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Here's the article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/goldeneagles/118630674.html
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/goldeneagles/118630674.html
Coach's success noticed nationally
By Todd Rosiak of the Journal Sentinel
Newark, N.J. — Since taking over as Marquette Golden Eagles coach, Buzz Williams has insisted the spotlight be trained on his players.
But with each passing season, it's becoming harder and harder not to focus it on the man calling the shots.
Maniacal in his preparation and as tough as they come, the 38-year-old Texan has pressed all the right buttons over the past few weeks. As a result, MU has won four of its last five games in the wake of a two-game skid to close out the regular season, going from Big East burnout to NCAA Tournament darling in just two weeks.
And when they take the court at the Prudential Center on Friday night for their game against the second-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels, the 11th-seeded Golden Eagles will be making their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2003.
It didn't take long for those who follow the program to realize the administration had unearthed a gem in early April 2008 when it hired Williams to replace Tom Crean. Now, with his team playing as it has, the rest of the college basketball world seems to be catching up.
Everyone, from opposing coaches and players to national media to, most recently, rival athletic directors, seems to have taken notice of Williams.
He's won them over with his aw-shucks approach, down-home humor and candor. His fist-pumping, impromptu celebration and embrace with his family after the third-round win over Syracuse already rank as one of the most memorable moments of the NCAA Tournament.
And then, of course, there are the wins: 25 in his first year, 22 in his second and 22 and counting in his third.
Yes, indeed, the buzz is all about Buzz. And while Williams appreciates it, he's trying his best to remain humble.
"I feel incredibly blessed to be the coach at Marquette. I feel incredibly blessed to have an opportunity to be in the Sweet 16," Williams said Thursday.
"I think the test every day is, 'Can you stay the same? Can you remove your ego from this and no matter what the media says and no matter what the money is or no matter what the title is, can you do right?' "
Williams' stint at MU began in the 2007-'08 season, when he left New Orleans after a year as head coach to become an assistant to Crean. After Crean left for Indiana, Williams inherited a senior- and talent-laden squad that included three future NBA players in Wesley Matthews, Jerel McNeal and Lazar Hayward.
The Golden Eagles set a school record with 12 Big East wins and got to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Missouri. Had starting point guard Dominic James not broken his foot down the stretch in Big East play, that team might very well have reached the Sweet 16 as well.
Last year might have been Williams' best pure coaching job. Despite his team having virtually no size or depth, he coaxed 10 more Big East wins and a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament out of the Golden Eagles by using a slowdown, ball-control attack centered around Hayward.
Wins over Providence and West Virginia in the Big East tournament got MU into the field of 68 this year, and wins over Xavier and Syracuse in the second and third rounds got it into the second week of the NCAAs for the first time in eight years.
Williams' grinder mentality has set the tone for the resurgence. So, too, has his continued evolution as a coach.
"I do think that I've grown as a coach," he said. "I don't like to talk about me, but I do think that I've grown. I think I have a better pulse, a better feel, and a lot more objective in some of the things that need to be accomplished on a daily basis.
"I used to fight some fights that weren't worth fighting. Now I'm a much better fighter at the fights that need to be fought. I think that's part of me growing up, aging, and part of me in my comfort level relative to being in this position."
That, plus the position the Golden Eagles are now in, is what's made Williams as popular a name in the rumor mill for coaching vacancies as Crean was during his time at MU. And that has made Golden Eagles fans nervous again.
So, too, has Williams' refusal over the last 10 days or so to debunk reports linking him to openings at Arkansas (since filled), Oklahoma, Tennessee and now Missouri by repeating the "I'll be here as long as they'll have me here" declaration he gave on the eve of MU's NCAA Tournament game last year.
When asked earlier this week about other schools' reported interest in him, Williams wasn't as definitive.
"I want the focus to be on our team," he said Tuesday. "Yeah, there's people trying to get to me, but I'm not going to participate in any of that. It's not right by our institution, our players or our coaches. I will address it when the season is over."
Undoubtedly schools will try to make a run at him - if they haven't already through back channels, as is now the norm in the business. MU athletic director Steve Cottingham said Thursday none had called him to officially ask permission to speak to Williams.
Williams' contract with MU is a six-year rollover that's paying him $1.6 million this season. That figure will jump to more than $1.7 million later this year. A school such as Oklahoma or Tennessee could take Williams' annual salary over $2 million.
What could make Williams cost prohibitive, though, is a huge buyout. Worth $3.8 million in total, it's believed to be one of the biggest in college basketball. It's a built-in safeguard in the contract to protect MU from just these types of scenarios.
Cottingham said he's kept an open dialogue with Williams over the course of the season with regard to his deal as well as what he believes he needs to field a successful program at MU, and that more discussions will take place after the season.
"That doesn't have anything to do with what other people might recognize in him," Cottingham said. "We're doing that all the time. That's been our commitment to him since the day we hired him. We're going to do the right thing and treat him the right way, just as he's done the right thing and treated us the right way."
When asked if he believed Williams would remain as MU's coach, Cottingham was definitive in his response.
"Very much so," he said. "People should take him at his word."
