While reading a CBS Sports piece regarding what universities should be realistically looking for when hiring a new coach, I was reminded me of a few oft discussed topics last May, when Maryland hired Mark Turgeon to be their next head coach of the men's basketball program.
An online debate ensued about whether some analysts were correct or not by describing the Maryland head coaching position as a top 15 job. Well, apparently, by my estimation, after reading the CBS Sports post comments, I'd say it's a resounding yes.
Gary Parrish:
"I'm here to once and for all convince ADs and fans that the key to your school not looking silly during a coaching search is to set reasonable sights on one of these three things:
1. Coaches who are out of coaching
2. BCS assistants3. Non-BCS head coaches not named Mark Few, Brad Stevens or Shaka Smart.
If you're not shopping for a coach on one of those aisles you're almost certainly shopping on the wrong aisle and wasting time. For proof consider that just five of the 32 BCS-level jobs that have opened over the past three years were filled with BCS-level head coaches, and that none of them was filled by Few, Stevens or Smart. The only BCS-level head coaches who have voluntarily changed jobs over the past three off seasons are Martin (KSU to South Carolina), Mike Anderson (Missouri to Arkansas), Oliver Purnell (Clemson to DePaul), Frank Haith (Miami to Missouri) and Mark Turgeon (Texas A&M to Maryland), and Turgeon is the lone person of the group who left purely for basketball reasons."
Turgeon was the only one to leave for basketball reasons. This speaks to the drawing power of the Terps program.
After digesting the hire of Turgeon for a few weeks, I had the feeling the Terps were fortunate to land a coach who had accomplished quite a bit thus far as a Head Coach. Yet we could see we had a coach who was ready to take the next step upward in his journey with us back towards the upper echelons of college basketball.
A year later, Terps fans seem to have not been disappointed with Coach Turgeon. By my estimation, he is and will be even more than we anticipated. Let's enjoy the ride that has begun.
Thanks for posting this...really does speak to the tradition of our program and the fact that KA really nailed this hire. Turgeon has exceeded the astronomical expectations from MD fans almost from day one. I don't think we are an easy fanbase to win over and he hasn't had any problem doing it after just one 17-15 season.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, just knowing that Turgeon is in charge is enough to outweigh any negative player related news (i.e. Stoglin leaving). Sure it sucks at first, but the big picture remains, as long as MT is in charge we are in good shape.
I hope everyone can keep that sentiment until the 2013 season, because that is the season you will see it pay dividends. This team is extremely young this year, and while they have a year under Turge, 7 new players are coming in (Dodd, Allen, Cleare, Mitchell, Cassell Jr, Layman, Smotrycz).
DeleteThis year may be as rocky as last with Stoglin leaving and no real PG, but I think towards the end of the year we may see them start to put it together.
It's going to be a fun ride! But I'd like to share my differing opinion on this upcoming season. I actually think this year will be MUCH less rocky. At least MOST of the team is Turgeon's guys now.
DeleteLook at what he did with the talent, or lack thereof, in College Station. Those teams were great because they were Turgeon guys. They weren't 5 star players. Don't get me wrong he had talent, but not great talent. I'm really excited about this year, Stoglin or not!
I feel like this year is Turgeon's year to be Gary, if that makes sense. He's got a team of great kids that are all gonna have a chip on their shoulder. I think this is where we find out just how good our hire is as a coach, and I'm really optimistic about it.
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