Sweaty Gary Retires

Coaches College Basketball23

I’ve been traveling all day and just got home to the news that Maryland Head Basketball Coach, Gary Williams has retired effective immediately.

I guess anyone looking forward to the Maryland vs NC State battles in the future because of Debbie Yow and Gary Williams will never get to see.

Even though the SFN authors weren’t around to run this on the blog in real time…our message board community was discussing the news as it was happening this afternoon. Click here.

Maryland has now turned over its football and basketball coaches in the past year.

Link to WRAL

Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams announced his retirement Thursday, saying “it’s the right time” for him to end a career that included leading his alma mater to the 2002 national championship.

Williams coached for 33 years, the last 22 at Maryland, where he played as a guard from 1964-67.

His career record is 668-380, including 461-252 at Maryland. Under his direction, the Terrapins went to the NCAA tournament 14 times, won or shared three Atlantic Coast Conference titles and reached the Final Four twice.

“My entire career has been an unbelievable blessing. I am fiercely proud of the program we have built here,” Williams said. “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, 66, arrived at Maryland in 1989, when the program was still struggling under the weight of NCAA violations. The Terps endured two straight losing seasons before reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time under his direction in 1994, and he never had another sub-.500 season the rest of the way.

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Coaches College Basketball

23 Responses to Sweaty Gary Retires

  1. tractor57 05/05/2011 at 8:33 PM #

    Makes one wonder if he finally used up all his rope.

    He is an ass but a good BB coach. The ACC has been better for his tenure.

  2. rtpack24 05/05/2011 at 8:54 PM #

    The timing of this is extremely interesting. Gary was at the Final Four, his team did not make post season play so he decides two months later that he is hanging it up. I hope some how some way the real story comes out.

  3. MISTA WOLF 05/05/2011 at 9:46 PM #

    I’ll miss watching Gary coach. Always coached his ass off from the tip to the final whistle. Didn’t matter if they were up by 20 or down by 20 his ass was in someone’s face trying to make them a better basketball player. No one coached with the constant intensity and fire like Gary or Izzo.

  4. 66pack 05/05/2011 at 9:55 PM #

    new ad at maryland has cleaned house,who is he or her?

  5. Tau837 05/05/2011 at 10:01 PM #

    From the Washington Post:

    “According to individuals familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak on the record, Villanova Coach Jay Wright will be high on Maryland’s list to replace Williams.

    Another individual close to the Maryland athletic department said Notre Dame Coach Mike Brey would be interested in the job should Maryland approach him. The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday that Maryland already had reached out to Brey, who was born in Bethesda and attended DeMatha, but that Brey and Notre Dame were working on a contract extension that would keep him in South Bend, Ind.

    The source also believed Arizona Coach Sean Miller would express interest in the job, though Miller just completed only his second season as Wildcats coach.”

    Anyone believe Wright or Miller would be viable candidates?

    I think it would be a great topic to see someone compare the N.C. State and Maryland jobs. I have seen posted elsewhere that Maryland is a top 15 job thanks to their facility, Under Armour money, and proximity to a hotbed of recruiting. I would have expected our facilities are better, but I’m not sure about other factors. Thoughts on this?

  6. Tau837 05/05/2011 at 10:01 PM #

    Also from the same WP article:

    “I’ve been doing this a long time and I thought it might be time to do something else. After [Debbie] Yow left, I thought I might enjoy it more this year and I really did like working with Kevin Anderson. He’s a straight shooter. But I think I’d been worn down by the previous 15 years [with Yow]. It grinds on you.”

    LOL

  7. Tau837 05/05/2011 at 10:04 PM #

    Posted this earlier:

    Nick Faust and Sterling Gibbs decommitted from Maryland.

    Faust is a SG in the class of 2011 (#12 SG, #36 overall per ESPN). Supposedly he considered Oregon State, Florida State, Marquette, and Villanova before committing to Maryland. He is from Baltimore.

