Good day.

Tom Timmermann of the Post-Dispatch already blogged about this; St. Louis U. basketball coach Rick Majerus told T.T. that he’s not interested in the open Marquette job.

Majerus has surfaced on some lists matching him to the Marquette opening. It makes sense, because he’s a Milwaukee guy, and a Marquette grad. He has a big home in Milwaukee, with several satellite TV receivers so he can watch all the ball he wants. Most of all, his mother, who is battling cancer, lives there. Majerus loves his mom and worries about her. And Majerus’ girlfriend also lives in Milwaukee.

But Majerus already had the Marquette job. He was an assistant to Al McGuire for 12 years, and was the head coach for three seasons (1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86). Majerus resigned under pressure, took a job as an assistant for one season with the NBA Milwaukee Bucks, then resumed his college coaching career at Ball State in 1987. In his autobiography, Majerus wrote that he made a mistake to be the head coach at his alma mater. He found the experience frustrating.

Marquette is in a great conference (Big East) and has a big budget and superior facilities. But I just don’t see Majerus as a match for Marquette at this time. I would imagine that Marquette is set up for a younger coach who would stay on the job for many years, perhaps a decade or more — and that doesn’t fit the Majerus profile. Majerus will construct a winner at SLU, but had a so-so first season, and caught some heat for making controversial comments. This doesn’t mean he wouldn’t do swell at Marquette. But I’d imagine Marquette would want to make a more original hire, instead of revisting a previous era of basketball. Majerus would be, to a certain extent, a complicated hire for Marquette.

I do expect administrators at Marquette to call Majerus for advice and opinons as they ponder serious candidates. He has many friends there. They value his opinion.

As for SLU, Majerus is excited about the recruits he’s got coming into SLU next season to join Tommie Liddell and Kevin Lisch. He’s fired up about the new on campus arena. He’s been looking at condos in St. Louis. He likes the new director of athletics, Chris May, an aggressive fundraiser who will strive to get Majerus anything he needs to develop a successful basketball program. Majerus has also gotten along very well with SLU’s president, Rev. Lawrence Biondi.

And Majerus is still traveling all over the place, trying to find more players to augment what has lined up at SLU.

I traded multiple voice mail messages with Majerus on Wednesday.

I told him that many fans (and media) were still yapping about the possibility of a Majerus-Marquette reunion, and I wanted to make sure that he wasn’t interested in the gig.

Here’s the pleasantly delivered and humorous — at least to me — Majerus response, left on my voice mail:

“I’m interested in working my (butt) off to build a winner for St. Louis University. That’s what you should tell everyone. I’m interested in finding players to help me win at St. Louis. That’s what I’m doing now. I’m in the middle of Alabama. I don’t even know for sure where I am. It’s in the middle of nowhere here. It’s in a rural part of the state. It’s a nice area, but it’s way out there. I’m here to look at a player. I wish I could tell you where in the world in Alabama this is, but I’m not entirely sure. If I wanted to be at Marquette, the last place I’d be right now is in rural Alabama, looking at a player. Not that I mind being here.”

Later, Majerus left another voice mail and said:

“Sorry we didn’t connect today. By the way, what I’m really interested in is going to a Cardinals game soon. I want to see Tony La Russa. Let’s go to a game together. I’m looking forward to it. And again, no on this Marquette stuff. OK?”

Well, Majerus could always go to a Cardinals game at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

Just kidding…

–B