MILWAUKEE — With head coach Buzz Williams serving a one-game suspension, assistant Brad Autry will be Marquette’s acting head coach when the Golden Eagles take on Connecticut on Tuesday night.
Autry is in his fifth season with the Marquette program but his first as an assistant coach. In his first four seasons in Milwaukee, Autry served as the coordinator of student-athlete development.
Prior to joining Williams’ staff, Autry has served as an assistant coach at Baylor, Tulsa and Arkansas-Little Rock. It was believed that either Autry or fellow assistant Jerry Wainwright would lead Marquette in its Big East opener, but the school chose the longest-tenured member of the staff in Autry.
Wainwright, the only coach on staff with Division I head coaching experience, will also be heavily involved because he was the coach in charge of scouting the Huskies. Williams is suspended for Tuesday's game due to school-imposed sanctions for violations committed by former assistant coach Scott Monarch.
Monarch gave team-issued apparel and transportation to a recruit and then was "found to have been untruthful with department administrators on multiple occasions." He was later dismissed. Marquette athletic director Larry Williams found no evidence that Buzz Williams knew of the violations but issued the suspension because Buzz Williams has a "duty to monitor the compliance of his staff."
Buzz Williams' suspension actually lasts 48 hours and began Monday. He spent all of Sunday with the team preparing for the game because once Monday came, he couldn't have any contact with the team or staff. He will not be in the arena for the game.
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