Is the retirement of Gary Williams good for Maryland?

On Thursday afternoon, Maryland head coach Gary Williams hung up his sweat-drenched suits, retiring after 33 seasons as a basketball coach that saw him rebuild Maryland from a program dealing with NCAA sanctions into a national title winner in 2002.

It was a move that was both shocking and long overdue.

Jeff Goodman broke the news of Williams' retirement on Cinco de Mayo, which is well after the coaching carousel usually stops spinning. We rarely get this far into the offseason and see a coaching change at any level, let alone a potential hall-of-famer and national title winner opting to retire. And we rarely see a coach of Williams' stature retire without reading and hearing the rumblings days and/or weeks in advance. Furthermore, Maryland finally got rid of Debbie Yow, the athletic director that Williams had butted heads with for the past 16 years.


But, as Williams told John Feinstein of the Washington Post, "After [Debbie] Yow left, I thought I might enjoy it more this year and I really did like working with Kevin Anderson. He's a straight shooter. But I think I'd been worn down by the previous 15 years [with Yow]. It grinds on you."

Throw in the fact that Williams, who is a less-than spritely 66 years old, got married a few weeks back and that yesterday he officially lost sophomore center Jordan Williams to the NBA, and it makes sense.

Williams has not had the easiest go of things since he won the 2002 national title. The Terps haven't made it to the Sweet 16 since 2003. They've missed four of the last seven NCAA Tournaments. There has been speculation that Williams was on the hot seat for some time. Hell, it has been reported that Williams strongly considered retiring after last season, when he led Maryland from the bottom half of the ACC to a share of the regular season title with national champion Duke.

The biggest criticism against Gary Williams has been the fact that he was unable to tap into the fruitful recruiting pipelines of the DC-Baltimore corridor. The region has been as fertile as any area in the country over the last five years. Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Ty Lawson, Nolan Smith, Donte Greene, Josh Boone, Carmelo Anthony, and Rudy Gay are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the talent that has come out of that region.

How many of them went to Maryland?

At the same time, that criticism may also be Williams' biggest strength and the main reason that what he has accomplished should be recognized.

Its not a secret that Williams is old school when it comes to recruiting. By-the-book doesn't even begin to describe his methods. He cleaned up a Maryland program that was rattled with sanctions when he took over the job, and has spent his 22 years at the helm of the Terrapins as far away from the NCAA's radar as The Fast and The Furious was from a movie that deserved to have four sequels.

Williams didn't get in bed with AAU coaches. He stayed away from the seedy underbelly of recruiting. And while it probably cost him some player, he was still able to land two future pros in Greivis Vasquez and Jordan Williams. He still brought in a talented recruiting class this season -- headlined by Sterling Gibbs and Nick Faust -- and had the beginnings of a good one next season, with Justin Anderson committed.

Williams wasn't a recruiter.

He was a ball coach. He was a guy that turned good players that were ignored by other programs into great players at the college level.

Maryland basketball will probably be better without Williams. The folks in Durham may disagree, but Maryland is a borderline-top ten coaching gig in the country. They have a terrific natural recruiting base. They have an on-campus arena with a dedicated and passionate fan base. They have one of the best home-courts in the country. They can afford to pay a very good salary and will likely land a big-name head coach to replace Williams.

And you can bet that the next Maryland head coach won't have the same qualms with the current state of recruiting that Williams did.

The Maryland program won't be down for long. Williams' successor may eventually end up with a better resume at the school.

But that shouldn't tarnish the luster on Williams' time in College Park.

Because his success didn't come with an asterisk, a vacated season, or a blemish on his resume.
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Maryland's Gary Williams wants players to be paid

Gary Williams is a well-respected man in the collegiate coaching ranks.

He's been in the business for 32 years at this level, the last 22 with Maryland. He's been to Final Fours and won a national title. He's had many all-americans and sent numerous players to the NBA. He knows what he is talking about.

And what he was talking about yesterday, on a sports radio show in Baltimore, was the prospect of paying players in the revenue sports a stipend of about $200 a month.

