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| Marquette’s lucky charm? |
Man, is Marquette fortunate.
Sure, its beloved Big East Conference is being ripped to shreds like an M. Night Shyamalan script. Founding members Syracuse and Pitt have jumped ship for the ACC, and Connecticut and Rutgers are boarding the very next lifeboat. Conference realignment is once again wreaking havoc on the college sports landscape. I’d suggest putting coins on the Big 12’s eyes, but some other conference would just grab them.
And yes, at a time when college football’s greed is driving the bus (some would say driving it off a cliff), all the balls used in Marquette’s athletic department are round. Moreover, any suggestions the Golden Eagles start football anew have met with the success of your average bipartisan effort in Washington.
And oh, by the way, this all comes at a time when Marquette doesn’t even have a permanent athletic director. Hasn’t had one since the sudden summer resignation of Steve Cottingham, brought on by the school’s shoddy handling of student-athlete sexual assault allegations. Instead, Mike Broeker has been forced to handle things with the inherent constraints of an “interim athletic director” tag.
Yes, all of those headwinds are blowing squarely in Marquette’s face, and I’m still here to say the Eagles should be fitted for rabbit’s foot slippers. Because things could be far, far worse.
Can you imagine if the Eagles had to face this situation when its proud flagship – its men’s basketball team – was stuck in dry dock? If it were merely an average program or, even worse, in complete rebuilding mode? How could Marquette possibly market itself then? You don’t open many doors with, “Once upon a time, we were good.” Just ask DePaul.
Instead, the Eagles can present a hoops highlight reel that includes six straight NCAA appearances, last season’s the Sweet 16 run and one of the sport’s hottest coaches. Remember how other schools were fighting over Buzz Williams? Where would Marquette be now if he’d left? Trying to sell optimism with a side of hope that the new guy might work out.
But now, Marquette can sell basketball results. It can package that with basketball tradition. And it can make the pitch with one of basketball’s best salesmen in Williams. Included in the deal is a fine roster of Olympic sports programs that have enjoyed their own share of success.
Could Marquette fans feel more comfortable if the Big East remained unchanged? Sure. The Eagles were in mid-boast of making steady headway in the country’s strongest basketball conference.
Could Marquette fans feel more comfortable with a football program that could drive the bus? Sure. But it has enough basketball cred to at least have a bus ticket.
And could Marquette fans feel better with more stability in their athletic department? Sure. But by all accounts, Broeker is the right man to have in there now, and Marquette should ditch that whole interim thing.
Frankly, there are a lot of ways Marquette could be sailing smoother waters. But this realignment hurricane could have threatened to sink the whole ship.
Marquette is darn lucky that it’s not.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter, where I tweet as howiemag. And listen to me chat sports with Mitch Teich once a month on WUWM’s “Lake Effect.”
