The Legacy of Gary Williams
After being a head coach for 33 years, Gary Williams stepped down following the 2010-2011 season. While his coaching career ended with more of a thud than a bang, Coach Williams has a long history of success. In fact, that thud that was heard on his way out was just the fifth time in 31 years that he did not lead his team to the NIT or the NCAA Tournament. Think about that for a while.
Fresh off of five years as an assistant at Boston College, Williams earned his first head coaching gig in 1978 at American University. After a couple seasons of rebuilding, Williams led the team to two straight NIT appearances. The success at American sent his former employer, Boston College, calling. In four years with the Eagles Coach Williams made two trips to the Sweet Sixteen. He parlayed that success into a job at Ohio State, where he led the Buckeyes to an NCAA Tournament appearance and a couple nice runs in the NIT.
Williams could have set up shop at Ohio State for the long haul, but then Maryland made the call. Williams played point guard for the Terrapins from 1964 to 1967 and heading back to College Park was too much to pass up. It worked out nicely for all parties.
Twenty-two seasons later, Williams led the Terps to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances. After spending four years rebuilding from 1989 to 1992, Coach Williams made 11 consecutive appearances in the big dance from 1994 to 2004. His 17 NCAA Tournament appearances were almost always successful. Amazingly, only twice did his team fail to win a game in the tournament. That is a statistic that will be hard for any coach to match.
Of course the most memorable trip was the 32-4 2002 campaign that ended with a national championship. That is what history will remember. All those tournament wins and the 2002 National Championship is what history will remember about Coach Gary Williams.
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