ESPN Shoddy Journalism

[ge1974]

Myron Metcalf is a joke:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10987296/looking-bad-head-coaching-jobs-college-basketball

Marquette
I grew up in Milwaukee. Everyone in the area recognizes Marquette as a school with high academic standards and an occasionally impressive basketball program. But the top local athletes would choose Wisconsin over Marquette in most situations.. Probably correct but tell that to Wes Matthews, Deonte Burton, Duane Wilson and others. The Chicago kids that a successful Marquette coach has to pursue have a multitude of options, too. The city has a lot to offer but the area that surrounds the campus doesn't showcase the highs. And the Golden Eagles are residents of a Big East that lacks the lucrative TV deal that the old Big East commanded (MU is making more with FOX than they did with the old Big East contract. That's a problem for a Marquette team that spends significantly more per participant than any other Big East school. The Golden Eagles could use more cash. The private university is wrestling with financial problems.. We are not that different than other universities - plus how does he know? And it's in the middle of a messy transitional period within its administrative ranks. The new regime could create academic barriers that might affect Steve Wojciechowski's recruiting plans. Add the fact that the Golden Eagles play in the old U.S. Cellular Arena, and it's easier to see why Marquette isn't the most appealing job in college basketball. - Incredible.

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

He took down the portion about the US Cellular arena now after Broeker called him out.

[ge1974]

He conveniently didn't even mention our practice facilities. However, I'm sure he's never been to the AL. I think he is the same guy who picked us #16 of the Sweet 16 teams two years ago...then we crished Miami.

[MU/Panther]

He thought MU played at the Arena. Sorry, it's not 1988. As a fan of the arena with the upgrades, it's a classic basketball arena.

[Mark Miller]

Big East TV deal is lucrative for the 10 schools in the league. Fox Sports 1 is new to the game, but the money it gives to the schools is considerable. Marquette ranked No. 15 in attendance nationally in 2012-13. It plays at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, not the US Cellular Arena. MU hasn't played at the Cell for more than 20 years now. The top talent in Milwaukee in recent years includes guys like J.P. Tokoto (North Carolina), Kevon Looney (UCLA), Duane Wilson (Marquette), Luke Fischer (Indiana, transfer to Marquette), Deonte Burton (Marquette) and in 2015 ... Diamond Stone. On MU's 2003 Final Four team were other local stars, including Steve Novak (Brown Deer), Robert Jackson (Milwaukee Washington), Travis Diener (Fond du Lac). Scott Merritt (Wauwatosa East) and Terry Sanders (Milwaukee Vincent). MU has hired a new President with an impressive background and will hire a new A.D. in coming months. It also reached the Sweet 16 in three of the past four years. Hardly qualifies as a "bad" job.

[kneelb4zerg]

Wojo could have taken plenty of jobs. He could have stayed as the lead assistant at Duke. Coach K backed him because it's a great job. Coincidentally, the only team that spends more money on basketball than Marquette is Duke.

It is simply laughable that anyone could characterize this job as "one of the worst" in D1 college basketball.

[MU/Panther]

I like people writing on the ESPN comments sticking up for MU, Clemson & UNLV. Many pointing out that there is no SEC team on that list.

Why is it that so many black head coaches are leaving SEC jobs? Tubby went from UK to Minnesota. Johnson left LSU to TCU. Heith left Missouri to Tulsa. Martin left Tennessee to Cal.

[TheSultan]

Well, Tubby, Johnson and Haith all left because they got a lifeline from another school about a year before they were going to get canned. Martin left because I think that relationship was beyond repair.

Currently there are four black coaches in the SEC: Anderson at Arkansas, Jones at LSU, Grant at Alabama, and Ray at Mississippi State. I'm pretty sure that matches the Pac 12 (Dawkins, Romar, Martin, Kent) for the most of any major basketball conference.

[Goose85]

An overall poor job. Really, MU with its facilities, the money spent, playing in an NBA facility 6 blocks from campus, and with the success Crean and Buzz had is a worse job than honorable mention DePaul? Am I reading the correctly?

