Larry Williams

Is it true that Larry Williams was not at the Big East tournament?

What's up with that? He is the athletic director for a Big East team - everyone is in New York. I would think it is a must.

The guy is at a game in WVU but not at the Big East tourney?

What is up with this guy?

I have checked with one person who was in NYC and neither Larry Williams nor Fr. Pilarz were spotted. Does not mean they were not there. Does not mean they weren't prepared to come for game 2, if we had a game 2. Broeker was there.

I saw Broeker on TV so I knew he was there. I look at the Big East tourney as something you would think all ADs in the conference would attend as you would think there would be meetings, much like the final four is like a convention for all college coaches.

L. Williams is a new AD, you would think this would be a chance to meet his conference counterparts as well as spend time with $$ alum that are in NY and at the tourney. I've got a real bad feeling about this guy.

I think the reason why Williams was at WVU was to make it around the conference to meet people, but not being at the Big East Tourney? Inexcusable, if true.

Fr. Pilarz - it was said in another thread that there were ticket issues between the two sides of the aisle. The Blue & Gold Boosters & season ticket holders vs the NYC based University donors. Ok - this is perfect - here are all of the people that donate, not just to the basketball program, but to the university - Fr. Pilarz should have been sitting right smack dab in the middle of all of them, shaking hands, thanking them for donations, etc etc. And he wasn't there?

I don't buy this "waiting for 2nd game" crap. I don't like the message being sent by the AD & President towards the basketball program.

Here is an e-mail I got from a friend this morning. Completely different situation, but in light of this week's newspaper comments, might not be that extreme.

From Andy Katz's column on Bruce Weber ...

Bruce Weber might have been out at Illinois no matter how the Illini's season ended.

Mike Thomas is clearly looking to get his own coach, as is often the case when a new athletic director takes over at a school.

There was no shortage of mistakes made at Illinois this season and everyone is at fault. Thomas didn't help the situation by declining to back Weber during a radio interview, essentially sealing Weber's fate in the middle of the Big Ten season.

I hope that doesn't sound familiar at Marquette in a few weeks.

When Buzz Williams turned down the Oklahoma and Texas A&M jobs, he said his wife told him, "You don't mess with happy". Well, I sure hope someone on the major donor level tells Larry Williams and Fr. Pilarz that they too, should not "mess with happy".

There was a dinner scheduled with Fr. Pilarz in NYC so he was there at some point, I think. Who knows with LArry, maybe his kid had a game and he was intending to skip game 1. In any event, with all the conference changes, I can only assume it was very important and he was there.

Hopefully he was there. Do ADs skip bowl games? It was important for him to be there as he is anew AD working at a signifivantly higher level than he was and also to meet other administrators and because of re-alignment.

Wow, he's having a pretty bad week PR-wise. I am starting to worry that his next public statement will somehow make things worse.

The AD needs some serious help on the PR front. The JS column didn't come off well and his profile in NYC should have been unmistakable.

LW and the Father can spin it any way they want, but if Buzz leaves any time soon, it's on them and them alone.

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Originally Posted by lougrant

LW and the Father can spin it any way they want, but if Buzz leaves any time soon, it's on them and them alone.

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This is 100 percent accurate, IMO.

I think people are freaking out when at this point there is no reason to freak out.

Let's give the guy the benefit of the doubt here.

Plenty of time to hate him if the unthinkable happens.

Hard for me to believe anybody in the administration would be that stupid but then again......somebody did think "THE Gold" was a good idea......

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Originally Posted by TulsaWarrior

The AD needs some serious help on the PR front. The JS column didn't come off well and his profile in NYC should have been unmistakable.

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And they better be ready for the repercussions. They will make Fr. Diuilo a happy man, he would no longer be the most despised President in MU history.

Drbchilds posted on scout that Larry was in NYC. Fwiw.

Ok, I have heard from someone that said that both Larry and Fr. Pilarz were in New York. I also saw the post from Dr. Childs, who I do like and respect. That being said, Larry W. is a pretty huge dude - can't miss him type of guy, so if no one at the game saw him, did he go? Was he in a box?

I don't want to extend a witch hunt if the guy was there and all of this is nonsense, but.... I played football with some pretty huge guys in college. (Goo can back me up). However, when football playing friends from Notre Dame or Iowa came in to town, there was no question, you know they were in the bar. Larry W is that sized kind of guy, so why did no one at the game see him?

Guys, let's calm down a notch here. I understand why people were upset with the Larry Williams article, but let's not assume the worst here. That is all.

Jim, is it possible that you could get an interview with the AD? It might help to resolve some of the concerns mentioned on this board and others as to the future of MU athletics (especially basketball and lacrosse) and I don't think the MJS is necessarily up to the task.

I think the article, couple with some concern on the behalf of what I consider to be good MU sources / insiders, is what has me concerned.

Buzz should be the happiest guy on MU's campus - let's hope Larry Williams agrees. Don't mess with happy Larry - figure lacrosse out first.

I have met Larry Williams and he seems like a good guy. He may well have a different view of MU athletics that we do. I am certain he is acting in the best interest of Marquette--as is Fr. Pilarz. We all view MU hoops as the 1st priority. I may well disagree with things he does but one thing I think is pretty unfair is to ascribe improper motive. So Larry wasn't sitting behind the bench in MSG--maybe he gave up his seat to a prominent alum. I think we need to be fair to the guy.

So was the JS article botched journalism or just tone deaf PR?

Guys,

Both Larry and Father Pilarz were at the pre-game reception at Del Frisco's steakhouse. I spoke to both of them for about 10 minutes a piece. I have no idea if they then went to the game, but I assure you with 100% certainty that they were at the pre-game reception.

I will tell you that I went out of my way to mention to Father Pilarz that it was VERY important to me that He, Larry and Buzz were happy and that I wanted to see the three of them representing my University for a long time.

I didn't have an opportunity to ask Larry anything earth shattering as he was surrounded by 6-8 people the whole time and I didn't find it an appropriate time to ask him some of those types of questions.. Besides, I spent 2 hours talking his ear off just a few weeks ago.

I will say that he truly has MU's best interest in mind and he is a VERY great guy. There are some minor changes that need to occur, but I really am not worried about Buzz leaving.

I can't and won't say much, but I will say that there is absolutely zero chance Buzz is fired. That should be obvious, but so many are reading between some very vague lines and jumping to ridiculous conclusions. Buzz will be here as long as he wants to

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Originally Posted by Drbchilds

Buzz will be here as long as he wants to

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That is my concern, last year he was happy and wanted to be here a long time. I hope that is still the case, but that is the line that has me worried.

My worry in this situation is that the people involved have different ideas in how the program is run.

In my experiences in the work world, when there are regime changes, often the newcomers like to make a stamp with changes. These changes often alter things enough that it results in existing employees feeling that the changes will negatively effest their work environment to the point that it will be hard for them to be successful with the new schemes and quite often the regime is being changed to get some people to leave without firing them.

A simplistic scenario, but one I've seen time and time again.

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Originally Posted by Drbchilds

I can't and won't say much, but I will say that there is absolutely zero chance Buzz is fired.

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That's great to hear.

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Originally Posted by TulsaWarrior

The AD needs some serious help on the PR front. The JS column didn't come off well and his profile in NYC should have been unmistakable.

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What? A Marquette official stepping on his hooha. That is so rare.