Unplug the fridge

[Birds of B'more]

Well, Booth, Chucky and Ehsan have all been good recruiters of late. Plus, we know for a fact that Gary has been much more hands on. He's been personally talking to prospects, much more visible at tournaments and the like, and even doing home visits... stuff he was ingorning a few years ago. He's finally realizing that, because his reputation is so good, all it takes is a little recruiting effort on his part to lock down some top talent. Things have really turned around quickly. This season should be a fun year, but I'm really waiting until the 2010 class gets a few seasons behind them. My hope is that, if Gary can match the quality of his 2010 class in 2011, the 2013-2014 season could be a legitimate national championship possibility.

I think I read that he's also softened his stance of not giving the time of day to the AAU coaches/advisers.

[Dr. FLK]

Well, Booth, Chucky and Ehsan have all been good recruiters of late. Plus, we know for a fact that Gary has been much more hands on. He's been personally talking to prospects, much more visible at tournaments and the like, and even doing home visits... stuff he was ingorning a few years ago. He's finally realizing that, because his reputation is so good, all it takes is a little recruiting effort on his part to lock down some top talent. Things have really turned around quickly. This season should be a fun year, but I'm really waiting until the 2010 class gets a few seasons behind them. My hope is that, if Gary can match the quality of his 2010 class in 2011, the 2013-2014 season could be a legitimate national championship possibility.

I'm with you here. I've been very critical of GW's sorry recruiting since his NC. But he's certainly ramped it up for the upcoming season and (presumably) beyond. Hopefully they have fixed their recruiting strategy and can become a perennial contender. It certainly looks like things are looking up for Terp bball.

Now if only I could say the same for football...

[Tony-OH]

Everything you said about the football situation is exactly correct, but your argument about basketball is old. Did Gary have some years where he let his recruiting efforts slip? Definitely. But, to call MD bottom rung ACC basketball team just isn't correct. First of all our 2010 class is ranked 7th in the nation, only behind UNC in the ACC. To be honest, you can't ever expect MD to out recruit UNC and Duke in the same year. Plus, Gary took what was only a decent team to the 2nd round of the NCAA Tourney. This year, MD is going to be ranked preseason top 20. If you're not happy with what has been going on recently, you never will be.

At no point should Maryland spend four out of five years going to a NIT. No worries though, Yow has no intention of firing Williams anyways. He's free to do as little as he likes.

Maryland should never, ever, ever be in the NIT. Williams allowed that to happen. Perhaps he has done more of late and it does appear the recruits have a been a little stronger, but until they do something we are still a crappy NIT program under Williams' watch.

I have higher standards for a program in a basketball rich area with a first rate arena. I realize many if you do not share my standards and are fine with your NITs and losses to the Miami's, Florida states, West Virginia's of the basketball world.

BTW, I fully understand your position since you are at Maryland. Apparently there is some sort of indoctrination that goes on there about Gary and his infallibility. It's actually almost scary how blind Maryland students and alums are about what Gary has done to a once proud program.

Like a few people will say, "Gary is the man".... Which tells me all I need to know....

[Mackus]

"Gary is the man"....

Finally you say something right about the MD program, Tony!

Maryland is still a very proud program, and Gary will prove you've been 100% wrong about his abilities all along. Nobody has ever said that we were accepting of NIT appearances and poor recruiting. We simply said, at least I said every single time we've brought this up, that while it was Gary's fault that the program slipped far too low after our Championship runs, he was also still the best man for the job of rebuilding the program to where it should be. I think the next few seasons will prove that to be right.

Also, your facts are wrong. Maryland went to the NIT 3-out-of-4, not 4-out-of-5. Still unacceptable, for sure, but at least get the info right. We've been to the NCAA's 13 of the last 16 years. How many other programs have done that? The 3-out-of-5 we've missed in the last 5 is bad, but we've gone a long ways towards righting the ship and will continue to prove we're back with a preseason top-20 team this year and a top-10 recruiting class coming in next year.

And spare us the sanctimony about your higher standards, please. I guarantee all of the alums and students and lifelong Maryland fans want Maryland to win just as badly and just as consistently as you do if not far more. And I don't appreciate you dismissing my and others' comments simply because we went to Maryland as if that somehow is a bad thing in terms of how badly we want to see Maryland win. That's needlessly insulting, IMO.

