Buzz Williams

[MU88]

What was his beef that he ran off a president and AD?

 

Hopefully, you can follow this convoluted story.  Shortly after MU's President, Fr. Wild, announced his retirement, four athletes (assumed bball players) were accused of assaulting a student about 6 months earlier.  Evidently, the day after the incident, the accuser went to campus police, reported the incident, and then changed her mind.  The campus police (rent-a-cops) dropped it.  Unfortunately, that violated state law.  This came on the heels of a couple other incidents, e.g underage drinking tickets, a bar fight at a private party with some of the Bucks, etc.  The matter blew up and the AD at the time was forced to resign.  BTW, charges were never brought.  However, accuser went to the Chicago Tribune and they wrote a nasty article blasting MU.  The Milwaukee paper, not to be outdone, wrote a handful of unpleasant articles on MU.  At that point, the MU board hired Fr. Pilarz to replace Fr. Wild.  Pilarz, in turn, brought in a new AD, Larry Williams.  Evidently, the new hires were instructed to clean up the athletic program. Pilarz and Williams came down hard on the program including moving freshmen into regular dorms, limiting JUCO recruitng, etc.  In addition, Larry made some not so well received comments about Buzz in the press.  Clearly, Buzz and Larry did not get along.   Well, the tension resulted in donations dropping significantly.  It didn't help that the AD even declined a donation to build a new "athletic" dorm.  Well, the Board get fed up quick and Fr. Pilarz resigned after only 1 1/2 years on the job.  Fr. Wild came back as the interim.  (Side note, Buzz hand wrote a letter to Fr. Wild every three weeks during Wild's retirement.  Evidently, they have a very close relationship.)  Well, a couple of months after Fr. Wild's return, Larry Williams abruptly resigned.  Our old AD is now the interim AD.  It is expected that MU will name a new President at the end of April and he will name the new AD.  The assistant AD is a close friend of Buzz and many expect him to get serious consideration for the full time AD position. 

[Brad]

I hope no one at USF reads this.

[Reliable Source]

 

What was his beef that he ran off a president and AD?

 

Hopefully, you can follow this convoluted story.  Shortly after MU's President, Fr. Wild, announced his retirement, four athletes (assumed bball players) were accused of assaulting a student about 6 months earlier.  Evidently, the day after the incident, the accuser went to campus police, reported the incident, and then changed her mind.  The campus police (rent-a-cops) dropped it.  Unfortunately, that violated state law.  This came on the heels of a couple other incidents, e.g underage drinking tickets, a bar fight at a private party with some of the Bucks, etc.  The matter blew up and the AD at the time was forced to resign.  BTW, charges were never brought.  However, accuser went to the Chicago Tribune and they wrote a nasty article blasting MU.  The Milwaukee paper, not to be outdone, wrote a handful of unpleasant articles on MU.  At that point, the MU board hired Fr. Pilarz to replace Fr. Wild.  Pilarz, in turn, brought in a new AD, Larry Williams.  Evidently, the new hires were instructed to clean up the athletic program. Pilarz and Williams came down hard on the program including moving freshmen into regular dorms, limiting JUCO recruitng, etc.  In addition, Larry made some not so well received comments about Buzz in the press.  Clearly, Buzz and Larry did not get along.   Well, the tension resulted in donations dropping significantly.  It didn't help that the AD even declined a donation to build a new "athletic" dorm.  Well, the Board get fed up quick and Fr. Pilarz resigned after only 1 1/2 years on the job.  Fr. Wild came back as the interim.  (Side note, Buzz hand wrote a letter to Fr. Wild every three weeks during Wild's retirement.  Evidently, they have a very close relationship.)  Well, a couple of months after Fr. Wild's return, Larry Williams abruptly resigned.  Our old AD is now the interim AD.  It is expected that MU will name a new President at the end of April and he will name the new AD.  The assistant AD is a close friend of Buzz and many expect him to get serious consideration for the full time AD position. 

 

and some of our denizens think we trade in drama. yikes.

 

And to 88, thanks for the info, really helps w/ the perspective.And of course JCrew read the comments, drew them to their absurd conclusion and wound up with a view exactly counterpoised the truth.

