By Andrew Sharos

An assessment concerning the delusional student opinion of Men's Head Basketball Coach Tom Crean is long overdue. Crean, who I believe is generally well-liked and accepted by the student body since arriving here on March 30, 1999, has been unfairly scrutinized and dissected by several staff editorials and articles in this newspaper.

Steve Yanda's column last Tuesday was the most recent blunder, as he shouldered the blame of scheduling Marquette Madness on the same night as a women's soccer game on the basketball program. Any learned fan knows that the Big East dictates the times for the women's soccer game.

As for scheduling Marquette Madness to start after the soccer game, are families with children supposed to attend an event that starts at 11 p.m.? The basketball program is way bigger than some of the ignorant students who attend the games and write these articles.

The column then made the 3,587th reference to how much money Crean earns by suggesting that Crean should drive all the students from the soccer game back to Marquette Madness in his Hummer to see his team play.

Another reference to Crean's contract…what a surprise! A staff editorial that appeared Sept. 26 credited Dwyane Wade with the success that Crean now finds on the court and in his bank account. Two days later, another referenced all the things that could happen between now and 2017, the year Coach Crean's contract runs out. The list goes on…

Allow me to set you straight, boys and girls. Coach Crean's salary is not paid by the tuition dollars that Mommy and Daddy send to Marquette twice a year. Boosters and donors at Marquette have made the commitment to have a basketball program that would represent the university in a positive light and have agreed to pay whatever it takes in a competitive market to retain a coach who can achieve that.

Go stand in the Al McGuire Center if you get a chance. Four years ago, you would have been standing in a parking lot. Crean helped Marquette get into the Big East. He led the school to its first Final Four since 1977. Do you know how hard it is to maintain a winning program at a school like Marquette?

Does the -10 degree weather appeal to you in the winter? Do you think top athletes want to go to a school where they actually have do academic work?

So grumble over Tom Crean's salary and the fact that we only won 20 games last year playing in the best basketball conference ever assembled, but I better not see you in the front row, waving your drunken hands at the ESPN cameras and having the time of your life.

Sharos is the head student writer for MarquetteHoops.com and a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.