[Dwight Schrute]

It's actually almost scary how blind Maryland students and alums are about what Gary has done to a once proud program.

QUOTE]

Wait, so someone else built the program up and then Gary came in and destroyed it??

[Dr. FLK]

It's actually almost scary how blind Maryland students and alums are about what Gary has done to a once proud program.

QUOTE]

Wait, so someone else built the program up and then Gary came in and destroyed it??

So to your point...it's better to build something up and than ruin it than to ruin something that someone else built?

And, I know he gets all the credit for building this program...I get it. But, he jumped in at rock bottom. UMCP was already an historically strong program...they were bound to bounce back, right? Let's not act like he took over at FIU and took them to the promised land.

[Hallas]

At no point should Maryland spend four out of five years going to a NIT. No worries though, Yow has no intention of firing Williams anyways. He's free to do as little as he likes.

Maryland should never, ever, ever be in the NIT. Williams allowed that to happen. Perhaps he has done more of late and it does appear the recruits have a been a little stronger, but until they do something we are still a crappy NIT program under Williams' watch.

I have higher standards for a program in a basketball rich area with a first rate arena. I realize many if you do not share my standards and are fine with your NITs and losses to the Miami's, Florida states, West Virginia's of the basketball world.

BTW, I fully understand your position since you are at Maryland. Apparently there is some sort of indoctrination that goes on there about Gary and his infallibility. It's actually almost scary how blind Maryland students and alums are about what Gary has done to a once proud program.

Like a few people will say, "Gary is the man".... Which tells me all I need to know....

You talk about what Gary did to a once-proud program, but what about what he did to a once-dead program? Both are equally relevant, and I fail to see what harm it does to allow him the opportunity to fix his recent mistakes in light of his reputation as a whole. I don't disagree that the Terps shouldn't be an NIT-bound program, but the risks of bringing in a new, unproven coach at this point are much higher than the risk of allowing Gary to fix his mistakes.

Good programs do not allow for a coaching carousel. Firing Williams could have potentially started one.

[Mackus]

You realize that proud program was taken to its highest point under Gary Williams, right?

Gary had some tough years....The Rudy Gay fiasco, McCray ineligible, Strawberry getting hurt, Gilchrist turning into Marbury, etc. He's getting out of that tough spot and now we are on the rise again. The main reason we didn't capitalize on our NC is because of the below average performance of his class after the NC...Caner-Medley, Garrison, Gilchrist, Jones...That was actually his best rated recruiting class and most heralded class under Gary.

I really only blame one NIT appearance, the '07-'08 season, on Gary.

The first two were mainly the results of Gilchrist imploding and McCray flunking out. Probably should have had a better team around those guys, but if Gilchrist played his junior year like he did his sophomore year, we're a 5 seed. He destroyed that team. Remember we also lost DJ Strawberry to a knee injury in early January that year. The next year we were a weaker team even with McCray and had Strawberry playing out of position at the point, but still would have been in the dance if Chris hadn't decided he didn't need to go take any of his finals. Ultimately its a "buck-stops-here" situation, but there are plenty of legitimate reasons to draw blame away from Gary for those two seasons.

[Todd-O]

Wow.

Somehow this went from unplugging The Fridge to a Gary Williams love/hate fest.

I guess that proves how little Maryland football matters to anyone at this point.

It's sad.

[Danielos38]

At no point should Maryland spend four out of five years going to a NIT. No worries though, Yow has no intention of firing Williams anyways. He's free to do as little as he likes.

Maryland should never, ever, ever be in the NIT. Williams allowed that to happen. Perhaps he has done more of late and it does appear the recruits have a been a little stronger, but until they do something we are still a crappy NIT program under Williams' watch.

I have higher standards for a program in a basketball rich area with a first rate arena. I realize many if you do not share my standards and are fine with your NITs and losses to the Miami's, Florida states, West Virginia's of the basketball world.

BTW, I fully understand your position since you are at Maryland. Apparently there is some sort of indoctrination that goes on there about Gary and his infallibility. It's actually almost scary how blind Maryland students and alums are about what Gary has done to a once proud program.

Like a few people will say, "Gary is the man".... Which tells me all I need to know....

First of all, the notion that MD should never go the NIT is far too utopian to be honest.

