Larry Williams

[Goose85]

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?

[Gato78]

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.

[Goose85]

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.

[IWB]

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".

[Gato78]

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.

[Nukem2]

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.

[Hamostradamus]

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.

[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.

[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.

[Mark Miller]

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.

This is 100 percent accurate, IMO.