Milwaukee - Loyalty for coaches to college basketball program seems to be a lost art in today’s game. Coaches year in and year out are rumored for job openings and only a handful seem to be content with staying in one spot. After Buzz Williams abruptly left for Virginia Tech, two weeks ago. His loyalty to Marquette gone faster than it took for him to show off his new Virginia Tech pin on national television. Marquette now needed to find someone that strongly embodied the word loyalty.
They believe they found that guy in Wojciechowski. “If My Track record is of any indication, I stayed at Duke for 15 years, I could of left a lot over the last ten, but when place feel like home for me and a place is good for my family then that’s a place I’m going to stick with and stick to.” This will be Wojciechowski’s first head coaching job, but he comes from one of the most successful programs in the country in Duke. He’s been on two National Championship teams and has worked with Coach K on Team USA’s staff from 2002 to 2012.
Marquette took a chance on the only assistant they interviewed, but with all his experience their gamble could pay off in big ways. At his introductory press conference, Wojciechowski was asked if he considered this a stepping stone job, his response seemed to erase any ideas that it was, “ My sole focus is on Marquette, I didn’t leave the job I was at, working for the guy I did, my alma mater, to go to a place I see my family at for a long time.” In today’s college basketball it’s hard to trust what comes out of a coach’s mouth, but Steve Wojciechowski said all the right things on Tuesday and if he is a loyal as he says he is Marquette should benefit for a long time.
Wojciechowski was really impressive with the way handled himself during his press conference, and has a chance to be at Marquette for a very long time. As he said, his track record shows he’s been loyal. He’s had many opportunities to leave for head coaching jobs, but he said they weren’t the right fit until Marquette. If he is so committed on making sure where he ended up in a place that was the right fit, you would think he wants to be here for the long haul. He already has a young talented team in place and if he is able to keep some of Buzz’s recruits they can immediately get back to the NCAA tournament. He has a lot of upside and could push this program to the next level. Only time will tell, but from the fire he’s shown throughout his career as a coach and a player it would be hard to bet against him.