Gary

At about 4:30 this afternoon I was lying in my bed flipping between SportsNation on ESPN2 and some show on the Food Network. I flipped back to ESPN2 and instantly saw a "Breaking News" update that shocked me to say the least. Gary Williams is retiring. For those of you who are at UMD for your first year and are just starting to like Maryland Basketball, I can understand the resentment of this announcement. After all, Gary's team didn't do much at all last season. We failed to make the postseason for the first time in God knows how long, and those of us who have witnessed Gary's teams throughout the years were just as PO'ed about it as the new fans. But what those of you who are new to this University do not understand is how much Gary meant to this institution. He was more than just A coach. He was OUR coach. Even more than just winning a national championship, he did it the right way. I would love to win every year, but if there's cheating involved, it just wouldn't be as sweet. Gary did not cheat. Period. He had made it his crusade not to. By winning the right way in 2002, it was a slap in the face to those coaches who cheat (cough, cough, Calhoun, cough). But I'm not complaining about the money that Jimmy won me this year. The 2002 National Championship was great; one of my fondest memories to be honest. But, what I respect Gary for that goes even beyond that is the fact that he took the job in the first place. After the Len Bias incident and Lefty Driesell's retirement, the NCAA looked for every reason to give Maryland the so-called death penalty, and they did under Bob Wade by giving them three years probation, no postseason play for two years, and no televised games for two years. Gary stepped in to his Alma Mater at arguably the most difficult stretch this athletic department has ever witnessed, and with the help of Walt Williams, he turned a downtrodden program into one of the nation's elite once again. I grew up going to games. First in Cole and then at Comcast; even before I became a student. Now that I know that this would be my only year in college seeing Gary fist pump his way down the sideline, I wish it would have gone a whole heckuvalot better, but I am thankful for the 22 years that Gary gave this University. For a variety of reasons, it is so difficult to be successful coaching at your Alma Mater, but Gary made it work. It wasn't always pretty and there was really never a dearth of controversy, but 22 years speak for itself. To be honest, I don't want to speculate as to why Gary retired. It may or may not have something to do with Jordan Williams leaving. I don't know. If I did know, my name would be Gary Williams and I would have a nice, shiny National Championship ring on my finger.