http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...z-williams

Quote:SMU has targeted Marquette coach and Texan Buzz Williams.

It's unlikely that Williams, a Texas native who has led the Golden Eagles to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in his tenure, would leave for the Dallas-based school. However, sources have told CBSSports.com that the Mustangs are prepared to make a lucrative offer in excess of the $2.6 million per season that the 39-year-old Williams is currently earning in Milwaukee.

http://collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com/...-sear.html

Quote:Marquette's Buzz Williams is the latest coach I'm hearing SMU wants to make a run at. It would be a WOW hire and then some. Many will read this and laugh -- why would he leave an established Big East program for SMU, an essentially irrelevant program joining the Big East in 2013?

The only answers would be big money and a strong desire to return to Texas, where he has deep ties. A large buyout reportedly got in the way of Williams ending up in the Oklahoma and Texas A&M jobs last year. He reportedly makes over $2 million at Marquette, which is back in the Sweet 16 for the second-straight season under Williams. While it certainly seems like a longshot, it also reveals the ambition of SMU.

Talk about a coach in the right place at the right time. He did a pretty good job at UNO for a year, quit to be an assistant at Marquette and gets the head job at Marquette a year later. He'd have never gotten that job as head man at UNO.

Hold on to your hats. I don't see Buzz coming here, but if he does, it would be quite a coup for SMU.

The compensation package we are prepared to offer is nothing short of phenomenal.

If SMU is going to get their alumni to pony up $2.5 mill for a coach, it's hardly a shock to land someone like Williams - that's what that money will buy. Williams inherited a good thing at Marquette, but he didn't screw it up either (as many coaches have done in similar situations).

(03-25-2012 02:23 AM)EdisonDoyle Wrote:  If SMU is going to get their alumni to pony up $2.5 mill for a coach, it's hardly a shock to land someone like Williams - that's what that money will buy. Williams inherited a good thing at Marquette, but he didn't screw it up either (as many coaches have done in similar situations).

You're supposed to say no pun intended or pardon the pun.

I just dont see him coming to SMU. Sorry.

SMU has so much money but can't seem to be successful in anything.....basketball is totally irrelevant, don't even field a baseball team, and June Jones has underachieved thus far.

Meanwhile, we pay our coaches at USM kibbles and bits (comparably speaking)....win conference championships in football and baseball....and our basketball team just went dancing.

I'm just saying....if I was a SMU fan, I'd be one disgruntled motherf-er.

(03-25-2012 10:40 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  SMU has so much money but can't seem to be successful in anything.....basketball is totally irrelevant, don't even field a baseball team, and June Jones has underachieved thus far.

Meanwhile, we pay our coaches at USM kibbles and bits (comparably speaking)....win conference championships in football and baseball....and our basketball team just went dancing.

I'm just saying....if I was a SMU fan, I'd be one disgruntled motherf-er.

Really? I think he's done a hell of a job with SMU. It's a complete rebuilding job and took the Ponys to two Bowl games and beat a BCS team (Pitt) in one of those games. Thats quite the accomplishment for a team returning from the dead.

This is the type of monetary commitment that got SMU invited to the Big East. If some other CUSA schools had that type of alumni contributions they might have been invited too.

(03-25-2012 12:54 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 10:40 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  SMU has so much money but can't seem to be successful in anything.....basketball is totally irrelevant, don't even field a baseball team, and June Jones has underachieved thus far.

Meanwhile, we pay our coaches at USM kibbles and bits (comparably speaking)....win conference championships in football and baseball....and our basketball team just went dancing.

I'm just saying....if I was a SMU fan, I'd be one disgruntled motherf-er.

Really? I think he's done a hell of a job with SMU. It's a complete rebuilding job and took the Ponys to two Bowl games and beat a BCS team (Pitt) in one of those games. Thats quite the accomplishment for a team returning from the dead.

This is the type of monetary commitment that got SMU invited to the Big East. If some other CUSA schools had that type of alumni contributions they might have been invited too.

For $2 mill a year, there's an argument that that's underachieving. Any number of coaches could have achieved what he's achieved, but, if they're assistants, you don't know who they are until they do it. But Jones was a sure thing and you have to pay for a sure thing. SMU is obviously using the same approach in basketball and they're going to have to pay for it.
But the biggest thing SMU did was relax its recruiting standards down to NCAA minimums, including taking JCs.

