Marquette News, Ray Mernagh

NBE STAFF SUPPORT SERIES: TONY BENFORD, MARQUETTE

by RAY MERNAGH

Tony Benford is settled in after more than a year on Buzz Williams’ staff at Marquette, doing what he does as well as any assistant around (recruiting). Settled in and comfortable with everything…except maybe the Wisconsin winters.

“I love it here,” says Benford, “and more important my family loves it here, but the weather took a minute to get used to especially in the Winter months!” Benford can be excused for having some brittle bones when that Hawk whips through him, after all, this is a guy who spent the better part of his coaching career in Arizona and New Mexico (good luck finding an inch of snow in those spots, let alone three feet). Benford was at Nebraska for two years, doing his thing for Doc Sadler, when Williams reached out with an inquiry about interest in making the move to Milwaukee. And it didn’t take Benford long to decide it was a move he had to make.

“The history of the program, the national title, Al McGuire, plus what Tom Crean did here with Dwyane Wade and Travis Diener and all those guys was impressive,” says Benford. He readily admits he didn’t fully realize the scope of Marquette basketball’s hold on the city and region until he arrived and spent some time representing the brand, mainly because you have to live there to appreciate it. Chicago and the Midwest are more than familiar with the program that used to be known as the Warriors, before political correctness intervened and turned them into birds. One assumes with Wade’s legacy firmly intact as one of the best basketball players in the world, the fact that he started building that resume, at least on a national level, an hour and a half outside the Windy City has to make the ears of Chicago kids perk up a little bit when they get a call from Marquette. All of these things were attractive to Benford, but he makes it clear what the biggest attraction was: “Buzz Williams, and the way he works as if he was still an assistant at Texas Arlington and not in charge of a Big East program,” says Benford, “is the reason I came to Marquette, and it’s important for me to say that before this conversation ends.” Well, as you can imagine, that statement took us on a whole other path for another 15 minutes or so because it was so intriguing to me.

You hear about the workhorses in college basketball all the time, but what a lot of folks don’t realize is what a PR/snow job that often is. There’s guys known as maniacal workers at the highest level — and maybe they are as far as micro-managing their staff, updating their Twitters or scheduling their next tee time — that aren’t motivated to pick up the phone and call recruits that their program desperately needs. Assistants can only do so much, at the end of the day, recruits feel a lot better if they’re hearing from the big guy as much as their primaries. And recruits are hearing from Williams…constantly. The reason that’s so important to any assistant worth his salt is because they all want to be head coaches too. If you’re an assistant and your boss is satisfied and comfortable cashing that 15-45K every two weeks while forgetting — at least for the majority of head coaches — the work and hustle it took them to reach that income level, you better look for another boss. Because that retirement or nest egg the boss is going to enjoy isn’t going to be there for you once his butt gets bounced after too many 15-20 win seasons. Benford, who’s been around the block and back again, clearly wants to be in a position where if he does his job well — which he always has — he’ll be rewarded for it with a head coaching opportunity.

Williams even talks about it in Benford’s official Marquette Bio saying the following: “He has great relationships in the Midwest,” Williams added. “Because he’s a former player and because of the places he’s been and the coaches that he’s worked for, he has the ability to do a lot of different things, not just recruit and not just coach. He’ll be great with our guys, he’ll be great on the floor. His next move will be as a head coach – that’s my opinion. He has impeccable character, and all of the attributes needed to guide his own program in the very near future.” The Marquette Boss has plans for a lot of success, and Benford is a guy that can help the Golden Eagles achieve it. None of the coaches on the staff golf — that’s jaw-dropping in itself — because their too busy working.

Benford’s now been in the Pac-10, the Big 12 and the Big East. He has a grasp on the national scene that rivals or betters any assistant coach out there. He’s extremely excited about Marquette‘s freshmen class, and I asked him specifically about point guard Junior Cadougan, the latest floor leader out of Ro Russell’s Grassroots Canada machine. “I compare him to guys who’ve had a lot of success in this league,” says Benford, “guys like Sherman Douglas and John Bagley. He’s very heady and the thing that’s real special is his ability to hit guys with a pass that leads them into a shot, particularly bigs.” Benford thinks all their incoming recruits, while not McDonald’s All Americans, are “impact guys” that will help the Golden Eagles transition after losing the three-headed monster of McNeal, Matthews and James.

Williams wants Marquette to play up-tempo and when you’re on TV as much as the Big East is, that philosophy will connect with recruits all over. The tradition Benford talked about can be sold even harder on the recruiting trail because that three-headed beast got so much exposure last season and they were running and pushing the ball as opposed to running 300 sets every game. That attracts kids. Guys like Benford, with ex-players like Ike Diogu, Kenny Thomas, Eddie House and Jeff Pendergraph on his resume, attracts kids. Communication with the head coach as much as the assistants attracts guys. Recruiting is building relationships that ultimately lead to success. When that success happens, and it will, Benford’s phone will ring.

And he won’t be on the golf course when he answers it.

Previous Staff Support Features:

Cary Collins, Providence
Rob Murphy, Syracuse
Josh Eilert, West Virginia