Gary Williams thinks college basketball players should get a small monthly stipend.
(photo credit: Shell Games)

"These guys don't receive anything except room, board, books, tuition and fees, which doesn't put any cash in their pockets," Williams said. "And some of these guys are pretty poor coming here, and a lot of college students have some money -- you feel out of place, you don't feel competitive academically sometimes, and I think it could do a lot of good.

"Plus, hopefully, it would keep away some of the unscrupulous people that do hang around the great athletes, where an athlete wouldn't befriend a guy just because a guy gave him 100 bucks or something like that."

He does have a point. Last week, Charles Barkley said on the Dan Patrick Show that he took money from agents while he was in college. Not a lot, just a couple bucks here and there to be able to have something to spend. That's all Williams is suggesting here. While it won't completely cut out the agents and the runners from hanging about college campus's -- I doubt anyone will ever stop all 18-21 year olds from turning down a handout of a couple hundred bucks -- it should reduce the number of players that fall into that trap. There are a lot of kids out there that can be kept happy with enough spending money to get a new pair of Jordan's, or to get Madden 11, or to be able to afford a new one if their laptop or cell phone charger breaks.

That doesn't mean this is a fool proof plan.

Williams suggests that only the revenue-generating sports should be allowed to receive this stipend. That essentially assumes, however, that the Columbia men's basketball team generates more revenue than, say, the UConn women's basketball team or the Texas baseball team. Along those same lines, should a kid like John Wall really be getting the same stipend as the last player on American's bench when Wall himself probably generates as much revenue as the entire Patriot League?

I agree with Williams -- something needs to be done to let these kids see some of the money that they help generate. But with the NCAA holding tight to the notion of amateurism, it is going to need to be the perfect plan to get them paid.

This idea isn't perfect.

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2009-2010 Team Preview: Maryland Terrapins

2008-2009 Record: 21-14, 7-9 ACC (7th)

Key Losses: Dave Neal (8.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg), Braxton DuPree

Key Returners: Greivis Vasquez (17.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 5.0 apg), Landon Milbourne (11.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Eric Hayes (10.3 ppg, 3.2 apg)

Newcomers: Jordan Williams, James Padgett

Fiery PG Greivis Vasquez will try to lead Maryland to their second straight tournament.
(photo credit: Washington Post)

In late January last season, after the Terrapins had lost four of five, speculation over the job security of head coach Gary Williams came to a head as he and the Terp's athletic director had a very public feud in the media about the reason a couple recruits were not allowed into Maryland. But the Terps were able to rally at the end of the season, knocking off a couple of the ACC bigwigs en route to a trip to the NCAA Tournament's second round and earning Williams a contract extension.

The Terps hope to carry some of that momentum into 2009-2010 as they return basically everyone. They caught a break when Greivis Vasquez, their leader and a potential first team all-american, decided to return to College Park for his senior year. Vasquez is a bit of an enigma. There may not be a more passionate player in the country, but that passion does not always manifest itself in the right way; Vasquez has a reputation for being vocal with opponents, the media, and the fans (sometimes even Maryland fans), and not necessarily in a good way.

The thing you cannot deny about Vasquez is his talent. While he has been inconsistent from game to game throughout his career, when he is clicking he can take over against any team in the country (case in point: the 35 point, 10 board, 10 assist, 3 steal, and 3 block performance he had in an OT win over UNC last year might have been the best all-around game of the '08-'09 season). There isn't much Vasquez can't do on the offensive end, but his biggest problem might be that he knows that. He has three point range, can score in the mid-range, is able to drive and find the open man and can also finish around the rim. The problem is the degree of difficulty of the plays he tries to make. For example, during his breakout sophomore season, Vasquez averaged 6.8 apg, but also 4.4 t/o's. As a junior, he averaged just 5.0 apg, but cut his turnovers to just 2.8 per game. That was a result of better decision making - he didn't try to make the spectacular play as often, instead making the smart pass even if it didn't draw the wows. If he can continue to mature in his play and decision making, a 20, 6, and 6 season is not a stretch.