By the way, not sure when Metcalf was last in Milwaukee, but the the campus (for an urban university) and facilities are pretty nice.

As Mark pointed out, many of the top local athletes are not chosing Wisconsin, but MU or others. Did he even take a look at who has gone UW and who has gone MU?

[Goose85]

This is where some PR on MU's behalf wouldn't be a bad idea. Like it or not, people follow what ESPN has on it site and likely believe it too.

Take a page out of Al's playbook and have Wojo personally invite Metcalf to MU for a game or for MU madness or the BBQ, something. Take a negative and turn it into a positive. Get the guy who claims he is from Milwaukee back to the city he obviously hasn't been to in a long while.

[MU/Panther]

Well, Tubby, Johnson and Haith all left because they got a lifeline from another school about a year before they were going to get canned. Martin left because I think that relationship was beyond repair.

Currently there are four black coaches in the SEC: Anderson at Arkansas, Jones at LSU, Grant at Alabama, and Ray at Mississippi State. I'm pretty sure that matches the Pac 12 (Dawkins, Romar, Martin, Kent) for the most of any major basketball conference.

They still left, which makes many SEC jobs, bad jobs. Nobody in the deep south cares about basketball that much anymore.

[Markedman]

Paint Touches does a nice job of taking this apart.
http://painttouches.com/2014/05/27/is-marquette-a-bad-job-does-espn-have-editors/

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

https://twitter.com/nicknoskowiak/status/471327153293131776

[CaribouJim]

In a case like this does the editor take him to the woodshed for so, so many misstatements? Just deplorable stuff.

I agree with ge1974 on the omission of the AL as well. When completed, it was arguably the best practice facility in the country. I'm sure some have passed the AL since then, but still an exceptional place and facilities for both games and practice are right up there in determining factors for taking a job or not.

Horrific article.

[TheSultan]

https://twitter.com/nicknoskowiak/status/471327153293131776

lol....

[mufan2003]

Big East TV deal is lucrative for the 10 schools in the league. Fox Sports 1 is new to the game, but the money it gives to the schools is considerable. Marquette ranked No. 15 in attendance nationally in 2012-13. It plays at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, not the US Cellular Arena. MU hasn't played at the Cell for more than 20 years now. The top talent in Milwaukee in recent years includes guys like J.P. Tokoto (North Carolina), Kevon Looney (UCLA), Duane Wilson (Marquette), Luke Fischer (Indiana, transfer to Marquette), Deonte Burton (Marquette) and in 2015 ... Diamond Stone. On MU's 2003 Final Four team were other local stars, including Steve Novak (Brown Deer), Robert Jackson (Milwaukee Washington), Travis Diener (Fond du Lac). Scott Merritt (Wauwatosa East) and Terry Sanders (Milwaukee Vincent). MU has hired a new President with an impressive background and will hire a new A.D. in coming months. It also reached the Sweet 16 in three of the past four years. Hardly qualifies as a "bad" job.


Well said.

[MU/Panther]

I sent an e-mail out to him.

[MU/Panther]

I like the comment on Clemson, which I think shoudn't be on the list.
Bob Wise · Works at Self Employed (Business)

Clemson is about to spend millions on a rebuild of Littlejohn Coliseum. Long extension for Coach B. Looks like a strong commitment to me. Tough Job? Yes. Bad Job? I think not

[Phantom Warrior]

Apparently you can only comment if you are a member of Facebook, which I'm not. I am hoping that any MU fan who is on Facebook comments on the article and just blasts the s.o.b. to journalistic purgatory.

They also don't provide an e-mail address for this idiot. I would have to switch my e-mail to e-mail him directly.

Does anyone have his e-mail address? I want to send him an e-mail from my yahoo account.

What a frickin' tool this guy is.

[TheSultan]

You can reply via twitter. That's what Paint Touches did.

[Marquette]

Paint Touches does a nice job of taking this apart.
http://painttouches.com/2014/05/27/is-marquette-a-bad-job-does-espn-have-editors/

Agree but what is with the Philadelphia stuff?

