“Am I going to be a Hall of Fame coach? No. Am I going to write a book? No. What I’m going to do is work hard today, and then wake up and do it again tomorrow.” -Buzz Williams, Head Coach Marquette Men’s Basketball

When Marquette University hired Tom Crean’s assistant coach, Brent “Buzz” Williams, to be the Men’s Basketball head coach, a lot of people thought that the athletic department had taken the easy way out. But little did the Marquette community know that Williams himself does anything but take the easy way out. From the players to the practices, Williams has overhauled the entire men’s basketball program.

“We want to be the hardest-working, most competitive program in the country,” Williams said. And he has been making every effort to make it so, showing that Marquette might have picked the right coach after all.

Young Men First, Students Second and Players Third

In Williams’ first press conference as the Marquette Men’s Basketball head coach, he stated:
“The players in the program will not be judged always in accordance with their skill set or their talent. They will always be judged as people: as young men first, as students second and as players third. And the priorities in our program, the responsibilities within our program, will always be reflective of those things.”

The academic responsibilities for the basketball players are strictly enforced to ensure that these priorities are met.
Williams is “not going to give you any leeway,” according to Liam McMorrow, the sophomore transfer from Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario, who is redshirted this season due to National Collegiate Athletic Association transfer rules.

Each player has a personal, color-coded schedule from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m. every day of the week detailing class, study hall hours, tutoring, basketball practice and weightlifting among other things. The graduate student coaching assistants and coaching staff escort the players to class to make sure that they are on time and that they do not leave class early.

“He really cares about our academics,” said David Cubillan, one of three juniors on the team. And so far, it has been paying off.
“I think I speak for everyone. Everyone, as far as academically is concerned, is doing much better… he’s definitely a help,” said Robert Frozena, the only walk-on of this year’s team, about the educational push the members of the team have received from Williams.

“They’re always accountable for each facet of their responsibilities,” Williams said, and according to Williams, the reason they can be held accountable is because “their character is very, very high.”

Athletic Hunger

Four man groups, individual practice, team practice, and boot camp are only a few of the strategies that Williams has been using to prepare the team for the coming season. Yes, boot camp.

“Boot camp was seven or eight days. That was the longest seven or eight days of my life. But it was good,” said Lazar Hayward, returning junior forward. Boot camp was a series of intense practices where, Williams said, “our team is formed.” Every drill that was done had to be done correctly by each member of the team. If someone could not finish, everybody had to do it over again. Every single teammate was accountable for every other teammate. As Williams said, “Everyone has to pull their own weight… and [we have to] communicate as a team.”
Somehow, everyone got through it.

“They were blowing it out every day,” Williams said. “It’s the best I’ve ever seen.”

Not only has their stamina and teamwork been tested, but Williams has the team “doing defensive drills day in and day out,” according to Dominic James, returning senior guard. Concerns over the short height of the team have sparked the emphasis put on the defensive side of the ball.

“We are little. We’re short. That’s not going to change… we’re going to have to be extraordinary good rebounders… I don’t think we’re going to struggle offensively. I think we can score enough points to win games. The question will be: How can we prevent our size from being a detriment to us defensively?” Williams said.

Jerel McNeal, returning senior guard, who has always been known as a defensive player, is excited for this change of focus. “We get everybody else to play at a high level defensively, then [that will] make things a lot easier for everybody.”

Williams has confidence that his players will do everything in their power to keep their height from affecting how they perform. “I think they’re hungry. I think they like to play from behind,” he said.

The players also receive personal coaching from Williams as part of his efforts to know his players well.

Wesley Matthews, one-third of Marquette’s “Big 3” along with Dominic James and Jerel McNeal, described how Williams wants him to play. “I’ve got to be a beast. I have to be everywhere. He wants me to basically let loose, just play the way I play, lead the way I lead, and just help.”

Joseph Fulce, a new sophomore recruit from Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, said, “He’s always trying to find a way to help us get better.”

