If you are a Marquette University men's basketball follower, you shouldn't have been startled that Brent "Buzz" Williams was promoted as the "Warriors" new head coach.

By all accounts, virtually the same geniuses who anointed Williams as Tom Crean's successor were the same geniuses who tried to shove down the collective throats of the MU community that wonderful nickname "Gold."

Some other Marquette musings:

* I met Williams once several months ago and he projected an easy-going, congenial demeanor. So, based on first impressions, I'm happy the guy was able to quadruple his salary.

However, what were the aforementioned "geniuses" thinking when they gave Williams a six-year contract? Six-year contracts are reserved for coaches with impeccable credentials. They are reserved for coaches who have NCAA Tournament wins on their resume.

But Williams' only head coaching experience was compiling an unimpressive 14-17 record at that basketball hotbed known as the University of New Orleans.

Nothing against Williams, but it's hard to fathom any major college basketball program would have hired him as its head coach - much less given him such a lengthy contract.

* If you believe Indiana University contacted Crean to be its new coach, and not vice versa, you are certainly entitled to that opinion.

That opinion, however, isn't shared by me. Ever since the "Warriors" went to the Final Four, Crean has quietly explored moving on to another school, starting with intense interest in the Illinois job that went to Bruce Weber.

* Some big-time MU boosters were convinced that if the "geniuses" had applied a full-court press on Washington State coach Tony Bennett - Dick's kid - he would have relocated to Milwaukee.

I totally disagree. The only way Bennett, whom I consider with Georgetown's John Thompson III as the best young college coaches in the U.S. of A., will be coming back to the Badger State is to replace Badgers coach Bo Ryan.

* There were a lot of pleasantries exchanged when Crean met with the Marquette players to tell him he was catching the first flight out of Milwaukee for Bloomington, Ind.

There were, I've been told, a lot of unpleasantries exchanged as well.

* While Crean and yours truly haven't been on the same page, much less the same chapter on a lot of issues during his tenure at Marquette, there were many things I truly admired about him.

The guy is a workaholic, constantly trying to better himself as a coach. To wit: I was covering a Milwaukee Bucks' game at the Bradley Center earlier this season, sitting next to Rudy Tomjanovich, who coached the Houston Rockets to two NBA titles.

During the game, Crean, who was there as a fan, noticed Tomjanovich and came over and spent several minutes picking Rudy T's brain on how to run a specific play.

* While "WarriorsNation" wasn't happy about Crean's stealth departure, say this for the man: He didn't leave the cupboard bare for his successor.

Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews will all be back next season, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better triumvirate of collegiate guards.

What Crean didn't leave Williams was a bona-fide interior player.

* Crean is easily one of college basketball's best salesmen. He did an absolutely remarkable job of resurrecting a dead Marquette program.

Crean has also done a splendid job of self-promotion. When you can convince so-called basketball experts like ESPN's Jay Bilas into calling you a "great coach," you've done the job.

The fact of the matter is Crean is a good coach. Since going to the Final Four five years ago, thanks in large measure to Dwayne Wade, Crean's Marquette teams have advanced beyond the first round of the NCAA Tournament just one time and that was this year, when the "Warriors" were eliminated in the second round. Two years in that five-year span, MU didn't even go to the NCAA tournament.

That hardly constitutes a "great coach."

* There are few tougher jobs than being the athletic director at Marquette - as Steve Cottingham is quickly discovering.

But Cottingham didn't help himself by refusing to conduct a more deliberate and extensive coaching search. MU fans, as supportive and passionate of a crew as you'll find, deserved better.

What's more, MU fans wanted to know the people - besides Marquette President Rev. Robert A. Wild and Cottingham - who were the decision-makers. Yet, when I tried to acquire that info from Cottingham last week, he lamely refused to divulge the other "geniuses."

Contrast MU's bungling of that hiring with the Bucks' recent extensive and thorough search for a GM. Furthermore, when Bucks owner Herb Kohl was asked to name the individuals involved in the search, he willingly named each and every one of them.

* I've been told by some prominent and well-connected MU boosters that Cottingham and Co. didn't even enlist the advice of former MU players Marc Marotta or Brian Brunkhorst, who have unfailingly tried to assist the MU program over the years and who know more about the college landscape than all of the "geniuses" combined. If that was indeed the case, shame on Cottingham and Wild.

On the plus side, Wild had to be elated that Cottingham stayed well under the budget in hiring Williams.

Gery Woelfel is a sports reporter for The Journal Times. Gery can be reached by calling (262) 634-3322, Ext. 322, or by e-mail at gery.woelfel@lee.net Gery's "Woelfel World of Sports" blogs can be read at www.journaltimes.com