It’s bordering on suspicious, to be honest
On Tuesday afternoon, Marquette University announced that athletic director Bill Scholl would be retiring after a national search identifies and hires his replacement.
On Wednesday morning, Marquette men’s basketball alumni started to line up in support of a potential candidate for the job. For whatever individual personal reasons, they all think that Deputy Athletic Director Mike Broeker deserves a promotion to the big chair after 19 years of experience in the MU athletic department.
Jim McIlvaine:
Please start the national search in @mikebroeker’s office https://t.co/cC86abm6xg
— Jim McIlvaine (@JimMcIlvaine) May 8, 2024
Cam Marotta:
I’m with you, Mac! https://t.co/rBr1nlq6G8
— Cameron Marotta (@Cam2Ham21) May 8, 2024
Jerel McNeal:
Exactly!!! Don’t need to look any further https://t.co/9KkLZytECE
— Jerel McNeal (@jerel_mcneal) May 8, 2024
Steve Novak:
Congrats to Bill on his next chapter! He is a great leader and is leaving the university in a wonderful place for whoever takes over next…@mikebroeker has a nice ring to it! #WEAREMARQUETTE https://t.co/6xdsPxDDgP
— STEVE NOVAK (@stevenovak16) May 8, 2024
Travis Diener:
Congrats Bill! You left Marquette in a better place than you found it! @mikebroeker is right down the hall https://t.co/kCfNzujxeg
— Travis Diener (@DienerTravis) May 8, 2024
He’s not a former player, or even a Marquette grad, but soon to be former WTMJ 4 sports anchor Lance Allan got in on the act, too:
You don’t have to look far @MarquetteU for a good successor. @mikebroeker knows the culture! https://t.co/XEEMgNzPoF
— Lance Allan (@lanceallan) May 8, 2024
Is it weird that all of these are just since 7:34am Central time on Wednesday, and all right off the bat the next day after the announcement of Scholl’s retirement? I dunno, I’ll leave that up to you.
What I will point out that these are the only high profile endorsements of Broeker that I either saw myself, had pointed out to me, or that were findable by way of a Twitter search for both his username and just his name in case someone didn’t tag him. I don’t say that to mean “only these guys would like to see Broeker get the job,” but I do mean it to say that no one else from any of Marquette’s other Division 1 teams are running to the front of the line to recommend him for the job. That’s not surprising since Broeker’s job, as I understand the organizational chart in the McGuire Center, is almost completely focused on men’s basketball. No shade to anyone here, but I’m not surprised that Grace Gabriel or Ryan McNamara or Joe Keys or Elizabeth Koberstein aren’t voicing an opinion for Broeker because they just don’t know him like the men’s basketball guys do.
There’s also no current players on the men’s basketball team saying anything about Broeker…. But I’m going to attribute that more to “young adults aren’t on Twitter all that much these days” more than anything else.
I’ll repeat what I said in our article on the announcement of Scholl’s retirement, and this isn’t intended as a knock on Broeker in any way, merely one blogger’s assessment of the college sports landscape: I think Marquette, both the university and the athletic department, is best served by bringing in the next athletic director from outside the MU sphere of influence, both alumni and current/former employees. The world of college athletics is a different one in 2024 than it was in 2014 when Bill Scholl was hired, and I think Marquette in 2034 is best served by hiring someone now who has no inclination towards “well, that’s how we’ve always done it at Marquette.”