    Gibbs is a PG in the class of 2011 (#25 PG overall per ESPN). Supposedly he considered Seton Hall, Florida, Pittsburgh, and Indiana before committing to Maryland.

    Could we get in the mix here? Just like with Lacey, we can offer a lot of playing time right out of the gate. We certainly could use some guard help.

  8. JT 05/05/2011 at 10:08 PM #

    Good coach, total tool. Funny to watch during a game. Also funny that he finally gets rid of his nemesis and after one year retires. Strikes me like the sort of guy who ain’t happy unless he’s unhappy.

  9. Lunatic Fringe 05/06/2011 at 12:58 AM #

    “He’s a straight shooter.” LOL…yeah I bet Yow was really hard to read when she told you to get your academics in order and stop thinking winning that NC allowed you to half a$$ it the last 5 years.

    He just proved Yow knew EXACTLY what she was talking about. I think leaving in May is a nice touch. Once a tool…always a tool

  10. gotohe11carolina 05/06/2011 at 12:59 AM #

    happy trails to sweaty Gary. while I hate Maryland with a burning undying passion, I’m not sure we beat them in anything while I was in school, the acc coaching pool is worse for his departure, especially the crappy timing of it. I hope they get a good coach who we continually beat for.the next 10 solid years.
    to the above point I think Maryland might have a slight advantage just due to the money and the slight bit of national media exposure they get, more recognizable talent, and location. facilities are kind of a wash imo, although I’m not an 18 year old with a jumper. but the championship in the current generation of players lifetimes is their big trump card over us at the moment. oh that and their lunatic fringe isn’t nearly as adept with the interwebs as ours is.

  11. PackerInRussia 05/06/2011 at 3:22 AM #

    Ahhh, it all makes sense now. Gary’s real intent throughout our coaching search was to delay us finding a coach long enough until he could make himself available for the job. He pretends to hate Debbie, but after she left, he realized that he couldn’t live without her.

  12. PackerInRussia 05/06/2011 at 3:29 AM #

    “The source also believed Arizona Coach Sean Miller would express interest in the job”

    That’s an interesting way to put it. The source (don’t we all love a good source!) didn’t say that Maryland would be interested in or go after Sean Miller, but that Sean Miller would express interest. Either “the source” is full of crap (I know, hard to believe), he can read Sean Miller’s mind, or he knows Sean Miller. Take your pick.

    How many times has Jay Wright’s name come up in a coaching search over the past 5 or so years?

  13. haze 05/06/2011 at 7:13 AM #

    ACC will likely be worse off without Gary. He was a heck of a coach and, frankly, allowed MD to hold up the ACC a bit in the absense of a lot of other key programs (uh, hum… NC State).

    Interesting timing. You have to wonder if he’s left MD with a bit of a problem on the new hire or if this was communicated ahead of time to the AD. If the latter, MD may already have some stuff in the works. If the former, I think they’re screwed and will either have to settle or pay massive cash.

    I also agree that this will be a cool comparison between the two jobs. MD and State are pretty comparable on a lot of fronts, with similar facilities and fan passion. State has the history and core ACC identity. MD has the advantage of a recent NC, the DC market and the perception that they don’t have to live in the blue shadow. I think that makes the MD job appear to be better, though a seriously good coach should be able to make either go like stink. These are easily the best jobs in the ACC behind UNC & Duke.

    Get out the popcorn.

  14. Rochester 05/06/2011 at 7:46 AM #

    Seems pretty obvious he was scared to come to Raleigh next season, so he quit. (Okay, that and the loss of Jordan Williams.) The timing is especially classy. Of course, if another big time coach leaves their school to take the MD job, they’ll be screwing their team even worse.

    I always figured he’d go out with a heart attack during a game. Hats off to him for his success, but he always seemed like an A-1 prick to me.

