[Lotto StudParticipant]

Terps coach Gary Williams to retire

Maryland coach Gary Williams is retiring, the school announced on Thursday. Williams will have a news conference on Friday.

 

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AP Photo/Chuck BurtonGary Williams led Maryland to the national title in 2002.

 

Williams coached 22 season at Maryland, winning the national title in 2002.

"It’s the right time," Williams said in a news release. "My entire career has been an unbelievable blessing. I am fiercely proud of the program we have built here. I couldn’t have asked any more from my players, my assistant coaches, the great Maryland fans and this great university. Together, we did something very special here."

 

Williams’ teams have reached 14 NCAA tournaments in the past 18 seasons and have advanced to the Sweet 16 seven times.

He won 461 games at College Park. The Terps were 19-14 this past season.

Williams will become an assistant athletic director and special assistant to AD Kevin Anderson.

"Gary Williams is a legend," Anderson said in a statement. "His accomplishments on the court have earned him a place among the elite in college basketball history."

Williams began his coaching career at American before spending four seasons at Boston College and three at Ohio State. His career coaching record is 668-380 in 33 seasons.

This is a BIG BIG blow for the Terps program, They will be setback with the recruits that they have been acquring. The sad part is they had just recently started to get LOCAL guys to commit. Will Nick Faust stay & will Justin Anderson from Montrose Christian stay committed?

[paradigmnParticipant]

 We just saw it from RODNEY PURVIS…so does anyonce in the DC area know the chances of JUSTIN ANDERSON de-committing now that GARY WILLIAMS is retiring???

[surveParticipant]

Although this is a big blow, I look at it as more of a new beginning.  Gary Williams just could not get the top top recruits at Maryland and its hard to understand why he couldnt.  I think this is why he decided to exit because he was going to have to rebuild all over again after losing Jordan Williams.  I think losing JW played a huge part in this because they are not viewed as a tournament team this year.  Thats not good for an older coach who is in a conference with UNC and Duke, the past 2 national champions before UCONN.  I really wish some of the top recruits would have signed there because Gary Williams is one of the most intense and best coaches to ever coach the game.

[knicksfan7Participant]

Surve is on point. I also think that he was too moral for his own good big reason I believe why he never dealt with AAU coaches and the like. I hate to see him exit like this b/c they didn’t even go to the NCAAs or the NIT! It upsets me to see him go because he is such a great coach. Gary Williams made Jordan Williams a better player for sure, had Jordan Williams went anywhere other than Maryland he would have been a 4 year player and maybe a late 1st.

[D-Rose1Participant]

All over twitter people are acting like Maryland is going to be able to get almost any coach it wants (Sean Miller, Jaime Dixon, Jay Wright, and one other was named) and I dont understand that. I am a huge college basketball fan but only 20 years old so maybe it was a bigger job when I was younger. I just dont see why Maryland would be such a coveted job. This isnt a knock on Maryland’s program, Im just confused I guess.

As for the recruits, I would imagine they hold on to at least some of them if they get a big name head coach that is being talked about. However, after Rodney Purvis decommitting over an ASSISTANT coach leaving, I wouldnt be surprised by anything.

[ghettosermonParticipant]

If they can find a coach/recruiter who can keep the local talent from PG county and Baltimore they could challenge anyone. Imagine if a coach can keep in home grown talent like Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Michael Beasley, Ty Lawson, etc. Georgetown has been scooping up PG talent like Freeman+Wright, Green+Hibbert, if a coach can come in and keep the local talent they will be lethal. A lot of these kids already have grown up hating schools like Duke, they just need a recruiter to convince them to stay home. I respect Gary Williams and the job he has done with inferior talent, but for the success they have had his inability to recruit big names especially in state names when Maryland is the only major college in the state, shows a recruiting defeciency. Must be a sad day though for Terps fans to lose Gary Williams and Jordan Williams.

[BKKnicksfanParticipant]

If I was Maryland, I’d go get a nice assistant coach to hold it down, then call Scott Drew from Baylor

[WizardofOzParticipant]

I’m STUNNED as a Maryland fan. Gary was always criticized for his recruiting, but he just started stepping up his game when he got guys like Faust and Anderson to commit. But there have been reports that high-major coaches like Jay Wright, Sean Miller, Rick Barnes, Jamie Dixon, have been contacted, and Mike Brey are interested in the job, so I won’t be mad if we landed one of those guys. I just hope that the recruits that were considering Maryland when Gary was here don’t lose interest and that the recruits we have don’t de-commit.

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

Cite your source, sleazewagon

[Demarcus OnealParticipant]

Well it was not just an assistant coach decommitting, In most cases the assistant coaches are the ones who do the most of the recruiting of the player and most of the times a player has a better initial relationship with the assistant coaches then the actual coach before they play for said school.

[WizardofOzParticipant]

"I just dont see why Maryland would be such a coveted job. This isnt a knock on Maryland’s program, Im just confused I guess."

To reply to your comment D-Rose1, Maryland is a highly coveted job because of the great facilities, great fan base, high prestige, is in a great conference, and the DV is a baskeball hotbed, so the coaches will have a lot to work with.

[surveParticipant]

"I just dont see why Maryland

"I just dont see why Maryland would be such a coveted job. This isnt a knock on Maryland’s program, Im just confused I guess."

Maryland has always been a coveted job.  Its will be a goldmine for the right coach.  Back when Lefty Driesell was there, he had that DeMatha pipeline…then the short lived Bob Wade had the Dunbar pipeline.  Gary Williams never could get the top rated players but boy did he get some talented guys who turned into big time college players and some very solid pros.  Juan Dixon, Terrence Morris, Lonnie Baxter, Steve Blake, Chris Wilcox, Steve Francis, Keith Booth, Joe Smith, the wizard Walt Williams, etc…the list goes on and on.  Let me say this as well, Gary Williams’ teams were the only legitimate threats to Coach K or Roy Williams on a consistent basis and he has never anywhere close to the recruits that those guys have had.

 

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