Goodbye to Gary

Gary Williams resigned yesterday after 22 seasons as the head of the Maryland basketball program and it seems to be the beginning of the end of an era in college hoops, a game that is suffering from decreased interest except for March Madness.

Many disliked the profane Williams for his combative sideline demeanor in which Williams screamed at everyone in sight from his assistants, players, opponents, occasionally fans, and certainly referees, but Williams saved Maryland basketball from the basement-dwelling period after the death of Len Bias and guided it through the ridiculous NCAA probation, making the difference in saving Maryland as a basketball school instead of a faded has been.
Maryland's only national title came under Williams and it didn't come with the rent a star either, it came with overachievers and team play.
What made Gary Williams successful was what made him a dinosaur in the current age-the refusal to play the recruiting game that currently ails college hoops.
I respect Williams for passing on the short-term player, but it certainly hindered the Terrapins when most of your opponents are taking those players.
Williams was never going to be an elite recruiter, but it seems to have gotten worse over the last five years.
So many young players are used to having coaches tell them how wonderful they are and when a coach prefers honesty, most players are going to pass on being yelled at for their college career.
Call it the Bob Knight syndrome, as Knight struggled in his waning years at Indiana and at Texas Tech in being able to recruit top players.
Williams excelled with the sleeper recruit who needed time to mature and that meant multiple years.
That is the sign of an excellent teacher and sometimes these players developed too early such as Chris Wilcox and now Jordan Williams with Maryland losing them before they truly hit their collegiate prime.

Ironically,  Williams's success might have hurt his program as far as interest goes when the new Comcast Center opened in place of Cole Field House.
The new arena had all the amenities of the modern era, but the atmosphere that Cole had never been approached by the CC, and games against anyone other than Duke or North Carolina brought to mind the anti-septic atmosphere of the "Dean Dome".
When you add all of those things up in the present day, it is pretty easy to figure out why Maryland has struggled over the last few seasons, but Williams was what he was, he wasn't going to be someone he was not.

I once listed Maryland basketball as a passion that matched any of mine in sports, the ACC expansion ruined that for me, but I still have a soft spot for the Terps, who need to make a great hire, preferably someone who can tap the Baltimore/Washington players better than Williams did. Success there can quickly return Maryland to an elite school in not just the ACC, but the nation.
Gary Williams took over a program that was on life support after the Bob Wade tenure and returned it to its glory as one of the top 15 basketball jobs in the country.
Thanks to Gary for that.

Honestly, the names I am hearing for the job don't do much for me.
Jamie Dixon of Pitt and Jay Wright of Villanova? Neither has done much for me.
Sean Miller of Arizona? Maybe, but he just left Xavier for Arizona, is Maryland a final stop for him?
I doubt it.
Mike Brey of Notre Dame? Pass.
Rick Barnes of Texas would be nice and he was a Williams assistant long ago, but I doubt he leaves Austin.
Butler's Brad Stevens would be a home run hire, but I don't see Stevens leaving the Midwest, and VCU's Shaka Smart has not proven himself totally to me that he is more than a one-year run.

In any event, here is hoping the new hire adds to the Maryland basketball tradition that Lefty Driesell started and Gary Williams added onto and maybe I can get some of the fire for Terrapin basketball back...