The 3pm major announcement was about the new Marquette Soccer Stadium project, which was announced 3 weeks ago with a kick off donation of $1M from the Klein family.
Details & reaction from MarquetteHoops.com.
Full Press Release
Edit: I'm going to editorialize for a moment. Since the $1m donation from the Klein family was already old news, the new piece of information at the presser was that Coach Tom Crean and his wife Joani were donating $100k for the project.
There's been lots of internet reaction about this, mostly negative, for one reason: It was described as a "major announcement" and that has news-starved basketball fans wringing their hands. In truth, that was my initial reaction too.
But after some reflection, I'm going a different direction. This act should not be sullied by a choice of words (major), disappointing the internet crowd:
Thank you, Tom and Joani. This shows your deep commitment to Marquette, it shines a light on another rising sport at MU, and that's a great thing.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
And the envelope says ...
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11 comments:
TC, was this really necessary- I mean the press conference? Nice gesture, but the press conference seems strange to me.
When a non basketball sports program gets a $100,000.00 donation at Marquette that is big news. And the Creans are sending a big message that they like it here and that other bb fans should step up to the plate for other progames too. What a leader!!!
A leader? This was not about leading, it was an attention grab. Shocking that the Brewers are off today. After all, the TV stations need filler for their sportscasts, don't they?
This could have been accomplished in a small news release. Instead, Crean is racing home to watch himself on the news.
This guy is so nouveau riche it's not even funny.
I think a press release would have been much better PR for all concerned and would have had the same impact in terms of generating funds. Having a low profile can be helpful sometimes.
Say you're committed to MU at the time of the rumors. This donation does not preclude the need for that national affirmation, when the bb eyes are on Crean. This is just a local stage.
You do recognize that the response does not appear to be all that favorable?
Kudos to the Creans for a kind and generous gesture. I wish I were surprised about the number of haters out there who find ways to criticize decency because they don't like Crean, but I'm not. Haters gotta hate. It is all they have. Tower912
Be serious, this has nothing to do with "hate" but rather judgement. Relax man, you're over reacting to honest differences of opinion.
Kudos to the Creans for their generous donation. They didn't have to give $100K but they did. It was an incredibly smart move on their part to do it on the Brewers day off and before the Bucks draft coverage, they get MU great recognition on TV & radio on a slow sports day. That's not an attention grab - it's PR 101. MU has been off the radar for 3 months and reminds people there are other sports than Basketball at MU. I'm picking my new seats tomorrow and I'm stoked, I hope you whiners don't pick seats next to me.
Kudos Coach.
For the benogilvie poster.
You accuse him of being an attention grabber?? What is your poster name all about??????? An attention grabber you are, aren't you.
And I will give you the benefit of the doubt if you say TC is an attention grabber. Then please tell me, of all the successful people out there, lets limit it to the sports world, who is/was not an attention grabber. Coach K an attention grabber, of course...he does commercials. Dean Smith an attention grabber, of course. Coach Woooden.....maybe not. Red Auerbach, yes. Any pro bb player, basically yes....maybe not Duncan.
Hank Aaron is not an attention grabber. Clemente was, right?, because he did a charitable mission.
Cut out the BS, give people a chance to do what they think is the right thing.
The gift was not about leading? What do you think the first soccer field gift was? It certainly included leading. Coach Crean gave between 5-10% of his salary/income to Marquette for a soccer field. I will bet my last dollar that most coaches of top 25, lets say, bb teams do not do the same.
Change your name benoglivie to: 'a follerer'...and let the world pass you by.
Mr Crean can lead my team anytime, anywhere.
After some thought .. I think it's daffy to put anything but praise on Crean for this. No damn way did he ask for a press conference for his donation. Are you kidding me? The guy has all the media attention in the world. His name was mentioned 500 times during the UK and UF coaching openings. Anyone who thinks he thought he needed some more press on a donation is just smoking something.
That being said: Marquette, and Tom Crean, are not well served by the people who made this public relations decision. Here's this great great thing, new stadium, new donation, etc, but it turns sour like this, as it's open to negative interpretation, as witnessed by the above comments.
There should have been a grand press conference when the $1m donation was announced. Doing it 3 weeks later when the only new bit is the Crean donation is just terrible decision making.
MU needs to get some pros in there and have them vet ideas so this doesn't happen again.
You know..whether it was worth it or not to call it a "major event" is anybodys decision. In another 2 weeks no one is going to care, let along remember this thing and everyone will be hung up on whether or not something else is going to happen. With all respect, I hope that this "major event" didnt ruin anyone's day because there is such a thing as life outside of basketball and TC
Like others, I was skeptical initially as soon as I heard about the event. Then again, that's how most of us are today...we are all cynics.
If it weren't for the web/blogging, this would have roled off everyone's back. But all I think MU was trying to do was get some good news out there and they included their coach. Why yesterday? Who knows, but I think it had to do w/the NBA draft and hoping to get coverage.
And let's all refocus our lenses. The coverage wasn't about Crean. It's about MU trying to build a really nice soccer stadium for their upcoming program. What a better way to link to that. You have a story about the draft, followed by "...in other hoops news." At least, that's what I think one of the strategies was.
People need to get off Crean and quit bringing up this $51M donation too. If they didn't want to be at a presser, that's their perogative.
This presser was more for the soccer stadium than it was about Crean.
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