"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

It was just 46 days ago......

It was just 46 days ago we penned this...... Why Cottingham?


We mentioned how concerned we were about the doomsday scenario of him having to hire a coach. The scary part is we won't know if he screwed this up for a couple of years, but I'd say the early prognosis is a collective OH CRAP!

6 comments:

Karen said...

Wow. Way to underwhelm us, MU. Let's see, we're mortgaging the future of the basketball program so that we can hang on to 3 current players and 3 future players? Oh but wait. Buzz has head coaching experience...with a losing record. So we hired a top-notch recruiter with questionable coaching skills. In my book that's called a step down.

Regarding Cottingham, I know an alum who wrote a letter to the Journal Sentinel criticizing Crean's coaching. Cottingham called the alum and basically yelled at him and told him he was wrong. He didn't say anything to make that alum feel better - he scolded him. What an unclassy guy.

All in all, I couldn't be more disappointed.

Karen said...

I almost forgot to rant about this: a SIX YEAR contract?!!! Seriously?! Seriously?!

jce said...

I have a question because my memory on this is hazy...did Bill Cords sign Bob Dukiet? I know that Cords started in the summer of 1987, and I know that Majerus resigned late but I can't remember who made the actual hire.

I guess my point is this. Cords batted .500 when it came to hiring men's basketball coaches. Cords made a very, very bad mistake his first year on the job when he got us in the MCC - I think we were very fortunate to be caught up in a wave of conference changes a little later that got us into the Great Midwest.

Cottingham may have made a mistake here. If so, it likely will not be the only one he makes. I can tell you this, knowing MU, even if Buzz is a complete disaster, they will be loyal to Cottingham. He is our AD.

Liam said...

It's pretty clear they couldn't get anyone else because there is no way this could have been one of their top 5 candidates. If there are some assurances that Otule, Fulce, and E. Williams will come to MU because of Buzz it stilll doesn't justify the hire. Nevertheless, you always have to give a guy a chance, and we will clearly have enough talent next year to see if this guy can coach at all. The Mbakwe loss is devestating, but I can't see Dominic or Jarel leaving. If the next two or three years are a complete disaster, the only way we can salvage this debacle is to change our name back to Warriors. Like most everyone else I think this is a bad choice, but for now we have to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. This is very depressing to say the least, I thought we could land Lowery or Grant.

muwarrior92 said...

No, Bill Cords did not hire Bob Dukiet, that was Hank Raymonds that hired Bob Dukiet.

Bill Cords fired Bob Dukiet.

Gene Frenkle said...

Liam, Even if this guy CAN coach...lets say he takes next year's senior-laden team to the NCAA and loses in round one. I mean, I knew if Crean lost this year people would be out for his scalp. But now, you got an unproven guy but a proven, talented team (albeit, not one that's made a deep run in the NCAA).

Talk about putting the guy under pressure.

Cottingham is awful and this decision is almost unforgivable considering we are now in the Big East. Three bad years in the Big East spells a five to six year rebuilding plan.

Six year contract? SIX YEAR CONTRACT??!!!