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The Rise and Fall of Garyland Basketball
By Jamie Mottram | February 3, 2009
Tonight’s the night for DMV college hoops as Georgetown tries to snap a five-game skid, Mason is on ESPN (again) and Maryland hopes to lose by less than 41. No matter what occurs, though, Terps turmoil is the story, and here with his take is Mr. Irrelevant’s Maryland sports correspondent Andy Peden.
I’m not going to apologize for the state of the Maryland basketball program, but I do want to remind everyone what Gary has done in his days at MD and how the program has gotten to the point it is at today, which is heading towards (yet another trip) to the NIT.
Everyone knows that Gary took over a program that had virtually received the NCAA’s death penalty and completely turned it around into a National Champion. From 1993-94 through the 2003-04 season, MD went to 11 straight NCAA Tournaments, made seven Sweet 16s, two Final Fours and won a NCAA Title and an ACC Title. Gary won the NCAA title without a McDonald’s High School All-American on the roster, which is something no other coach has done since they started the McDonald’s HSAA in 1979. During that run, MD averaged 23 wins a year and a 10-6 ACC record; impressive in a conference that includes both UNC and Duke.
Since then, the program has fallen off the national radar. When they miss the NCAA tournament this year for the fourth time in five years, they will have also fallen to the bottom half of the ACC. How’d this happen?
Gary has never been known as a great recruiter, but, coming off of the NCAA title, Gary had a top-10 class with Garrison (local and McDonald’s AA), McCrary (local), Gilchrist and Caner-Medley. He followed the next year with DJ, Mike Jones (five-star recruit), Ibekwe, Bowers and Fofana (eventually transferred). That was a nine-player group that should have delivered more than the ACC title, a couple of early exits from the NCAA and a couple trips to the NIT.
So where was the talent after those two classes? Well, Gary has always relied heavily on his assistants for recruiting. During his run, he had virtually the same staff in place. Jimmy Patsos was there for 13 years until leaving in 2004 to be the head coach at Loyola. Billy Hahn was there for 12 years until leaving in 2001 to be the head coach at LaSalle. And Dave Dickerson was there 10 years before leaving in 2005 to be the head coach at Tulane.
Since that time, Gary has had tremendous turnover in his staff, which now consists of Joe Harrington, Keith Booth and Chuck Driesell. This staff has been in place for two years now and appears to have finally stabilized. In between, Rob Moxley (head coach in waiting at UNCC) was at MD for a year, Mike Lonergan (HC at Vermont) was at MD for two years and Michael Adams was here for less than two years. Not sure if the recent rash of recruiting misfires was a direct result of the staff turnover or just not playing the recruiting game the way it’s played today.
In the last couple years MD has lost out on a number of players that committed to the program but never got to play before transferring. Shane Clark (6′6″) didn’t qualify at MD so he enrolled at Villanova and was instantly eligible, Terrence Jennings (6′10″) gave a verbal to MD but ended up at Louisville, Shane Walker (6′10″) played one year and transferred, Tyree Evans (6′3″) was basically told to find another school because he had a criminal record and Gus Gilchrist (6′10″) transferred to South Florida after that school hired his AAU coach/mentor.
Not sure how much Clark or Evans would have helped given MD’s depth at guard, but Gilchrist and Jennings would have been significant. Both are 6′10″ and would push MD’s current rotation of bigs to back-ups and allow Milbourne to play at the three where he would be a major factor. Add them to the mix this season and Maryland is a Tournament team challenging Clemson for the fourth spot in the ACC.
Some other local recruits who ended up elsewhere have interesting recruitment rumors attached to them. The stories range from a school recruiting the best friend of a five-star recruit to get more face time to the school hiring a family member or coach that would bring along the player to paying a top recruit’s AAU team to come to the school for an exhibition game (now against NCAA rules). Gary has always been known for running a clean program and he doesn’t play in the gray areas of recruiting. Right or wrong, it appears that might have caught up to him.
Maryland WILL miss the tournament this year to make it four out of five. Gary should still return because he is one of nine active coaches to have won an NCAA title, and he loses only Dave Neal and adds two good (not necessarily great recruits) in Padget and Jordan Williams this offseason. Williams is a 6′9″ PF who is expected to help right away. Obviously, the hope is another big man and another year of development for Burney, Dupree and Gregory will result in a more balanced team.
Maryland won’t be preseason top-25 next year, but they should be in the top half of the ACC and trending upward. Of course, with the drama this season, we don’t know if Gary will get the chance to see it through.
Topics: College Hoops, Gary Williams, Maryland, Parker and Peden | 7 Comments »
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:39 PM
watch them shock the world tonight
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:50 PM
Did UNC just shoot 11-15 from three in the first half? Wow.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:40 PM
Hey, at least Georgetown and George Mason won.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:26 AM
Man, 16 of 25 from behind the arc.
Maryland is facing a stretch from hell. At G-Tech, Va Tech, at Clemson and then hosting UNC and Duke. They do get a breather at NC State before hosting Wake Forest.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Sportz! It’s been a long time, old friend. Hope you’re well.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:47 PM
Good Analysis. I’ve been thinking the same things regarding the turnover in assistant coaches as well as your points about his long term record. Maybe those hacks over at the WP (and those posting comments)could learn something from your insightful approach. Thanks for laying out the facts.
Good Job,
UJ
February 5th, 2009 at 11:32 AM
I have been trying to leave comments on here for quite some time but forgot my password (and for some reason, the site wouldn’t email me one).
So I just re-registered so I can get back into the action.
-Sportz