Milwaukee leaders love what Shaka Smart is doing at Marquette, and not just with basketball

It was another cleverly designed play for the Marquette men's basketball team drawn up by Shaka Smart.

This time, the head coach wasn't putting people in the perfect positions on the court. He had made the right calls and gotten his players in a room with Milwaukee civic leaders Cavalier Johnson, David Crowley and Marcelia Nicholson.

"At some point last year, somebody said, ‘Hey, this is a unique situation, the first time it’s ever happened where the mayor, the county executive and the county chairwoman are all African-American," Smart said. "And so we set up a dinner.

“I always try to expose our guys to people that are successful that look like the majority of the guys on our team, but do something besides sports."

The evening unfolded just how Smart envisioned. There was some basketball talk, of course, and the sneakerheads on the Golden Eagles professed their admiration for Crowley's shoe game. But the players were also riveted while hearing about the early struggles of the politicians who grew up in the same challenged area of the city. One player was so moved by their stories that he emotionally talked about being evicted from his home as a kid, something that not a lot of his teammates knew about.

"(Smart) worked to make sure there was access and there was opportunity to know who the mayor is," Johnson said. "To learn about the trials and tribulations and the struggles of people like me that are trying to do something great. Just like what those players are doing on the court, that applies to things off the court as well. I think Shaka wanted those young men to understand and see that.

"Especially with the background that I have. From the 53206 zip code, one of the most incarcerated zip codes for Black men in the entire country, with poverty and all those other negative social indicators. Shaka really just wanted to show the young men that, hey, there is opportunity here. You can do it on the court, but you can do it elsewhere in life, too."

The MU program has continued to cultivate a deep relationship with the city. Now the Golden Eagles hope to be a source of pride for Milwaukee by making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, starting against Western Kentucky in the first round on Friday in Indianapolis.

Marquette players such as Oso Ighodaro have become part of community

Those interactions with the city's movers and shakers have made an impression on the players.

“It’s really cool," MU big man Oso Ighodaro said. "I don’t think that a lot of programs across the country do things like that. Just the opportunity to network and make connections and meet people who are successful in their communities is really cool.”

Crowley estimates he's had about a half-dozen talks with the team as well as several dinners. Johnson, Crowley and Nicholson were all at the Martin Luther King Community Center last April when the Golden Eagles were given a city proclamation after their Big East regular-season and tournament championships.

"I think the biggest thing is understanding that they’re people just like us," Ighodaro said. "Seeing some Black faces in positions of power like that is really motivating for us as a team."

While Ighodaro was talking, he was dressed in a sharp blue suit while standing outside Madison Square Garden in New York and holding a trophy awarded to him as the Big East scholar-athlete of the year. He's come a long way from the skinny freshman who played just 38 minutes for former MU head coach Steve Wojciechowski in the 2020-21 season.

Ighodaro has thrived in his three seasons playing for Smart. He's a future NBA draft pick who also will leave MU with a finance degree and an MBA in four years. Ighodaro hails from Chandler, Arizona, but like many of his teammates has adopted Milwaukee as another hometown.

The Golden Eagles do basketball clinics at Boys & Girls Clubs across the city, and the program has a long-standing relationship with SHARP Literacy that includes the players reading books at local schools.

"As chairwoman, I've witnessed firsthand the profound impact sports, particularly the Marquette basketball team, has on our community," Nicholson said. "Their achievements resonate deeply with our residents and reignite a sense of pride in Milwaukee.

"Having the opportunity to engage with the team, attend games and share conversations over dinner has fostered camaraderie and strengthened bonds with the team. It's evident that Coach Smart and the players genuinely care about Milwaukee, making it easy to support them."

That community work is also what made Crowley a big fan of Smart's program.

"For us, it’s great to have a guy who really believes in not only growing a solid basketball program, but believes in building the character of not only his players but those who support them as well," Crowley said. "Just being able to see how he interacts with his team, with his staff even, it’s just extremely inspiring because it’s not just Xs and Os.

"When he says something, it’s something you can use on the court. But you can also use off the court. So I love the fact that he’s very intentional on the things that he says and really puts out there into the public, into that team. Because it’s important as leaders that we understand that it’s not just about doing our jobs, but it’s about other folks who can grow and be able to take over these same jobs that we hold. And for also them to be great as well.

"And that’s what I really love about Shaka is that he really motivates, not just his team but everybody around him. All the time."

Johnson, who talks to a lot of young people about his story, was impressed by the Golden Eagles' attentiveness.

"They are so into it," Johnson said. "They are paying attention. They ask probing questions. They look you in the eye. They are disciplined. They give you a firm handshake. Not the limp-fish handshake, but an actual firm handshake.

"So that lets me know that not only are they listening to me and paying attention to the lessons that we’re trying to give, but the time that they spend with each other and the time they spend with Shaka is paying dividends, even for their interactions off the court. I think that’s very promising for those young men and the leaders that they’ll be, whether they continue on in basketball or they do something else in their life."

Marquette is 'smack dab in the middle of Milwaukee'

Smart grew up just outside of Madison in Oregon, and he's worked all over the country, including previous head-coaching stops at Virginia Commonwealth and Texas. When he was hired by MU in 2021, he wanted to have his program feel part of the city.

"I’ve said many times, we’re not a school that’s out there in the suburbs somewhere," Smart said. "We’re smack dab in the middle of Milwaukee. So it’s meaningful to me as a kid from the state of Wisconsin to get a chance to be here."

He's talked about that with the city leaders.

"One of the good things and things I’ve always taken away with me, particularly from having these dinners, is the POP that Coach Shaka and Marquette brings to Milwaukee," Crowley said. "And when I talk about POP, and I get this from Coach Smart himself, it’s the 'points of pride.'

"I thought that was a very powerful acronym because it talks about how we have points of pride. And not just with Marquette, but all things happening within the Milwaukee County area and being able to partner up with them. Give them their kudos because they even come down to our King Center and do some things with our young people and really show them that there are many opportunities."

Sports teams can be incredible sources of pride for a city. As the Milwaukee Bucks made their run to the NBA championship in 2021, massive crowds gathered in the Deer District. MU hopes to give the city another taste of success in the postseason.

"I think regardless of where you live in Milwaukee," Johnson said. "Whether you live on the east side in a big house by the lake or you live on the southwest side in one of the legacy neighborhoods or you live on the west side in Washington Heights or you live in a challenged neighborhood, I think everybody in this city, especially kids – that’s where my focus has been, especially when you’re talking about something like this – everybody gets to see their reflection in this team.

"That works together. That uses their diversity as a strength. And not just because their racial diversity or the differences in the way they look, their differences in where they come from, in their skill-sets on the court. And they use those for the greater good, which is a team victory."