When Maryland won the national title, people talked about how Gary Williams had matured, or mellowed, an idea with which we disagreed then and now. What happened was he got a backcourt that was phenomenal, and quite frankly, he didn't have to do very much. Juan Dixon and Steve Blake were superb.
Since then, though, Maryland's position has eroded, and there is open speculation now about his job security. In this article by Dana O' Neil, the old rumors about his relationship with A.D. Debbie Yow come up.
A quick list of possible candidates if Maryland was in the market
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Questions about recruiting pop up here, too. Here's a blunt way of putting it: do you think Lefty Driesell would have let Rudy Gay, Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, and Carmelo Anthony go without a supreme fight? Heck no.
The reason, or a big part of the reason, he called Maryland the UCLA of the East was because you can take a short drive and see some of the finest high school talent in the country.
Here's another way to look at it. Supposing Maryland was coached by, oh, say John Calipari. Do you think recruiting would be ramped up? Do you think local recruiting would be?
To ask the question is to answer it. We would argue two things: first, that Maryland owes Gary a huge debt, and two, that debt may not be enough to keep them from firing him if things keep heading south.
We have a brief list of possible candidates posted above. The ideal coach would probably be an excellent recruiter, run an exciting system, be familiar with the East Coast, and given the still-lingering bitterness in Baltimore of Bob Wade's departure, being African-American wouldn't hurt. The guy we'd hire? Jeff Capel. The guy Maryland will hire? Anthony Grant.
Incidentally, Maryland expects guard Sean Moseley to get his scores and become eligible, and this site says they've got a commitment from 6-10 Steve Goins. Will that postpone the wake? Stay tuned!