    With his departure, there are only 4 ACC coaches who have been in the league longer than two seasons (K, Roy, Greenberg, Hamilton). The league is wide open, at least after the two blues. If we can’t return to relevance now, we never can. (I think we can and will under Gottfried.)

  15. Statefan1998 05/06/2011 at 8:08 AM #

    Great coach, terrible (or chose not to go after) recruiter. Look at the guys that got out of Maryland.

    Anthony
    Beasley
    Lawson
    Forte
    Bogans
    Shelby
    Gay

    Of course Bob Wade hurt the Baltimore pipeline. However, I think if Gary would of capitalized local talent he would have won at least 2 more NC’s.

  16. Wisc-Wolf 05/06/2011 at 8:13 AM #

    The recruiting game passed Gary by and he refused to give these AAU coaches any credit. There were a lot of recruits from that area he missed out on for that one reason. You have to admire a person who sticks to his principals despite the other costs. To me he was one of the coaches that made the conference so interesting. Coaches who were controversial and did not always give the boiler plate answers. After Williams and Coach K I am not sure there are anymore left. In my opinion one of the reasons, if not the main reason, the ACC has been down is the lack of good to great coaches. The ACC just lost another great coach.

  17. BureauOfMines 05/06/2011 at 8:51 AM #

    I tip my hat to Gary. His record speaks for itself.

    He made the ACC better. He was a hot tempered old rake who wasn’t all that old.

    The Md fans were arguably the most profane lot in the ACC. I recall a Duke @ Md game in which the F words from the crowd were so numerous, the broadcasters ran out of delay. K and Gary went out to center court to try and calm down the crowd. A commentator suggested they change the name to the Com-cuss Center.

  18. Bubba 05/06/2011 at 8:56 AM #

    I’ll miss watching Gary work the sidelines.

    Gotts job just gott a little easier.

  19. ADVENTUROO 05/06/2011 at 9:12 AM #

    Gary was a piece of work. I did admire him for his tenacity and the way that he focused on making Roy and Mikey SWEAT. That said, he was also in interesting sideline amusement.

    It is a, perhaps, sad commentary on the game when you get as much enjoyment out of watching the sidelines drama than the teams playing. Unfortunately, when Roy and Mikey have the boys clicking and firing on all cylinders, the game does get boring. SO….you watch the coach.

    What will the commentators do now that Gary is gone? The producers will have to start looking for more coed cleavage in the crowds.

    Good Luck, Gary…..hope that your AD’s coaching search makes Fowler’s look like a text book case of WHAT TO DO!.

  20. packalum44 05/06/2011 at 9:31 AM #

    Screw Gary Williams I have NOTHING good to say about him except this: he may have done us a favor by talking Shaka out of the job. Other than that he can go play in traffic on the beltway I have no respect for him.

  21. packof81 05/06/2011 at 1:31 PM #

    Whoever it was that said in 5 years K, Roy or Gary will be gone and in 10 years they’ll all be gone is right so far.

  22. TOBtime 05/06/2011 at 2:23 PM #

    So let me get this straight…Debbie Yow is detested by MD fans because she told the Fridge and Gary to straighten up. Said fans are supposedly giddy with joy when she comes to NC State. Less than 12 mos after her move to NC State both coaches she told to straighten up are gone.

    Interesting.

  23. State Fan 05/07/2011 at 11:20 AM #

    “In an interview, Williams, 66, explained that he started thinking about retiring in March 2010, after Maryland upset Duke at Comcast Center to clinch a share of the ACC’s regular season championship. But after the departure of then-Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow, with whom he’d had a strained relationship, Williams decided to stay another year and see if his zeal for the job didn’t return.

    Though he said he enjoyed working with the Terps’ new athletic director, Kevin Anderson, Williams said: “I think I’d been worn down by the previous 15 years. It grinds on you.””

    Man up, Gary, and get a backbone transplant. It can’t be all DY’s fault. After all, you won your championship during her tenure.

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