UNC missed the tournament in 2002 and 2003. UCLA missed the tournament in 2003 and 2004. Duke missed the tournament in 1995. Connecticut missed the tournament in 1997. Georgetown missed the tournament in 2001-2004 and again in 2008. Syracuse missed the tournament in 2007 and 2008. Villanova missed the tournament from 2000-2004. Illinois missed the tournament in 2008. Kentucky missed the tournament in 2008.

I agree with you, in that MD should never make the NIT's, but it happens. Clearly it even happens to the best programs of all time, which MD can only aspire to be.

And there is no "indoctrination" here. You can see by my post history, that I supported Gary long before I went to school here.

[Dr. FLK]

UNC missed the tournament in 2002 and 2003. UCLA missed the tournament in 2003 and 2004. Duke missed the tournament in 1995. Connecticut missed the tournament in 1997. Georgetown missed the tournament in 2001-2004 and again in 2008. Syracuse missed the tournament in 2007 and 2008. Villanova missed the tournament from 2000-2004. Illinois missed the tournament in 2008. Kentucky missed the tournament in 2008.

And I don't recall many of those fan bases being quite as complacent as the Terps' fan base...how'd those coaches end up?

[Danielos38]

Well the 3 most respected coaches on that list, Coach K, Jim Calhoun, and Jim Boeheim, all who have built up their programs and had down years, kept their jobs, and all brought their program back to prominence.

Correct... And I only listed the missed tournaments starting in 1995. Great programs have been having down years forever. It's just how college basketball works. The only top school that I found that never really had a down year was Kansas. I also didn't list Indiana because they missed the tournament for circumstances out of their control.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Uh I went to Maryland and am far from a blind Gary supporter.

I am cautiously optimistic about the future, which is better than I was a year ago at this point.

Oh yea, fire Fridge.

[Tony-OH]

By the way, I give credit to Gary for continuing the success the Terps had under Lefty. I give him credit for a being a good in game coach and for getting the most out of some mediocre players for the most part, but his pure laziness and lack of desire to recruit sunk the program. I've been told fo the last five years, "just wait, this latest class is really good."

No worries though, I have no doubt that Gary is going nowhere while Yow is running things.

As for Fridge, which is the original OP, I give him credit for trying, but he's just not a good judge of talent IMHO. I like the Fridge because I think he gave it all but it just wasn't good enough. I dislike Williams because he refuses to take any credit for the demise of the program to an after though the last five years.

[Mackus]

By the way, I give credit to Gary for continuing the success the Terps had under Lefty.

Come on Tony. You know that isn't what happened. Don't be lazy yourself in trying to make up a fair critique of Gary if you find that to be a major flaw of his. Bob Wade destroyed the programs. Some programs have had down years and come back, but how many have had NCAA Death Sentences and come back to prominence as quickly as Gary brought us back and to as high of heights as Gary brought the University back to. Gary has passed what Lefty did and he did it with having to completely rebuild. It wasn't inevitable as someone else claimed earlier. When you face the type of sanctions that MD faced, lost scholarships, no TV, postseason bans, its pretty damn difficult to come back from that.

The team is a preseason top-20 in nearly every publication. We won an NCAA tournament game last year. We've got a top-10 class already signed for 2011 and the guys coming in this year are filling immediate needs. If we struggle this year, then maybe you'll have some basis for your claims, but if we make the tournament and win a couple games there like I am hoping for, then I think its pretty obvious that you were wrong.

You weren't claiming that Gary was doing a bad job and needs to do better. I could respect that opinion. You said point blankly that it was time for him to go, that MD should fire him, IIRC, and that isn't an opinion that I give any credence to. I think you're pretty close to having been proven wrong with that idea, if you haven't already been. Gary was the best man for the job this year, he was the best man 3 years ago, 5 years ago, and 10 years ago. I'm doubt you'll ever admit it, but he's going to prove your claim that he should have been fired wrong.

The best future for the program is for Gary to get us back to where we were 6-7 years ago, where we are a Final 4 contender, go out on his own terms whenever he decides its time, and hand the reins over to a deserving heir who can keep the thing running. No idea who that is, but its not John Calipari or any other sleazeball cheater that the "fire Gary" crowd probably wanted to bring in.