(03-25-2012 01:09 PM)EdisonDoyle Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 12:54 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 10:40 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  SMU has so much money but can't seem to be successful in anything.....basketball is totally irrelevant, don't even field a baseball team, and June Jones has underachieved thus far.

Meanwhile, we pay our coaches at USM kibbles and bits (comparably speaking)....win conference championships in football and baseball....and our basketball team just went dancing.

I'm just saying....if I was a SMU fan, I'd be one disgruntled motherf-er.

Really? I think he's done a hell of a job with SMU. It's a complete rebuilding job and took the Ponys to two Bowl games and beat a BCS team (Pitt) in one of those games. Thats quite the accomplishment for a team returning from the dead.

This is the type of monetary commitment that got SMU invited to the Big East. If some other CUSA schools had that type of alumni contributions they might have been invited too.

For $2 mill a year, there's an argument that that's underachieving. Any number of coaches could have achieved what he's achieved, but, if they're assistants, you don't know who they are until they do it. But Jones was a sure thing and you have to pay for a sure thing. SMU is obviously using the same approach in basketball and they're going to have to pay for it.
But the biggest thing SMU did was relax its recruiting standards down to NCAA minimums, including taking JCs.

Im sorry but not "anyone" could have done the job June Jones did at SMU, if it were possible they would have done this sooner. In what three years they went to two bowls and won their division? He brought that team back from the dead. Just wait until he can sell being in a BCS conference to recruits.

(03-25-2012 01:19 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 01:09 PM)EdisonDoyle Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 12:54 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 10:40 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  SMU has so much money but can't seem to be successful in anything.....basketball is totally irrelevant, don't even field a baseball team, and June Jones has underachieved thus far.

Meanwhile, we pay our coaches at USM kibbles and bits (comparably speaking)....win conference championships in football and baseball....and our basketball team just went dancing.

I'm just saying....if I was a SMU fan, I'd be one disgruntled motherf-er.

Really? I think he's done a hell of a job with SMU. It's a complete rebuilding job and took the Ponys to two Bowl games and beat a BCS team (Pitt) in one of those games. Thats quite the accomplishment for a team returning from the dead.

This is the type of monetary commitment that got SMU invited to the Big East. If some other CUSA schools had that type of alumni contributions they might have been invited too.

For $2 mill a year, there's an argument that that's underachieving. Any number of coaches could have achieved what he's achieved, but, if they're assistants, you don't know who they are until they do it. But Jones was a sure thing and you have to pay for a sure thing. SMU is obviously using the same approach in basketball and they're going to have to pay for it.
But the biggest thing SMU did was relax its recruiting standards down to NCAA minimums, including taking JCs.

Im sorry but not "anyone" could have done the job June Jones did at SMU, if it were possible they would have done this sooner. In what three years they went to two bowls and won their division? He brought that team back from the dead. Just wait until he can sell being in a BCS conference to recruits.

He had that to sell last year - his recruiting was the same as it has been. (BCS is going away, anyway).
I didn't say "anyone". I said "any number of coaches" - the problem is finding those coaches from the ranks of assistants. SMU paid for a proven commodity. The biggest change at SMU, again, was relaxing recruiting standards such that they don't automatically disqualify themselves from 1/2 of the potential recruits. Both were good moves by SMU.

SMU needed a coach with enough gravitas, for lack of a better word, to force the administration to make major changes. Not just any coach could have accomplished that. No football program in the nation had so much going against them as SMU. You have to understand where we were - stuck in an ever changing western-based conference, academic hurdles that made it impossible to even recruit on a level playing field, few majors that appeal to athletes, no practice facility, and no budget, among many other smaller hurdles.

In the 18 years from the DP until Jones arrived, SMU averaged 3.1 wins per year. Had we stayed in the SWC, that number would have been under 2. Not just any coach would have been able to reverse that losing culture that had settled on the program. He inherited a 1-11 team, and after another 1-11 campaign, had SMU in a bowl with 8 wins in his second year.

Most of those roadblocks are gone or in the process of being changed. And frankly, going from where we were to three straight bowls, is nothing short of a miracle.

The Basketball hire will be expected to do some of the same things. Change the culture and demand the changes necessary to make SMU nationally competitive. The money will be there to do whatever it takes.

