EastStang wrote:I have watched Maryland hoops for years and will say this. Gary Williams is an excellent coach, who doesn't want to get dirty in the current cesspool that is NCAA hoops recruiting. He doesn't want to recruit the one and dones. He doesn't want to mess with the coaches with itchy palms in the AAU. He doesn't want to sell his soul to shoe companies (although he has adopted UnderArmour - but that's owned by a UM alum). The result is that Gary has had some difficulty in the ACC where some coaches have flexible ethics. He also recruits kids who have some academic ability unlike Lefty who would recruit the stereotypical idiot. Maryland now follows a four year model, I think. Teams grow together and every four years or so, they do very well. The rest of the time they do okay. I wish that we had half of the success that Maryland has had under Gary Williams. And yes, I agree with Scott that UM fans are passionate, but fickle as a hot coed.
SMU is a sleeping giant private, but Maryland is a top 15 job in america. All the things you say are true, other than a 4 year model, but that means Gary is disregarding 70% of his job or so. He basically doesn't recruit, and on occasion picks one of his own players, who tend to dominate(Juan Dixon, Vasquez, Jordan Williams etc). If he wasn't so lazy, he'd be one of the best coaches ever. He's undeniably a great practice & bench coach.
FWIW, They just received a verbal from Martin Breunig, who Gary has seen once, if at all. They have a spring offer to Greg Whittington in Oakland Mills, and Gary has never seen him play. That's 20 minutes or so from CP. That brings me to this, there is no 4 year plan at a school like Maryland. They should compete most every year, b/c they have tradition, facilities, a HOF coach, and are located in PG County, right between DC and Baltimore. They aren't attracting enough talent, and they aren't winning as much as they should.
