Quote Originally Posted by MayorBeluga View Post
Big Rick did not make the NCAA tournament in his three seasons as head coach. OK, that's nit-picking (or would that be NIT-picking?). Otherwise, the premise stands. It takes a university wide commitment to sustain success. Thankfully Marquette has had that over the decades, starting with donors and fans who pressure the administration.
Mr. Mayor is correct, although I would say MU did need a larger commitment to basketball than they had in the mid 80's-early 90's. We had to get out of the Midwest Collegiate Conference and we did so by going to the Great Midwest, then on to C-USA. However, one of the reasons Kevin O'Neill left MU for Tenn. was "lack of facilities" at MU. The Old Gym was charming but young recruits were not looking for "charming".

Thanks to the many donors and commitment from the university The AL McGuire center is a state of the art facility and a big feather in MU's cap for recruitng, as is the Big East conference. The players dorm was another great selling point and hopefully, that situation will be rectified in the near future with different school leadership.