As an extra impetus to becoming the best, Williams has let them know that their every effort has to be put on the court when the time comes. “If we don’t play hard, they’re not going to play… every single minute counts. Every single minute in a game counts,” Williams said.

All About God and Family

These new academic priorities and athletic strategies would not work if the team did not respect their coach. But they do.
“He’s one of the most hardest workers I’ve met in my life. I don’t think he sleeps,” Fulce said.

His commitment stands out, and not just his commitment to the men’s basketball team.

“He’s dedicated… he’s all about his God and his family,” said Dwight Burke, the only senior forward on the team. And now his family has expanded to include the basketball team.

“The thing that I really pay attention to is those 13 young men… what they’re doing off the court, what they’re doing in the classroom and what they’re doing on the court,” Williams said.

Some of the lessons he has been teaching his players have clearly sunk in.

“The most important thing that Buzz has taught us, is that every day is a work day, and if you’re not going to work every day, then you shouldn’t be here,” said Patrick Hazel, a sophomore forward.

Message to the Marquette Student Body

Although Williams admits that he has not done a good job connecting with the students, he knows how important the Marquette Fanatics are to the success of his team.

“The teams that have elite success have a major home court advantage, and the teams that have a major home court advantage [have it] because it’s derived from their student population. Our students have to continue what they’ve always been, because that changes what the atmosphere and the ambience is like at the Bradley Center,” Williams said.

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Cell phone buzzes at 1:47 a.m. on the morning of August 25, 2008. Text message says: “Mbakwe quit the team.”

Please excuse the radically confused look on my face, but WHAT? None of it makes any sense. So, let’s naturally try to make some sense out of this.

I’ll quickly recap for those of you unaware. Trevor Mbakwe, to be the 6 foot 7 inch power forward, quit the Men’s Basketball team and left Marquette on the eve of the first day of class. A highly touted recruit, Mbakwe was the crown jewel of Tom Crean’s final recruiting class. He demonstrated a tenacity for rebounding that we have not seen here for quite some time.
Missing the majority of his freshman season due to a knee injury, rumors circulated that Mbakwe was terribly homesick, and was considering a transfer back to Minnesota. And once Tom Crean packed his bags for the land of Cream & Crimson, Trevor’s transfer seemed to be a mere formality.

However, much to the surprise and excitement of Marquette Basketball fans everywhere, Mbakwe came out with a statement regarding the potential of his transfer on April 16th, “I just want to let everyone know that isn’t true. That’s never been in my head.”

Whew. Sure glad that was established early on… Whoops.

From my early assessments of the new Head Men’s Basketball coach Buzz Williams, the man is a straight shooter. He will look you in the eye and tell it like it is. So when you read a quote that says, “I was shocked by the news,” it sounds like everyone was caught with their pants down on this one.

Now what Buzz will not tell you, is that this REALLY hurts. Everyone knows how guard oriented and undersized the team is. Still, it was beginning to appear that with Lazar, Dwight and Trevor, the team could stand up to the giants of the Big East. Now Dwight and Lazar are going to be asked to shoulder the workload.

This is not to say that break out seasons from guys like Patrick Hazel, Chris Otule or Joe Fulce are impossible. But relying on unproven and, for Otule and Fulce, untested talent in key reserve roles is a serious gamble.

It’s hard to believe that the departure of one reserve power forward could be so traumatic, but it puts the rest of the team in a tough spot. If this team wants to eclipse and surpass what it has done the last three years, its stars are going to have to shine brighter than ever.

Dominic, Wes, and Jerel have been the backbone, selling point and marketing tool of Marquette Men’s Basketball for over three years. And we must ask more from them once again. Is it fair? No. Is it our only option? Yes.

If anyone still cares, Trevor Mbakwe enrolled at Miami-Dade Community College earlier this week, where it is rumored he will transfer to Miami University after the school year. Trevor… we hardly knew thee. He left a hole in Milwaukee, and he did it under the cover of darkness, in the middle of the night, without a trace.

