Golden Eagles are tough enough
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Maybe Marquette's Tom Crean is a football coach masquerading as a basketball coach. A very good basketball coach, mind you, but …
Look at the square shoulders. Listen to the raspy voice. Feel the goal line-stand intensity.
"I look at him and I see a linebackers coach,'' Jack Harbaugh said. "He would have been coaching that middle linebacker spot, keying that fullback, taking that isolation, blowing up fullbacks.''
Harbaugh should know.
He is a former college football coach who once served under Bo Schembechler at Michigan and later led Western Kentucky to the 2002 national championship in what then was called Division I-AA. He also happens to be Crean's father-in-law and the father of Jim Harbaugh, head football coach at Stanford, and John Harbaugh, head coach of the NFL's Baltimore Ravens.
When Crean married his wife, Joani, he fit into a family steeped in football as naturally as a middle linebacker does into a 3-4 alignment. He has quizzed John Harbaugh, a former defensive back, about press coverage. He has quizzed Jim Harbaugh, a former quarterback, about passing route progression. He has taken copious notes during the conversations and incorporated some of what he has learned into his basketball program at Marquette.
"I've really worked to try to transfer some of their football terminology and knowledge and even schemes,'' Crean said Friday after his team's practice. "… It's not like you get new plays, but you get new ideas.''
Smash-mouth basketball, anyone?
Before tip-off in a game that will pit sixth-seeded Marquette against third-seeded Stanford here Saturday, Crean will stride onto the court with his signature intensity and with his signature team, one defined as much by its mental and physical toughness as its talent. Those traits will prove instrumental if Marquette has any chance of neutralizing Stanford's twin 7-footers, Brook and Robin Lopez.
With a starting lineup that includes three guards and only one player taller than 6-foot-6, Crean must face a basketball truism: You can't teach height. But you can teach toughness – and recruit it, too.
Crean has been doing it for years.
As an assistant coach under Tom Izzo at Michigan State, Crean recruited Mateen Cleaves. College basketball fans will remember Cleaves as the point guard who led Michigan State to the 2000 national championship. But Crean also remembers Cleaves as a stout high school football quarterback who drew interest from powerhouse Florida State.
"He loved recruiting football players,'' Crean said of his former boss.
It was an acquired taste Crean took with him in 1999 when he left Michigan State and took over as the head coach at Marquette. Jerel McNeal, for example, is a junior guard and Marquette's leading scorer, who plays basketball with the edge he showed as a strong safety and wide receiver in high school.
Crean said the value of football experience for basketball players breaks down into three parts.
"I think it's mentality, I think it's athleticism and I think it's sacrifice,'' he said. "You understand how to give your body up for the team when you play football.''
Yes, silky smooth Dwyane Wade led Marquette to the Final Four in 2003. But Crean has guided the Golden Eagles to the NCAA tournament in each of the past three seasons – and his teams have the bumps and bruises to prove it.
Marquette's quickness and toughness was on display Thursday in a 74-66 victory over Kentucky. The Golden Eagles smothered the Wildcats as if they were using techniques from the press defense that John Harbaugh taught Crean. On offense, Marquette's arsenal of guards drove into Kentucky's frontline as if plowing into a flying wedge on a kickoff return. And in the end, the Golden Eagles withstood a late surge and won their first tournament game despite something that might gall those who treasure Marquette's rough-and-tumble reputation.
Crean has started recruiting former soccer players – three are on Marquette's current roster – because the sport has helped develop superior footwork. But the former soccer players aren't getting off easy.
After Marquette's new practice facility opened in 2004, Crean made a request that came to the attention of his father-in-law, who works at Marquette as an assistant athletic director. Workers padded the walls and doors inside the gym as instructed by Marquette's basketball coach.
It was only a matter of time before bodies collided with walls and doors.
"The intensity with which they practice, they just had to put those pads up there for safety,'' Harbaugh said, though he did not clarify if it was for the safety of the walls and doors or for the players.
No telling what happens when Marquette's players collide into walls and doors, nor what will happen when they collide with Stanford and the 7-foot twins. The only thing for certain is the Golden Eagles will make things tough.
