An amazing Buzz stat

[TheSultan]

I think Buzz was the better coach....but in the end Crean had more class.

[Markedman]

I think Buzz was the better coach....but in the end Crean had more class.

I agree with this……..

[MUAlphaBangura]

I guess it depends on what someone considers to be the overall product of a coach. If you are looking at x's and o's, I would give the edge to Brent. But Coach Crean had his moments as far as that goes. The rest, Crean in a landslide. Building the program. Promoting it. Working to get the student body involved. I think our student participation has dwindled significantly under Brent. All the PR aspects of being a coach. Building a culture for your program-- look what kind of culture Crean left Brent, and look what kind of culture Brent left Wojo. All we are talking about lately are guys that are not committed to the program. We never said that about the amigos or Zar. And,as mentioned, Coach Crean to date, has never had a bad word for anything Marquette related. Total class(except how his leaving played out) compared to Brent.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Buzz was also a better and more consistent recruiter than Crean. Though he did seem to focus too much on recruiting rankings at times, certainly early on (E-Will and Mello).

[Gato78]

I think both were and are good men who had their priorities in order. I think they were also like Shakespearean characters where the various vices of the human experience interfered with their good judgment from time to time. Whether ego, greed, narcissism, whatever, both men had occasional issues around the Al that denigrated their good reputations. Yet, they were both religious and did many good deeds. Buzz was better X's and O's. Crean was a better representative of the University. Both were good recruiters in very different ways. Buzz was somewhat mercurial but could be fun. TC was less interesting but more stable. Crean was more social, Buzz tended to stay away from social situations. Both were incredibly focused. It will be interesting to see how Wojo's tenure goes with the recent experiences of Buzz and TC in mind. BTW Crean should be in the next Hall of Fame class at MU as an individual based on his accomplishments. Not sure yet if Buzz deserves that--needs to be measured as time passes.

[2013UnleashTheBeast]

I absolutely hated all of last year. But for me it's Buzz in a landslide. The first 5 years were exactly what I want out of an MU coach. Can't tell whether he's insane or not, the dances after DJO's putback and WVU, the GTST mentality, giving unsung JUCOs a chance to shine on a big stage, a hungry underdog mentality, the midgets team, stealing Vander from UW.... The list goes on. Crean had no personality, he was basically a corporate automaton with a whistle, and his coaching was average IMO.

[CaribouJim]

Buzz's first 5 years was the best, other than Al's tenure, 5 year run at MU. Leaving out the 6th year meltdown, I thought he was a far superior game coach to TC. As far as recruiting, more of a close call - TC recruited the big 3, one being the best MU player ever, that lead to a FF and also the 3 Amigos with one being more than solid contributor in the NBA for 5 seasons now. Buzz went a more untraditional route in his recruiting that included landing the eventual BE POY and was responsible for developing Jimmy Butler, 2nd team All-Defense this year. Again, pretty much a coin flip on recruiting.

As far as marketing the program, other than wins, no contest - TC. Took over a program trajectory that was heading south, jumped in and got into the dorms to get the frosh and sophs to reinvest in the program. He was awesome at the annual pre-season coaches' luncheon in Chicago - the last few years at the Union League Club. Gave great recaps for each and every player and was kind of an co- host MC. On the contrary, Buzz was not very comfortable in that role and didn't seem prepared. The first one he did ended really early as he didn't have much to say. The next year it was a post season event and then disappeared altogether. Glad to hear that it will be coming back this year. Really fun event and there are a ton of us that make that Chicago to Milwaukee trek and back each home game so we kind of felt dissed when it was discontinued.

Ultimately, MU was lucky to have both for those 15 years - smooth tranistion to the best confernce ever (IMO) in college b-ball with never a losing season, a share of the BE crown, a FF, an Elite 8 and 2 Sweet 16's ( I don't double dip when counting Sweet 16's). MU is now solidly back into the national scene and I expect Wojo will keep us there.