Let’s take this a sentence at a time.

“I grew up in Milwaukee.” – Good start, making him an authority on the subject.

“Everyone in the area recognizes Marquette as a school with high academic standards and an occasionally impressive basketball program” – Who is this everyone? Most people in Philadelphia, my residence, have no idea if MU is good academically or not and simply know it as that school Dwyane Wade went to that plays Villanova every year. Nationally, the basketball reputation outweighs the academic.

Everyone in the area means the Milwaukee area, not Philadelphia.

[ge1974]

His email is mmedcalf3030@gmail.com.

[warriorfan4life]

Agree but what is with the Philadelphia stuff?

Let’s take this a sentence at a time.

“I grew up in Milwaukee.” – Good start, making him an authority on the subject.

“Everyone in the area recognizes Marquette as a school with high academic standards and an occasionally impressive basketball program” – Who is this everyone? Most people in Philadelphia, my residence, have no idea if MU is good academically or not and simply know it as that school Dwyane Wade went to that plays Villanova every year. Nationally, the basketball reputation outweighs the academic.

Everyone in the area means the Milwaukee area, not Philadelphia.

Greska now lives in Philly.

[Marquette]

Greska now lives in Philly.

Yes but that isn't the point. Moron Metcalf said, "I grew up in Milwaukee. Everyone in the area knows Marquette as....."

Gretska responded, "Everyone knows? Who is everyone? People in Philly..."

It was obvious the original writer meant "Everyone in Milwaukee knows Marquette as..."

My point was if you are going to rip on shoddy journalism, don't rip on it with shoddy journalism.

[Phantom Warrior]

I did e-mail him. Here is what I wrote.

Mr. Medcalf,

I don't even know where to begin. Let's just say I find your assessment of Marquette in terms of quality of coaching job an absolute joke.

Did you really say a program that sees "occasional success"? Seriously?

Would you honestly assess a program that made the NCAA Tournament eight consecutive years, from 2005-'06 through 2012-'13, as achieving "occasional" success? Marquette was one of only five high-major programs in the country that made the NCAA every year during that period. The others were Duke, Michigan State, Kansas, and Wisconsin. Check it out. You'll see I'm right.

In fact, how about this tidbit. During that same eight-year period only one team finished .500 or above in Big East conference play EVERY SINGLE YEAR. Guess which one. No, not Georgetown, not UConn, not Louisville, not Syracuse, not Villanova, not Pitt, not Notre Dame. Nope. It was MARQUETTE.

You want to guess how many of 72 high-major programs in the country managed to accomplish that same level of success. Yup. Duke, Kansas, Michigan State, and Wisconsin.....and Marquette.

How about your assertion that players from the state would pick UW over MU? Let's start with just RSCI Top 100 players. You do know what RSCI is, don't you?

Let's see. In the Class of 2000, Scott Merrit chose MU. In 2001, it was Travis Diener. In 2002 it was Steve Novak. In 2005 it was Wes Matthews. In 2007 it was Scott Christopherson (who did transfer when Crean left). In 2009 it was Jeronne Maymon. In 2010 it was Vander Blue. In 2013 it was Duane Wilson AND Deonte Burton. In the Class of 2014 it was Sandy Cohen. And in the Class of 2015 it is Nick Noskowiak. Let's do the math. That is 11 in-state recruits in the RSCI Top 100 that have chosen Marquette.

Who did UW get from the state in the RSCI Top 100 during that same stretch? Well, Boo Wade (who left school under a cloud, Devin Harris, Brian Butch, Greg Stiemsma, Trevon Hughes, Evan Anderson, Sam Dekker, and Bronson Koenig. That makes eight. Count them. Eight. (Anderson was so over-rated he hardly ever played in his five years at UW.)

Do you care to rethink your assertion that the best players in the state will pick UW over MU?

Do your homework.

What else? Well, others have already pointed out you got the venue wrong. And your t.v. contract statement was also false. By the way, it was the president of the University of Pittsburgh that submarined the initial ESPN - Big East t.v. deal.

