Re-visiting the Buzz Williams/OU courtship

[OUHoops]

Interesting:

http://www.gazettextra.com/article/20140323/ARTICLES/140329889

Buzz Williams once told me he turned down the Southern Methodist job a few years ago because nobody cared about SMU basketball. He said he didn't take Southern California's calls for basically the same reason.

Williams, eccentricities and all, loved being front and center at a basketball-first school like Marquette, rich in tradition with its willingness to spend, spend, spend on the men's basketball program.

In fact, I've been told that's why he didn't go to Oklahoma in 2012. The Sooners took one look at how lavishly Williams was living at Marquette in terms of recruiting and travel and decided he was too rich for even their oil-infused blood.

 

[badger]

It now makes total sense why he chose to go to Virginia Tech

 

[TINY]

Nice find, OUHoops.

I seem to remember Buzz had a large buy out clause in his contract at that time,also, no?

Buzz was a natural fit due to his ties to the area, but Lon is second to none in that department with his vast network which extends through all time zones.

If given the choice of Buzz or Lon, I am taking Lon every time.

 

[tycat947]

It now makes total sense why he chose to go to Virginia Tech

LMAO! I think when all the church schools split off they pretty much began down the road of irrelevance and he saw the handwriting on the wall. But VA TECH??? WOW!

 

[MercedeSooner]

I seem to remember Buzz had a large buy out clause in his contract at that time,also, no?

Supposedly something in the $2M range - have a hard time believing any program could justify ante-ing that up for Buzz (before the buy out dropped this year) regardless of the other issues that article highlighted.

 

[Ham]

In my experience, the best coaches (from Coach K to Lon K, even to football) get most of their coaching done during all those days, weeks and months of practice. Sure, they do a few in-game adjustments and have to occasionally bark something at the players during the game. But I never really trust the coaches that are animated on the sideline for practically the whole game.

And that is Buzz Williams...I can't stand his sideline demeanor. Yelling at officials, yelling at his own players, pointing and screaming something that could just as easily be communicated calmly...these type of guys that are constantly wanting to be seen as 'coaching'. Not only does it seem kind of self-serving (and in Buzz Williams' case, it does) "look at me! I'm coaching out here! Put the camera on me as I coach these guys up! It's all about me!", it also seems a bit childish and maybe even (at times) unprofessional. Is this really how we want representatives of our programs to behave (and I'd include the early days of Mike Stoops and Brent Venables too).

But worse than that, it begs the question, 'why can't you teach this stuff before the game?' If a player is that clueless, maybe it's because they haven't been properly coached up until that point. Again, the occasional thing being barked at the players is understandable and even necessary. But all game?

All that to say, thank God we ended up with Lon Kruger and not him.

 

[Big Old Booger]

I was never really for Williams when Capel was canned. He's unproven, IMO, or he was at that point. He was pretty good at maintaining a successful program but now lets see how he will do at Va Tech, which is far from a blue blood in a conference full of them (Duke, UNC, Louisville, Syracuse, etc.).

I just never felt like he was a good enough coach to take a job like OU which needed rebuilding and turn the corner with it.

 

[dahldennsull]

In my experience, the best coaches (from Coach K to Lon K, even to football) get most of their coaching done during all those days, weeks and months of practice. Sure, they do a few in-game adjustments and have to occasionally bark something at the players during the game. But I never really trust the coaches that are animated on the sideline for practically the whole game.

And that is Buzz Williams...I can't stand his sideline demeanor. Yelling at officials, yelling at his own players, pointing and screaming something that could just as easily be communicated calmly...these type of guys that are constantly wanting to be seen as 'coaching'. Not only does it seem kind of self-serving (and in Buzz Williams' case, it does) "look at me! I'm coaching out here! Put the camera on me as I coach these guys up! It's all about me!", it also seems a bit childish and maybe even (at times) unprofessional. Is this really how we want representatives of our programs to behave (and I'd include the early days of Mike Stoops and Brent Venables too).

But worse than that, it begs the question, 'why can't you teach this stuff before the game?' If a player is that clueless, maybe it's because they haven't been properly coached up until that point. Again, the occasional thing being barked at the players is understandable and even necessary. But all game?

All that to say, thank God we ended up with Lon Kruger and not him.

one of my favorite things about Kruger. His confidence before and during games showcases how well he has prepared his team outside of gametime.