But Vasquez can only take the Terps so far by himself. As a team, Maryland had two major issues last year - they did not have really have a second option offensively and they were small on the interior. The Terps lost both Dave Neal and Braxton Durpree, returning just Dino Gregory in the paint. I did like some of what I saw from Gregory in the limited minutes he got last year, but he is going to be counted on for much, much more production this year in an expanded role.

Williams did address the issue up front, adding two big man recruits. The better of the two is Jordan Williams, a 6'9", 250 lb Connecticut native (you may know him as this kid). Williams does show promise, as he is a big body that he can get out and run the floor but also absorb contact in the paint. If he can improve his conditioning (aka trim the baby fat) and continue to improve his developing back to the basket game, Williams could be a significant factor for the Terps this year. The other newbie is James Padgett, a 6'8" athlete from Lincoln High School in NYC. Padgett is raw on the offensive end, but he has long arms, some serious hops, that NYC mean streak, and he plays hard. He will provide a Maryland with some excellent energy off the bench. Also expect 6'9" junior Jerome Burney and 6'10" Steve Goins to compete for minutes.

The two most important players for this Maryland team will probably be seniors Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne. Both have been solid role players for the past two seasons, but if Maryland has any hope of competing for what is a wide open ACC title, they are going to need to have a second legitimate scoring option. The issue is that both guys are stuck in a bit of a tweener role. Milbourne is a swingman, most effective when he can slash to the basket and utilize his length and athleticism, but he has been forced to play a lot on the interior as Maryland has lacked size. While it could be to his advantage when he is guarded by a four (he can get by his man), he does not yet have a perimeter shot that is consistent enough to be respected. Hayes has basically been a spot up shooter for the Terps the last two seasons, but he can do much more than that when given the opportunity. He can create shots for himself and others, but he is most effective playing on the ball, which he can't do as much playing with Vasquez.

The one place Maryland is set is with perimeter depth. Adrian Bowie, Sean Mosley, and Cliff Tucker are all capable players on the perimeter. While they each bring a different skill set to the table (Bowie is the most dangerous penetrator, Mosley is a shut down defender, and Cliff Tucker, at 6'6", is probably the most versatile and best shooter), what they give Gary Williams is the ability to use a variety of different combinations on the perimeter.

Outlook: With Greivis Vasquez on the court, Maryland is going to have a chance to win every single game they play. But, as they proved last year, they are also capable of throwing up as poor of a showing as anyone in the country (losses to Morgan State and to Duke by 40). Maryland has to be in the conversation as a sleeper in a wide open ACC, but unless a secondary scorer emerges and their inexperienced front line develops, Maryland will probably be a middle of the road ACC team and headed to the NCAA tournament.
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Will Barton commits to Memphis, Gary Williams loses another local stud

Since taking over the Memphis program in April, Josh Pastner has not had the easiest go of it.

First, John Calipari gutted the Tigers 2009 incoming class. Then, top 20 recruit Latavious Williams, who Pastner got to commit to Memphis, said he may be reconsidering his decision. To top it off, Shawn Taggart, who would have been the Tigers top returning scorer and a focal point of this season's offensive attack, decided not to return to Memphis for his senior season.

And need I mention this little SAT scandal?

Well, things may be turning around for Pastner as he got a commitment from consensus top 10 recruit Will Barton, a 6'6" wing from Baltimore and the top ranked shooting guard in the class of 2010.

Lake Clifton's Will Barton has committed to Memphis.
(photo credit: Baltimore Sun)

Pastner also got a commitment from Will's brother Antonio, another guard in the class of 2010.

While many assumed that it was a foregone conclusion that Will would sign with John Calipari at Kentucky, it seems that Pastner's interest in both Barton's was a deciding factor in their decision (Antonio is a three-star recruit). Barton, who commited during a visit to Memphis for the Tigers Elite camp, was scheduled to visit Kentucky next weekend, but the Wildcats staff had yet to offer a scholarship to Antonio.