In many ways, basketball has benefited from the Jones hire. They have a new practice facility, the academic changes, Moody renovation coming shortly and a move to the Big East. The next coach will greatly benefit from all of that.

$2 million a year? You better win conference. These are all his players now.

(03-25-2012 02:32 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  $2 million a year? You better win conference. These are all his players now.

Won the division like what two years ago?

I won't say he has underachieved up to this point but I will be saying it going forward if we do not take the next leap forward.

Glad we are going after Buzz. We could hope to find an assistant somewhere that could do as good of a job but rather go with a sure thing if possible.

(03-25-2012 01:37 PM)EdisonDoyle Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 01:19 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 01:09 PM)EdisonDoyle Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 12:54 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 10:40 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  SMU has so much money but can't seem to be successful in anything.....basketball is totally irrelevant, don't even field a baseball team, and June Jones has underachieved thus far.

Meanwhile, we pay our coaches at USM kibbles and bits (comparably speaking)....win conference championships in football and baseball....and our basketball team just went dancing.

I'm just saying....if I was a SMU fan, I'd be one disgruntled motherf-er.

Really? I think he's done a hell of a job with SMU. It's a complete rebuilding job and took the Ponys to two Bowl games and beat a BCS team (Pitt) in one of those games. Thats quite the accomplishment for a team returning from the dead.

This is the type of monetary commitment that got SMU invited to the Big East. If some other CUSA schools had that type of alumni contributions they might have been invited too.

For $2 mill a year, there's an argument that that's underachieving. Any number of coaches could have achieved what he's achieved, but, if they're assistants, you don't know who they are until they do it. But Jones was a sure thing and you have to pay for a sure thing. SMU is obviously using the same approach in basketball and they're going to have to pay for it.
But the biggest thing SMU did was relax its recruiting standards down to NCAA minimums, including taking JCs.

Im sorry but not "anyone" could have done the job June Jones did at SMU, if it were possible they would have done this sooner. In what three years they went to two bowls and won their division? He brought that team back from the dead. Just wait until he can sell being in a BCS conference to recruits.

He had that to sell last year - his recruiting was the same as it has been. (BCS is going away, anyway).
I didn't say "anyone". I said "any number of coaches" - the problem is finding those coaches from the ranks of assistants. SMU paid for a proven commodity. The biggest change at SMU, again, was relaxing recruiting standards such that they don't automatically disqualify themselves from 1/2 of the potential recruits. Both were good moves by SMU.

No he didnt have the BCS angle to sell last year. Also the BCS as we know it might be going away but the Big East is a clear step up from CUSA. Sorry guys, but we all know thats the truth. The Big East will still have a seat at the playoff table. They do have some allies (Notre Dame) at the table with them.

http://frankthetank.wordpress.com/2012/0...cs-system/

"1. The Seven Founders – It’s telling that in Jim Delany’s quotes about the openness to discussing a plus-one, he specifically referenced the “Seven Founders” of the BCS system: the Big Ten, Pac-12, SEC, Big 12, ACC, Big East and that massive coast-to-coast conference known as the University of Notre Dame. What it means is that any opposition to a particular proposal by the Big Ten (and potentially the Pac-12 and Notre Dame) shouldn’t be framed as being against the wishes of the 9 other FBS conferences. Instead, the Big Ten, Pac-12 and Notre Dame represent 3 of the Seven Founders, which means that the SEC and ACC can’t just ram their old seeded plus-one proposal through. It also shows that the opinions of the non-AQ conferences literally don’t matter here. They might technically have a vote and can provide some input, but nothing is going to be changed unless it makes the Seven Founders happy.

