Marquette News, Marquette Recruiting, Ray Mernagh

THE BELLY OF THE BE-AST: THE ‘BUZZ’ AT MARQUETTE

by RAY MERNAGH

When you grow up in a place like Van Alstyne, Texas — pronounced Van Alsteeen — you learn important things you might miss out on if you come up in a place with more entertainment options. You see there isn’t a whole heck of a lot to do when your options for fun are the Post Office, the bank, the donut shop and the convenience store. Marquette coach Buzz Williams is a Van Alstyne native and by the time he was leaving for Navarro College in 1990 they were getting ready to close that dang donut shop. “The year I left they shut it down,” says Williams, “didn’t have enough money to keep it going.”

No, there wasn’t much to do in a town of 1500 people that didn’t have a stoplight, but there was plenty of time to learn certain lessons. Like how to treat people right, be honest, and work hard. Williams knew he wanted to coach basketball, and he made sure his professional path started his first day of college when he walked up to Lewis Orr and introduced himself. Orr was the basketball coach at Navarro and immediately made Williams his student manager, often the first step in a career for coaches that don’t play hoops in college. Williams worked under Orr for two years on the Juco level at Navarro, then moved on and did the same thing at Oklahoma City University before getting his first job as an assistant at the University of Texas-Arlington. As Williams worked his way up the coaching ladder he stayed in touch with the man who had become his mentor. “Once I left Navarro I made it a point to talk to coach at least once a week, every week, no matter what,” says Williams.

And while Williams was busy recruiting circles around other assistants in the five leagues he would work in before getting his first head job at New Orleans in the 2006-07 season, that mentor of his was busy winning games. Over a thirty-seven-year career — he spent five years at Lon Morris College before the thirty-two he put in at Navarro — Orr won 678 games. That’s the third most wins by any coach in Texas Junior College history and if you know anything about the kind of Juco ball they play in Texas, you know how impressive 678 wins is. Orr also gave six college head coaches their start in the business. All together pretty heady stuff for a man that coached for all the right reasons, and in relative obscurity, when compared to the world his protege now coaches in. And that’s a world that a lot of people felt Williams would never get a shot at after resigning from his job at New Orleans after only one season to become Tom Crean’s top assistant at Marquette in July of 2007.

I didn’t speak about this with Williams and he didn’t offer anything about that time either, so the following paragraph is my perception of what happened at New Orleans — gathered from many different folks in basketball, both at that time and more recently. The story’s been told and re-told, but now that we’re a few years out it’s certainly worth one more look with the added perspective that only time can provide. The term “career suicide” was being tossed around like a football at a Texas barbecue in regards to the decision Williams made to resign. Now, almost exactly two years later, UNO athletics are seemingly teetering on the brink of collapse. Reports have come out that coaches have told players in several sports to try and find other schools to play at, plus they’ve lost a highly successful baseball coach. In other words, things are touch and go. Money was found to save the programs this year but nobody is certain about what’s going to happen in the future. So when folks say a much rosier picture was painted for him than the one Williams found once he got there — it holds a lot of credence. It might have been career suicide to stay there! I think it’s safe to assume that one of the folks Williams leaned on heavily during that time was Lewis Orr.

Any way you look at it now, it’s clear Williams made a great decision by coming to Marquette, because it allowed him a year to both connect with a veteran team and recruit. And recruit some more. The Big East is a monster, and it doesn’t really matter if you have some Uber-combination of Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach on the bench if they can’t get players. Williams has proven in the past, and in his year on the job, that he can get players. Look at the incoming class for Marquette and you’ll find seven players that make up arguably the second best class in the league behind Villanova’s insane haul. Williams and his staff also have a jump on 2010 with a verbal from talented wing Aaron Bowen out of Jacksonville, Florida. “I think you’ve really got to string together three quality classes back-to-back-to-back to really get a footing in this league,” said Williams, “and we’re real excited about the kids we have coming in not only as players but as people because they fit what we’re trying to do at Marquette.”

And while Williams often talks, graciously, about not having enough “equity” among the coaches in the league to talk about certain topics, it was clear last season that Marquette hired a coach more than ready for the rigors of the Big East grind. MU went 25-10 overall and lost a heartbreaking –and controversial — game to Missouri in the second round of the NCAA tournament. It was easy to see that Williams has both the fire, and skill, to trade strategic blows with his more experienced peers. When Williams called me for this piece he was in Colorado Springs, watching his team’s next leader, Lazar Hayward, tryout for USA Basketball’s World University Games team. It’s evident Williams is trying to build a family atmosphere inside his program, both by his presence in Colorado Springs, and by who made the trip with him.

I asked Williams if he made the trip alone and he said, “no, coach is here with me.” As in Lewis Orr, the man who gave him his start in coaching. Orr had been sitting around his office last April when Williams called to tell him he’d been hired at Marquette. Williams also told his old boss that he wanted Orr to join him in Milwaukee as a consultant. “What’s a consultant do?” asked Orr.

Williams explained that the job basically entailed hanging around with the head coach. The 72-year-old coach — since inducted into the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame — retired from Navarro that night. They negotiated one rule: Coach Orr only stays on campus for nine days before returning home to Texas for an equal amount of days during the season. In the off-season, Orr often spends more time in Texas.

“The guys love him,” says Williams, “they know his impact on my life, that he’s 72-years old and was a college coach for 50 years. He’s just one of the best human beings I’ve ever had the opportunity to get to know. You know we talk a little bit about basketball at times, but really our relationship is on a much different level than just basketball and I’m very grateful for my relationship with him. When he’s on campus, he goes everywhere I go.”

Don’t think for a minute the loyalty Williams shows Orr escapes the notice of Marquette’s players. It’s the same loyalty they see Williams show to their graduated teammates, Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wes Matthews. Williams is in daily contact with the trio as they deal with the uncertainty that often accompanies the start of a professional career. Current Golden Eagles can feel safe knowing this is the same relationship they will one day share with their coach.

Treat people right.

Be honest.

Work hard.

Lessons Willaims learned in Van Alstyne, practiced at Navarro, and now teaches at Marquette.

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