There is more to this story, however, as Gary Williams lost another top-tier recruit from his own backyard. College Park, Maryland, is all of 20 minutes from Baltimore, where the Barton's hail from.

One of the more rampant internet rumors last season was that Gary Williams was on the hot seat at Maryland. He has had a string of seasons where the Terps performed below expectations for a team that reached two Final Fours and won a national title this decade. That, and a public tiff he had with his athletics department, seemed to signify that the end was near for Williams.

Williams cooled that talk momentarily as the Terps finished the year strong, making a push at the end of the season (which included a win over UNC) and eventually reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament. But with Greivis Vazquez possibly staying in the NBA Draft and the odds of Williams landing Lance Stephenson (Maryland is on the short list of schools he is still looking at) looking slim, losing a recruit like Will Barton (who, like Stephenson, had Maryland on his list of possible destinations) is just another strike against the fiery coach.

The DC Metro area is a hot bed of college basketball talent. Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Ty Lawson, and Sam Young (and many, many others) all are originally from the area.

But Williams has been unable to land any of the top tier players from the region of late. While guys like Adrian Bowie (Greenbelt), Dino Gregory (Baltimore), and Sean Mosley (Baltimore) are all talented players capable of competing in the ACC, they are a far cry from being a national player of the year favorite (as Melo, Durant, and Beasley all were).

There is no question that Williams is a fantastic coach; you don't win a national title if you aren't. But great coaching only gets you so far in this day and age. The teams with the most talent, and thus the best recruiting, are the ones that put banners in the rafters.

Simply put, great coaching will win you a game (like Maryland knocking off UNC or Michigan State this past season). Solid coaching with an uber-talented roster will win titles.

Whatever the reason (some have speculated that it is the loss of assistant coaches like Billy Hahn), Gary Williams had been unable to land the star prospects in southern Maryland, and it could end up being his downfall.

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Gary Williams - The Axe is Near Pt. 2

Last week, we talked about the media storm that was swirling around Gary Williams and his supposed beef with the athletics department. Long story short, Williams signed, but released, two talented recruits (Gus Gilchrist and Tyree Evans), and last week he and associate AD Kathy Worthington had a (very) public pissing match over who was at fault.

As expected, this only added fuel to the fire that is the speculation Williams could be out of a job come this off-season.

But this story just took another turn. You see, one of the recruits (Evans) that was at the center of this controversy spoke to Mouthpiece Sports, and his interview is quite damning, at least for one side:



The most relevant quote from the interview is here (see the bolded sentences):

It just felt like it wasn’t the place to be. I love the coaches there, even when I see them I talk to them. I call them and see how they’re doing, see how the season’s going …

They believed in me as a player, and as a person. It wasn’t a place for me where I could call home. There were some people who believed in me and there were some people that didn’t believe in me. I just backed out because of my sake. I just felt like that wasn’t the place for me, a place I could call home. I want to be comfortable somewhere. I feel comfortable at Kent State. I feel like this is my home, like this is a thicker family. Not the players and coaches at Maryland, I knew the players and coaches were going to be my family. I'm just talking about the whole Maryland Terrapin environment. I wanted to call the Maryland area my home. I didn't want to have to be watched, and stuff like that. Because I'm a grown man, and all my mistakes were made when I was a young, immature teenager.

Evans never explicitly says that the administration was the reason he left (he definitely implies it, but also makes reference to the media a number of times). What he does do is adamantly defend Gary Williams and the rest of the Terrapin's coaching staff. It is easy to interpret from this interview that Williams was, without a doubt, not the reason Evans decided to withdraw his commitment. Continue reading...

Gary Williams - The Axe is Near

Gary Williams has been on the hot seat for a while. He won a National Title the year after reaching a Final Four (2001 and 2002 for the Terps), but has made the NCAA tournament just three of the past six seasons.

The hot seat. Fair or not, that's just what happens when you raise the bar of expectations, then fail to fulfill them.

The issue with Williams has been his inability to recruit one of the most fertile high school basketball areas in the country. College Park, where the University of Maryland is located, is a stone's throw from Washington DC (it actually has its own stop on the DC subway line) and Prince George's Country in Maryland (where all the "DC" players come from). It is also just a 15 minute ride up 95 from Baltimore.