Bottom line. You are a joke. You come off as a complete fool - too lazy to check your information.

Oh, one last thing. Go back and check the last decade in terms of months listed in the Top 20 in the country. I will bet you that you will discover that Marquette ranks among the top 20 programs in the country for number of months ranked in the Top 20.

You can take your article and shove it up your wazoo, Mr. Medcalf. That is if you can figure out where your wazoo is.

[MU/Panther]

Wow! Great e-mail with many facts! Your e-mail blew mine away.

He did take out the part of MU playing at US Cellular Arena. How does one even get that wrong as MU has been in the same arena as the Milwaukee Bucks, since 1988. Plus, the Cell got it's name in 2001.

[MUMac]

Wow! Great e-mail with many facts! Your e-mail blew mine away.

He did take out the part of MU playing at US Cellular Arena. How does one even get that wrong as MU has been in the same arena as the Milwaukee Bucks, since 1988. Plus, the Cell got it's name in 2001.

If he is going to take out all the errors, he may only be left with "I grew up in Milwaukee." That is, if he got that "fact" correct.

[Phantom Warrior]

Actually, my e-mail also contains a factual error. SC made a few Top 100 rankings, but he did not make RSCI Top 100, so the real figures should be 10 versus 8. Oh well. I doubt he'll bother to check my "facts," but even if he finds the mistake, my premise still holds true.

[Mark Miller]

Well done Phantom Warrioir. Well done!!!!

[Markedman]

We must have gotten bad in record time....a year ago Andy Glockner said it was difficult to leave Marquette out of the top 20 current programs......http://college-basketball.si.com/2013/09/23/ranking-college-basketballs-current-top-20-programs/

Good call on the AP polls Phantom....here is a link for you.....http://statsheet.com/mcb/rankings/report_most_in_the_top

[TheSultan]

Phantom...great letter. Could have added two in state, top 100 players transferred back to Marquette...Jamil and Luke.

[MUBasketball]

Phantom, did Medcalf respond?

[warriorfan4life]

Gopher fans just as impressed (http://www.brewcityball.com/forums/showthread.php?7457-ESPN-Shoddy-Journalism/page4), and those poor people had to live him with him as their beat writer before he somehow got a job at ESPN.

[milkbone]

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/boards/showthread.php?54016-Myron-continues-to-spread-his-joy-about-Minnesota-basketball

[Halo]

Excellent Phantom. Is there an editor there that you can send that too also? Would he be called out by his supervisor for being so wrong in an article? Or do they not even care at ESPN?

[mufan2003]

Also, MU is tied for 11th All-Time in NCAA Tourney appearances:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Men's_Division_I_Tournament_bids_by_school


Not to mention from 2011-2013....S16, S16, Elite 8 and 2nd in Big East followed by Big East champions. Not exactly like MU was just good back in the day. What was he smoking, was he thinking UWM when he thought of Milwaukee?

I emailed Medcalf as well.

[MU/Panther]

Gophers fans know MU hoops.

[kneelb4zerg]

There is no way MU should be anywhere near this stupid, traffic-trolling list. None.

[Phantom Warrior]

Did not hear back from Medcalf.

[Phantom Warrior]

I hope someone e-mails Medcalf the stat that shows MU ranking #17 among all D-1 programs in number of weeks ranked in the Top 25 beginning the with 2001-2002 season with a total of 128 weeks over those 13 seasons. I guess that qualifies as "occasional" success.

[TedBaxter]

He's an ESPN contributer who spent time at a Twin Cities newspaper. Former Minnesota State athlete. I don't worry about this kind of stuff anymore since most of these guys have as much or less knowledge than some message board posters

[Markedman]

I hope someone e-mails Medcalf the stat that shows MU ranking #17 among all D-1 programs in number of weeks ranked in the Top 25 beginning the with 2001-2002 season with a total of 128 weeks over those 13 seasons. I guess that qualifies as "occasional" success.

I tweeted the link to him……no response as you might expect