 

and another reporting from major newspaper on Buzz income

 

Details of Buzz Williams' salary

By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel    

May 25, 2012

 

Newly released tax documents from Marquette University indicate men's basketball coach Buzz Williams earned $1,736,453 for the year ending June 30, 2011.

Williams earned a base salary of $1,001,125, according to the documents, which are public record and are sent to the Internal Revenue Service. In addition, Williams was paid a $69,000 bonus; earned $19,600 in retirement or other deferred compensation; and $15,478 in non-taxable benefits.

In addition, Team Buzz Williams LP, which includes Williams as a partner, was paid $631,250, according to the documents.

Marquette spokesman Brian Dorrington said "it was not uncommon for coaches of major revenue-generating college sports programs to have this type of an arrangement."

Williams, considered to be one of the highest paid college basketball coaches in the country, actually was paid less for the year ending June 30, 2011, than he was the year before. Based on tax documents for the year ending June 30, 2010, Williams was paid a total of $2,800,347. A total of $1,987,203 of that amount was a one-time bonus, school officials said.

In March 2011, Williams signed a multi-year contract with Marquette. The contract includes a rollover provision.

Williams' career record at Marquette is 96-45.

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/154187205.html

Edited March 20, 2014 by Bullwinkle

[yosoybullsfan]

Going to V Tech... Bummer

[Bull Martin]

He signed a 7 year 18 million dollar deal at VaTech.  That's almost $2.6 million a year.

 

Leads me to believe that maybe USF went after him and VaTech just payed more.  2 seems plausible at USF, 2.6 isn't.

[yosoybullsfan]

Agreed. The reality of being a non p 5 conference means we can be outspent. May be hard to get any proven this way. Could still be a good hire just not what some hoped as far as name recognition.

[hbryan]

He signed a 7 year 18 million dollar deal at VaTech.  That's almost $2.6 million a year.

 

Leads me to believe that maybe USF went after him and VaTech just payed more.  2 seems plausible at USF, 2.6 isn't.

 

$2.6M is chump change compared to the positive effect it would have on our donor list.  Shortsighted ******** nonsense from Fowler Avenue.  They're effectively destroying their own fan base by not wanting to reach for the golden chalice.  I may done playing this game with them.

 

P.S.$ 2.6M is only $0.15M more than Bruce Pearl got from Auburn and that was CHEAP!!!!

Edited March 22, 2014 by hbryan

[Joe]

It's a top 15 salary in basketball, but sure, we have that money...

[Triple B]

 

He signed a 7 year 18 million dollar deal at VaTech.  That's almost $2.6 million a year.

 

Leads me to believe that maybe USF went after him and VaTech just payed more.  2 seems plausible at USF, 2.6 isn't.

 

$2.6M is chump change compared to the positive effect it would have on our donor list.  Shortsighted ******** nonsense from Fowler Avenue.  They're effectively destroying their own fan base by not wanting to reach for the golden chalice.  I may done playing this game with them.

 

P.S.$ 2.6M is only $0.15M more than Bruce Pearl got from Auburn and that was CHEAP!!!!

 

 

I find it hard to believe that Buzz would have that much of an effect on the donor list ...

[hbryan]

 

 

He signed a 7 year 18 million dollar deal at VaTech.  That's almost $2.6 million a year.

 

Leads me to believe that maybe USF went after him and VaTech just payed more.  2 seems plausible at USF, 2.6 isn't.

 

$2.6M is chump change compared to the positive effect it would have on our donor list.  Shortsighted ******** nonsense from Fowler Avenue.  They're effectively destroying their own fan base by not wanting to reach for the golden chalice.  I may done playing this game with them.

 

P.S.$ 2.6M is only $0.15M more than Bruce Pearl got from Auburn and that was CHEAP!!!!

 

 

I find it hard to believe that Buzz would have that much of an effect on the donor list ...

 

 

Are you smoking the same stuff as Collin at Voodoo Five?  Buzz Williams is THE guy and the only guy after Bruce Pearl.  From my perspective, they've whiffed twice.  One, they didn't even consider Pearl (and I agree, they probably didn't even consider him for what may be multiple reasons) but they also whiffed on Buzz who they most definitely wanted.  He wanted to come here.........he did.  So in my mind, it came down to a money issue and USF didn't sack up.  Shame...shame....shame.