As I was saying, the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) produces as much high school basketball talent as any area in the country. Here is a quick peek at some of the guys Williams has whiffed on in his own back yard the last few years:

• Kevin Durant
• Michael Beasley
• Carmelo Anthony
  
• Scottie Reynolds
• DaJuan Summers
• Chris Wright
• Austin Freeman
• Donte Greene
• Rudy Gay
  
• Ty Lawson
• Jerome Dyson
• Marcus Ginyard
  
• Malcolm Delaney
  

And that is only scratching the surface. You think having some of those guys could help the Terps this year?

I bet they wouldn't have blown as many big leads (17 to Miami? 16 to BC last night? 14 to Morgan State with under 12 minutes left?) as they have recently.

It is actually pretty amazing that Williams is such a poor recruiter. MD plays in a gorgeous arena (I know, I've been there), has a large and loyal fan base, and is in a location that is easily accessible to other basketball hot beds Philly, Jersey, and NYC.

Last year, it seemed as if Williams had finally landed some top tier, albeit troubled recruits. But neither Tyree Evans (community outrage over his past arrests and convictions) or Gus Gilchrist (extra year of eligibility) ended up at Maryland. Gilchrist went to South Florida, where he became eligible in December and is now averaging 10.8 ppg and 5 rpg, while Evans headed to Kent State, where he too became eligible in December (and really cleaned up his act) and has since averaged 13 ppg.

It isn't just recruiting, however. Word is that Williams has had a less than perfect relationship with the athletic director's at Maryland, and I'm sure yesterday's turn of events isn't going to help that much.

According to a Baltimore Sun article:

Kathleen Worthington, a senior associate athletic director, yesterday questioned Williams' statements about forward Gus Gilchrist and guard Tyree Evans, who were to have been integral parts of Maryland's recruiting class.

Williams had told reporters Monday: "It wasn't my fault that they're not here. That was somebody else's call."

But Worthington telephoned The Baltimore Sun yesterday and said: "I want to clarify the facts and the timing and the decision process of these situations. It was my recommendation that we not sign a release for Gus. I didn't want to release him. It was the head coach's decision. No one else released Gus."

"Gary made the final decision to withdraw an offer of aid to Tyree and personally called the Office of Student Affairs to inform them he was no longer recruiting Tyree Evans because Tyree had not disclosed all of the criminal issues he'd had in his past," she said. "Gary became upset that Tyree hadn't disclosed everything."

Williams, as I'm sure you would expect, had something to say in response. From the same article:

"He was going to leave. Me signing the release had nothing to do with it," Williams said after Maryland's 76-67 loss to Boston College. "He had made up his mind. Why not sign a release and let the kid go where he wants? Why am I bad for signing a release? .... Kathy Worthington doesn't speak for me, she has never won a national championship, she has never done anything. She's an associate AD. This is just giving you guys stuff to make me look bad."

"What had been in the paper for two straight weeks was you shouldn't make that kid come into that situation here. He would have had to go through so much just being a student on campus after everything that was said in the papers. ... I've run a clean program for 20 years. Check my record."

Yup, it looks like that relationship is reeeally starting to blossom.

Just for the record, by transferring to a school outside of the ACC (he originally was going to Virginia Tech before he signed with Maryland) Gilchrist was able to play for four years as opposed to two and a half. There was an enormous outrage over Evans criminal past when he signed with the Terps (he had misdemeanor convictions for selling weed and statutory rape from prep school, and also has an arrest for gun possession on his record, but charges were never brought against him), such that he decided to withdraw from his LOI instead of facing the Maryland judicial system.

In case that didn't make sense to you, Williams is getting thrown under the bus by his AD's office because he let two recruits out of their LOI's that wanted out. One because he wanted a chance to play an extra three semesters of basketball and the other because he knew he wouldn't be happy playing in College Park.

And that is wrong because..?

You know what they say. Nice guy's finish last. Continue reading...