2. Big East as a Swing Vote? – The fact that the Big East, at least for now, is still considered to be one of the Seven Founders (despite the fact that the only current Big East football member that was part of the league when the BCS system began in 1998 is Rutgers) could become a key point. It seems clear that the SEC and ACC support a seeded plus-one, with the Big 12 probably jumping aboard. On the other side, the Big Ten, Pac-12* and Notre Dame appear to be fairly aligned. With a potential 3-3 deadlock, where the Big East ends up could become the deciding factor to the system that ultimately gets put into place. From a pure Big East standpoint, this is a great thing since it can leverage that swing vote position (the Justice Kennedy of the BCS) to possibly preserve access to the top bowls that it might not otherwise receive if the all of the bowl selections went to an open market. For example, the new system might require each BCS bowl to have a contractual tie-in with one of the Seven Founders, which means that if a fifth BCS bowl is added (such as the Cotton Bowl), one of them will need to have a tie-in with the Big East. That Big East tie-in could be made much more palatable if it includes access to Notre Dame (i.e. a bowl can select the higher ranked of either Notre Dame or the Big East champ in any given year). Speaking of which, Notre Dame certainly has a self-interest in preserving the Big East, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Big East ends up in a voting bloc with the Irish, Big Ten and Pac-12 since the Domers are going to be more willing to offer the fledgling league protection than, say the ACC and Big 12 that just raided them. To be sure, the Big East isn’t anywhere near out of the woods yet (as the prospect of the Big 12 raiding it again for Louisville and Rutgers is the one conference realignment move that I see is plausible over the next year), but at least it’s not completely all doom and gloom."

(03-25-2012 02:41 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 02:32 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  $2 million a year? You better win conference. These are all his players now.

Won the division like what two years ago?

Is that what 2 million a year gets you? By the way why are you here? You want to talk smack about the commitment level of C-USA schools. I would say that USM and ECU are pretty damn committed to playing high level football. SMU got in because they built their school on the right plot of land, good for them.

(03-25-2012 02:59 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 02:41 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 02:32 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  $2 million a year? You better win conference. These are all his players now.

Won the division like what two years ago?

Is that what 2 million a year gets you? By the way why are you here? You want to talk smack about the commitment level of C-USA schools. I would say that USM and ECU are pretty damn committed to playing high level football. SMU got in because they built their school on the right plot of land, good for them.

I didnt talk smack, i pointed out why they were invited. You need to spend money to make money. SMU alumni stepped up and opened their wallets.

You might not appreciate what June Jones has done at SMU and quite frankly sounds like you're a bit jealous that SMU can dish out that kind of dough, but most sports fan knows how hard that job was to take. Ever wonder where USM would be if they got the death penalty the same time? I bet you'd be pretty happy to have Jones and a division title.

(03-25-2012 03:09 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 02:59 PM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 02:41 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  

(03-25-2012 02:32 PM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  $2 million a year? You better win conference. These are all his players now.

Won the division like what two years ago?

Is that what 2 million a year gets you? By the way why are you here? You want to talk smack about the commitment level of C-USA schools. I would say that USM and ECU are pretty damn committed to playing high level football. SMU got in because they built their school on the right plot of land, good for them.

I didnt talk smack, i pointed out why they were invited. You need to spend money to make money. SMU alumni stepped up and opened their wallets.

You might not appreciate what June Jones has done at SMU and quite frankly sounds like you're a bit jealous that SMU can dish out that kind of dough, but most sports fan knows how hard that job was to take. Ever wonder where USM would be if they got the death penalty the same time? I bet you'd be pretty happy to have Jones and a division title.

I'm an ECU fan first of all, and we are spending plenty of money, selling out our stadium every game, and building new facilities everywhere. About to start construction on a 15 million dollar basketball practice facility in June, opened up a new track and field facility, Olympic sports building, soccer field, softball stadium, and 7,000 seat football stadium expansion. I don't want to hear crap about us not spending or investing. We've invested over 100 million in new facilities over the last 4 years. So save your lectures to me about being committed.

(03-25-2012 02:54 PM)NJRedMan Wrote:  No he didnt have the BCS angle to sell last year. Also the BCS as we know it might be going away but the Big East is a clear step up from CUSA. Sorry guys, but we all know thats the truth. The Big East will still have a seat at the playoff table. They do have some allies (Notre Dame) at the table with them.

You are wrong. He absolutely did have the BE to recruit to. SMU was invited and accepted well before the signing date. Try again. And do you really think that the opportunity to play Lou and Cincy is some great recruiting aid? It isn't - been there, done that.

Yes, the BE is ahead of the Alliance. "Big step up"...hardly. It just isn't. The schools have no inherent advantages over the Alliance schools: they have no more tradition, are not higher profile schools than the Alliance. What they mostly do is play better football right now.
And I have no doubt that the BE will fight to the end to keep their BCS payday, because they know they can't compete for major bowls in the open market.
But if the BE is so great, why are they so scared of actually EARNING their position.