Mark Turgeon a very good hire, but not great ... yet

As you are certainly well aware by now, last night Mark Turgeon, the former Texas A&M head coach, accepted an offer from Maryland to replace Gary Williams.

"It was just too good an offer for me to pass on. The thing that made it the most difficult was the players," Turgeon said in a statement. "Those guys have done everything I've asked for four years and we've had a great ride. (Director of Athletics) Bill Byrne has been real good to me too. Those are the hardest parts of the whole thing. It's been a tough day. I've been back and forth many times. I just felt like Maryland was a great opportunity for me and my family."

"I told the players it was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. Marriage was easy for me, I knew I was in love. Going to KU was easy, that's where I always wanted to play college basketball. Going to Wichita State was easy. Going to Texas A&M was an easy choice. Today was one of the hardest choices I've had to make because of the young men in that locker room."


While some Maryland fans will be disappointed that AD Kevin Anderson wasn't able to land a name like Shaka Smart, Sean Miller, or Jay Wright, it should be known that Turgeon is one of the most underappreciated coaches in the country. Simply put, he is a winner. He's had two losing seasons in 13 years as a head coach -- his first season at Jacksonville State and his first season at Wichita State. He's won at least 24 games in each of the past four years at Texas A&M.

Critics will point out that Turgeon has just one conference championship in his career -- the 2006 MVC regular season title. That's a fair point. But he should also get a massive amount of credit for keeping Texas A&M's basketball program afloat, a program that is a distance second to football in terms of fan interest.

In all actuality, Turgeon is a very similar coach to Gary Williams.

Like Williams, Turgeon doesn't recruit the McDonald's all-american. He doesn't worry about how many stars Rivals or Scout gives a player. He's not concerned about the hype factor. He brings in players that are willing to learn, willing to work, and willing to be coached. He gets his teams to defend and to execute offensively, which is why his Aggie teams consistently overachieved.

And like Williams, the key for Turgeon is going to be rebuilding the bridges with the AAU and high school programs that have been mass-producing talent in the DC-Baltimore region. Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Nolan Smith, and Ty Lawson -- as well as many, many others that I'm not going to take the time to list -- have come from the area. Since Turgeon has no East Coast ties, and since he hasn't been involved with a program that recruits at an elite level since he was an assistant at Kansas from 1987-1992, the key will be his coaching staff.

Will he keep guys like Rob Ehsan and Orlando "Bino" Ranson? Will he find someone else to help him tap into that pipeline?

And, perhaps more importantly, should he land that talent, will he be able to get them to buy into a slow, methodical style of basketball that can easily be described as non-descript and boring?

(Another thing to think about -- Maryland is sponsored by Under Armour. They have Under Armour shoes and Under Armour jerseys. What high profile players want to wear Under Armour? Can a school sponsored by someone other than Nike, Adidas, or Reebok compete for the best recruits in the country? Will AAU teams that are sponsored by Nike, Adidas, or Reebok allow their players to go to an Under Armour school?)

Turgeon will have success at Maryland, there is no doubt in my mind. He will win games, he will finish near the top of the ACC year in and year out, and he will have the Terps in the NCAA Tournament on a consistent basis.

But will that be enough?

Will fourth and fifth place finishes satisfy one of the most rabid fan bases in the country? Will being a perennial after thought -- like the Aggies were under Turgeon -- appease a program that won a national title in 2002?

Only time will tell.

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The next question is now who becomes the head coach at Texas A&M.

The obvious name is Buzz Williams, the Marquette head coach who just signed an extension last month. He was an assistant with the Aggies from 2004-2006, he was an assistant at Texas-Arlington and Texas A&M-Kingsville, and he is a native of Greensville, TX. Its a natural fit if he opts to leave Marquette.

Josh Pastner is another name that has popped up, but there is no chance that he leaves Memphis. The Tigers are a better program with a better fan base and he has a roster stocked with elite talent. He's not leaving. Fran Fraschilla, the former St. John's head coach, has covered the Big 12 for ESPN as a color commentator, he lives in Dallas, and he has established relationships with a number of high school and AAU coaches down there. Tulsa's Doug Wojcik probably deserves heavy consideration as well. Tim Floyd and Billy Gillispie -- the baggage handlers? -- are currently coaching at UTEP and Texas Tech, respectively. Could they garner interest?

If I'm A&M, however, I go right back to Wichita State and try to bring in Gregg Marshall. Marshall made seven NCAA Tournaments in nine seasons at Winthrop, winning six regular season titles and finishing lower than second just once. He's finished second in the MVC the past two seasons after taking over a program that was in bad shape.

Hey, the Turgeon hire worked out for A&M, didn't it?