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“Wear your blue and gold to weelcome Marquette’s new men’s baskletball coach”

The foregoing was the opening line in the Special News Brief from Marquette University announcing the hiring of new head men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams. I count three errors. Let’s hope it’s not an omen.

The hurry to get out the News Brief, and hence the lack of appropriate editing, is indicative of the way this entire hire has gone: rushed and garbled.

Even if it’s not all their fault, the blatant mishandling of Tom Crean’s departure has left fans and students casting a skeptical eye at the athletics department. To earn that trust back, the Department needs to act humbly and recognize that process matters.

At a press conference immediately following Crean’s departure, Athletics Director Steve Cottingham said, “We are not going to have a search committee. I think that the level that we’re at, it is a management decision within the university.”

They followed through on that pledge, turned around a very quick hire, and promoted Buzz Williams. The Williams pick appears to be driven by a short-sighted desire to keep a few key recruits for next year rather than a long-term vision for the program.

There was no search committee for Cottingham’s job either. When Bill Cords departed as AD well over a year ago, we were told that Cottingham’s number one job as interim AD would be to recruit a great successor. Fourteen months later, not a single interview had happened, even though over 60 eager and qualified candidates had applied. One day, Cottingham decided he thought he should stay on permanently, and a “management decision” was made that gave him the job.

The athletics department did empanel a search committee once in the last few years, for the hire of the men’s soccer coach in 2006. Student-athletes were selected to interview candidates and provide feedback. Cords made a “management decision” to hire Louie Bennett, and the search committee was not involved at all.

Allow me to further note that the search committee for the provost (at least there is one!) does not have any student members, so this problem is not just in the Athletics Department.

My point is this: Process matters. When people trust the management, it is easier for the management to make an executive decision. When trust has been bruised, however, then a committee process that includes all the stakeholders is important. Transparency is important. Take your time and think things through.
We talk often at Marquette about dialogue, empowerment, and community. Perhaps we would avoid both superficial and substantive mistakes if we followed a process that made stakeholders feel confident and included.

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With the resignation of Tom Crean last week, the buzz around Marquette’s campus had recently been a downer. But with the promotion of Brent “Buzz” Williams to head coach, there is a reason to look up. While Williams does not have a great wealth of experience as a head coach, he is known as a great recruiter. Shooting guard Tyshawn Taylor, Marquette’s top recruit this year, had recently asked Marquette to release him from his letter of intent, but said that he would stay with the school if Williams was hired.

“I think the only way I end up at Marquette is if Coach Williams gets the head-coaching job, or if Coach Williams and another one of the assistants is still there,” said Taylor recently. “Coach Williams recruited me and I really want to play for him. I think that’s probably the only way.” His hiring may help save this past year’s recruiting class, which looked as if it would disappear after Crean left. Williams played a pivotal role in getting forward Joseph Fulce and center Chris Otule to commit to Marquette.

Williams has already started on next year’s recruiting class. He recently landed an oral commitment from top recruit Erik Williams, a forward who is a junior in high school. Williams had been the head coach of New Orleans University during the 2006-2007 season, in which he lead the team to a 14-17 record, and had been an assistant coach at Texas A&M, Colorado State, Northwestern State, Texas A&M Kingsville, and The University of Texas at Arlington before joining Marquette’s staff last year.

William’s ability to recruit probably was a huge factor for the school’s choice to hire him. Marquette wanted to hire a coach that would bring continuity to the program and continue the success that was seen under Crean.

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Buzz Williams will be promoted from assistant coach Marquette’s head coach, according to sources. Williams is known as one of the better recruiters in the nation.

He was the head coach for New Orleans University during the 2006-2007 season (14-17 record) and has been an assistant coach at Texas A&M, Colorado State, Northwestern State, Texas A&M Kingsville and The University of Texas at Arlington before joining Marquette’s staff.

Developing…

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