Independent voices from the TWT Communities
As anyone who has ever ridden with me with tell you, geography isn't my thing. When the Beltway opened in 1964, this native Washingtonian was astonished that you could get from Maryland to Virginia without going through D.C.
Gary Williams has made himself scarce around the Maryland Terrapins men's basketball program, which he ran for the prior 22 seasons. He's been busy completing various tasks for the athletic department (for which he's paid a tidy $400,000), working as an analyst for the Big Ten network and, just recently, making weekly local radio appearances on ESPN 980.
The University of Maryland's decision to eliminate eight of 27 varsity sports hurts the athletes involved more than anybody else. But because three of the teams affected are indoor and outdoor track and cross country, I keep expecting to hear Jim Kehoe roar from somewhere in the great beyond.
Maryland coach Mark Turgeon wants to follow former coaches Lefty Driesell and Gary Williams as a legend in College Park.
We'll never forget that line last March, as the Ohio State football program was unraveling, when president E. Gordon Gee was asked about possibly firing Jim Tressel. "Are you kidding?" he said. "I'm just hopeful that the coach doesn't dismiss me."
Midnight Madness no longer lives up to its name. Sure, some of college basketball's opening night celebrations are chances for crowds to go crazy indoors for the first time since Connecticut won the national championship in April.
Midnight Madness no longer lives up to its name. Sure, some of college basketball's opening night celebrations are chances for crowds to go crazy indoors for the first time since Connecticut won the national championship in April.
Mark Turgeon's odyssey — from Jacksonville State to Wichita State to Texas A&M — now brings him to Maryland as Gary Williams' successor. Williams, who won the 2002 national title and reached two Final Fours, retired Thursday after 22 years at his alma mater.
Just as he would when departing nearly 22 years later, Gary Williams had tears in his eyes as he became Maryland's basketball coach June 13, 1989.
To understand the hold Gary Williams has on Maryland basketball fans – and why so many of them turned out at Comcast Center on Friday to pay him homage – you have to go back to the beginning. You have to go back to 1989.
RALEIGH, N.C.
"He's just a great athlete. ... He's got good work habits. He's a good kid."
"I really ... that's not my concern," he said. "My concern is this university and this basketball program and Mark Turgeon being able to carry out what he's here to do. That's my work now and that's my goal to make that happen."
SNYDER: Gary Williams leaves lasting impression on Terps' hardwood →
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team plays its home games on "Coach K Court," said Driesell and any other dissenters are missing the point.
SNYDER: Gary Williams leaves lasting impression on Terps' hardwood →
