Hiring Williams is first piece to puzzle for Terrapins

COLLEGE PARK — On March 16, the Maryland basketball team was celebrating a successful season with a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Seventeen days — and a coach and athletic director departure — later, only two players remain on the Terrapins roster.

With uncertainty still lingering about what the program will look like moving forward, the first piece of Maryland’s puzzle was placed Wednesday with the formal introduction of Buzz Williams as its new men’s basketball coach.

“Some of our most valued and trusted supporters suggested names for our consideration,” said interim athletic director Colleen Sorem, “and from all of those lists, only one name was on everyone’s list, and it was the same name that was already sitting on the very top of our list.”

Williams is a 52-year-old Texas native who brings 18 years of Division I head coaching experience to College Park, with previous stops at Marquette, Virginia Tech and most recently Texas A&M. Eleven of those seasons ended with NCAA Tournament berths, peaking with an Elite Eight run at Marquette in 2013.

“You want to make sure that it’s right for your family,” Williams said of the move, “and as a leader you want to make sure that it makes sense for your staff and their families, and you also have to handle all of the families, players, coaches, administrators, decision-makers at your previous institution the right way.”

He takes over after Maryland’s Sweet 16 run and best season in nine years, but one that ended in disarray after Kevin Willard’s public and messy departure to Villanova. Williams’ Aggie squad was also in the NCAA Tournament, so he “really didn’t even know what had transpired.”

“All I can tell you is I’ll try real hard, and the intent of my heart will not be selfish, and the intent of my heart will be to be the best that we can be,” Williams said.

Maryland put on a full-court promotional press, with luminaries and coaches including Maryland great Juan Dixon, women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese, football coach Mike Locksley and Hall of Famer Gary Williams all in attendance to support the new coach.

“This place is bigger than any coach [that’s] ever coached here, and that’s not going to change,” said Williams, who led Maryland to its lone national championship in 2002. “And I think this is a place where you can have the rest of your career here. And I think Buzz is looking at this place as that type of job.”

An emphasis was made on highlighting the incoming coach’s character, with Sorem calling Williams a “good man” and “family man” among other platitudes. She said “over 30 talented and successful coaches” were evaluated before selecting Williams.

“Buzz and I share high expectations. We intend to position our men’s basketball program to compete year in and year out for conference titles and national championships, because that’s what Maryland basketball is all about.”

Williams steps into a locker room that currently couldn’t produce a starting lineup. Between graduating players and those who have entered the transfer portal, only two Terrapins remain: Chance Stephens, a redshirt sophomore who’s only played in seven games across two seasons at Maryland due to injury, and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Derik Queen, who is widely expected to declare for the NBA Draft.

“As soon as I can figure out who’s on the roster, that would be the first place to start,” Williams said. “I met with the team this morning. They were great … And the last few days, it’s very unsettling. It’s unstable. And so I gave them the commitment that I just mentioned: If I can help you, I’ll help you. And if that means it’s here, we’ll figure that out. If that means it’s somewhere else, that’s okay, too.”

Williams said he was impressed with the “very unique and tight process” led by university president Darryll Pines, whose next order of business is to find a new athletic director after Damon Evans’ March 21 departure to Southern Methodist.

“If it could be done today, if it could be done at the same time, it’d be perfect. It’s a process that’s probably going to evolve over six to eight weeks,” Pines said. “What I’ve been telling everybody is my hope is to announce on Monday the process and the search firm that’s going to work with us.”