorable program.
What some people may have forgotten is that McCallum, while he was the head coach at Ball State, led the Cardinals to two NCAA Tournament appearances.
McCallum is also proven recruiter and one of the classiest guys I’ve come across in the coaching profession.
* Dominic James playing in Europe next season? Don’t rule it out.
* Look for Jerry Sichting, a former MU assistant coach and current assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves, to pursue the MU job.
* Look for Crean to surround himself with some familiar assistants, among them Tim Buckley and perhaps Buzz Williams.
1. No mention of Haith or McCallum in the JS beat writers article. Are you scooping him?? 2. Good guess on James playing in Europe - he is not an NBA talent at this moment. Just shows how immature the kid is - why wouldn't he stay in school for his senior year, work towards getting his degree, strive to improve his skills with another year of college ball.... 3. How about Ben Braun, recently coach of Cal, coming back to the state at Marquette?? He started at Park HS as an assistant coach.
Read on for the JS article:
Aide discusses position Williams has been strong recruiter at MU By TODD ROSIAK trosiak@journalsentinel.com Posted: April 3, 2008 Buzz Williams jetted off to San Antonio for the Final Four on Thursday morning but not before meeting informally with Marquette University officials regarding the Golden Eagles' head-coaching vacancy.
Multiple sources said Williams, who just completed his first season at MU as an assistant to Tom Crean, discussed the position Wednesday with athletic director Steve Cottingham, one day after Crean left for Indiana.
Williams, who spent Thursday attending a coaches' convention, was unavailable for comment, while Cottingham said, "We're not going to discuss specific candidates' names."
Williams isn't the only name in play for the job. MU is also thought to have targeted Xavier's Sean Miller and Washington State's Tony Bennett, but indications later Thursday were that both were uninterested in leaving their current schools.
The fact the 35-year-old Williams is viewed as a serious candidate is a nod to the importance MU is placing on trying to maintain stability and a sense of continuity in a program that was rocked by Crean's unexpected departure.
Williams is known to have a strong relationship with returning Golden Eagles players and was also the primary recruiter of three of MU's four signed Class of 2008-'09 recruits: Tyshawn Taylor, Joseph Fulce and Chris Otule. Williams also gained an oral commitment last fall from one of Texas' top juniors, forward Erik Williams.
Being able to hold the nucleus of the current team together, as well as convincing at least some of the incoming recruits to honor their commitments, would in theory prevent a serious dropoff from the 25-10 overall record and 11-7 mark MU posted in the Big East this season.
Williams, a native of Van Alstyne, Texas, has one previous year of head-coaching experience. He led New Orleans to a 14-17 season in 2006-'07 before resigning to join Crean at MU last July. Before going to New Orleans, he served as Billy Gillispie's lead recruiter at Texas A&M and he also spent time at Colorado State.
"It's not experience per se that we're looking for," Cottingham said Wednesday when asked what he was seeking in a prospective coach. "You certainly look for a set of criteria, and you're looking for the person who is the right fit, who understands the special nature of Marquette."
Xavier's Miller and Washington State's Bennett would represent home-run hires if MU would be able to convince either to leave an already comfortable situation.
Miller, 39, is 93-39 in four seasons at Xavier and is coming off a 30-7 campaign that ended last weekend when his Musketeers lost to UCLA, 76-57, in the Elite Eight.
It likely would take a ridiculous offer to lure Miller away from Xavier, a small Catholic school in Cincinnati. Not only did he sign an extension last March that will take him through the 2015-'16 season, there are reports that Xavier is preparing to bump his base salary up to around $1.5 million per year, roughly what Crean's was at MU.
To make it even tougher to get Miller away from Xavier, MU would have to pay a buyout in excess of $2 million.
Bennett, 38, would be a public-relations slam dunk for MU and a solid choice as coach.
A Green Bay native, the son of former Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett and a former NBA player, Bennett was named the Associated Press' national coach of the year in 2007 - his first as a head coach - and has led the Cougars to a 52-17 record in two seasons.
Bennett apparently enjoys living in the Pacific Northwest, though, is bringing in a strong recruiting class and has competed well in the Pacific 10 Conference. He also is thought to have turned down Indiana last week, which set into motion the chain of events that led to Crean leaving MU.
MU was undoubtedly hoping the prospect of returning to his native state as well as a highly lucrative contract would prove alluring, but there were reports later Thursday of Washington State working behind the scenes to renegotiate Bennett's deal for the second consecutive year.
A report in the Seattle Times stated the seven-year contract extension Bennett signed last year was worth $800,000 annually, provided Bennett stays at the school through March 15 of each year. The contract also includes an initial buyout clause of $500,000.
"We're going to pay what the market demands to get the right person in the job," Cottingham said Wednesday when asked if there were any financial constraints on MU's coaching search.
Other coaches who could still be in the mix are Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant, Southern Illinois' Chris Lowery and Davidson's Bob McKillop.
Posted by: brewpackman on April 4, 2008 6:41AM CST
While I personnally cannot stand Marquette, what Crean did was borderline cowardly. Good article, Gery....Too bad you do not have this type of knowledge about football.
I heard Darrin Horn did great things at Western Kentucky as well as Northern Kentucky. Oh, and Houston was 22-8 this year. I guess someone can turn the program around.
Focus shifts to Williams By Todd Rosiak Friday, Apr 4 2008, 08:35 PM Buzz Williams cut short his trip to the Final Four, returning to Milwaukee on Friday multiple sources said for a round of more formal talks with Marquette University administrators regarding the school's head-coaching position.
Williams, an assistant to former coach Tom Crean, appears at this point to be the leading candidate for the job, which has been vacant since Tuesday when Crean unexpectedly left MU for Indiana.
Since early Thursday MU is known to have made inquiries into Xavier's Sean Miller, Washington State's Tony Bennett and Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant. But by early Friday, after it became apparent that none of the three were interested in leaving their current situations, the school's focus shifted squarely to Williams.
Williams, who was unavailable for comment, will likely spend the remainder of the weekend meeting with MU officials, who are undoubtedly interested in not only getting to know him better personally but also in what his plans are for hiring a coaching staff.
Miller and Bennett were eliminated as candidates later Thursday, and Grant early Friday.
Williams' true first name isn't really Buzz, by the way. It's Brent.
What Crean did was cowerdly? So if someone approached you about having your dream job at your dream college for more money you wouldn't leave either. C'mon seriously. I don't like Crean but he took a program that was not doing to hot and brought them back onto the national scene. Give the guy a break jeez. Gery, good article...please don't revert back to your old self:-)
Posted by: brewpackman on April 5, 2008 10:57PM CST
Cowardly in the fact that he went to Indiana without his bosses knowing he was going, or being given permission by the AD to go......then having his players find out on ESPN and notifying his AD by phone. I have no problem with him leaving, but have Indiana keep it quiet till you can sit down with your players and tell them whats going on.
Reminds when when Knight was going to sign as Wisconsin coach. News broke early Knight stayed at Army and years latter went to IU. moral of story... you don't tell your team about change until it is a deal.
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