Buzz on former Demons in college hoops

Former Demon assistant coach Buzz Williams is reportedly the likely pick to succeed Tom Crean as head coach at Marquette.

Former Demon point guard Mike Brey, the veteran head coach at Notre Dame, is said to be on the short list of new LSU athletics director Joe Alleva to take over the Tigers' basketball team. They worked together while Brey was an assistant coach more than a decade ago at Duke.

The Williams story has a lot more traction. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting Williams is the only person who has interviewed for the job, although he's been at Marquette only since last summer.

Buzz, a native Texan, joined Dave Simmons on coach Mike McConathy's first NSU staff in 1999-2000, then moved to Colorado State a year later. Williams was a relentless recruiter whose sweater vests and bizarre handwriting were trademarks. Any prospect who got a note written by Williams remembered it, that's for sure. His penmanship may have held him back a year in elementary school.

He moved from Colorado State to join Billy Gillespie's staff at Texas A&M for a couple of years, helping the Aggies to the 2006 NCAA Sweet 16, then took the post of head coach at New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He recruited well and had a commendable 14-17 record in 2006-07, but headed north last summer to Marquette to take a position on Crean's staff.

The Journal-Sentinel's Marquette beat writer said Williams is viewed as the candidate who can hold together a talented recruiting class with some signees who have indicated they will look elsewhere if he is not hired as head coach. Another source indicated Crean has told friends Williams will get the job. Hope so - and if so, wouldn't at all be surprising to see the Demons heading back to Milwaukee in the near future.

As for Brey, it would be very surprising for him to leave Notre Dame to come back south to LSU. He is a lifelong Catholic who considered Notre Dame his dream job and he's done wonderfully there. He's highly regarded on campus and last year received a very prestigious award from the university's alumni association which has been presented selectively through the years to figures such as Regis Philbin.

Last year, he signed a two-year contract extension through 2012-13. Brey stays in touch with friends like Jim Wells, Mike Greene, Jim Hoops and Tom Brassel from his days (1977-80) at NSU, along with his head coach with the Demons, Tynes Hildebrand.

Doug Ireland, SID