by GoldenWarrior11 » Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:39 pm
Huge thread on this on scoop, but let me summarize:
No, Wojo is not on the hot seat (in terms of administration). His seat is ice cold. He is the perfect ambassador for the school and its current leadership. He says and does all the right things. He is recruiting well. He is buttoned-up (yes, this matters to our current admin). Yes, the team has really struggled over the past few weeks, and got embarrassingly blown out by Butler and lost a close game on National Marquette Day. However, make no mistake that this team is young and inexperienced. From last year's tournament team (which had Fisher, Johnson, Reinhardt and Rowsey as leadership), it now is largely composed of sophomores and freshmen. With Joey Hauser coming in next year, with hopefully a more balanced and experienced roster, the team will absolutely be better (barring an unexpected transfer), and expected to make a run in the tournament.
However, having said that, there are some red flags in many eyes of some MU faithful. Wojo's in-game coaching continually gets critiqued. From the Howard/Rousey set-up, to his player development, to the fact that MU always appears to be undermanned and unexpectedly loses a key player, there have been repeated speed bumps to getting the program back on track. His snap at a reporter on Saturday did not help his cause. I, personally, hope Rob Judson gets promoted to a full-time assistant next year. He needs a former HC on the bench with him. He also needs to fix the defensive issues that have plagued us every year he has been here. Every player on the roster is a recruit of his. There shouldn't be any excuses in that department.
Bottom line, Marquette spends and expects to be a tournament team every single year. It was expected to be a rebuild after Buzz (who did a lot of phenomenal things while HC here). However, in year four - a year where Wojo was expected to finally have a roster full of "his" guys - the team still plays porous defense and once again looks like it will lacking a true point guard to run every thing next year (a grad transfer at point is very likely). If the team isn't where it is expected to be next year, in year five, it is more than fair to wonder whether he is the right fit for the job.