Trouble in Terrapin Land?

Gary Williams was on top of the world in 2002. After his team captured the national championship that year finishing 32-4, Williams stood on a stage in historic Cole Field House and raised the Siemens Trophy. He was among rabid Maryland supporters who saw the culmination of his 13-year journey to bring Maryland back to prominence in the college basketball world.

It was a long time coming for Williams, who for years saw his team run into a brick wall at the Sweet 16 in the tourney and could never seem to break through. Now he had finally broken the tape the first, something he had seen too often done by his ACC counterparts, Mike Krzyzewski and Dean Smith. Williams was Susan Lucci on the 1999 Daytime Emmys three years before Roy Williams was.

Things aren't quite as rosy in College Park for Williams these days. In the six years since winning the national title, Maryland has struggled to recapture the magic that lead them to the Final Four in back-to-back years in 2001 and 2002. They've lost in the second round of the Big Dance twice since then, to Syracuse and then Butler. Even worse, the Terps have failed to make the tournament three out of the last four years, and were relegated to the NIT. In 2006, they suffered an embarrassing loss in their opener to Manhattan before a sparse crowd at the Comcast Center with fans fearing that the program was heading for a period of mediocrity. It was something Maryland fans weren't used to after getting to the Sweet 16 four times between 1994 and 1999, then back-to-back Final Fours culminating in the title under the tutelage of Williams.

It has been a long road back for Gary and Maryland. Legendary coach Charles "Lefty" Driesell resigned after the death of Maryland star Len Bias, who died of a drug overdose less than 48 hours after he was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the second overall pick of the 1986 draft. Bob Wade, who was a highly successful coach at Baltimore's Dunbar High School, took over for Driesell and could only build a 36-50 record in three years as coach before resigning. Along with his resignation, there came allegations that Wade and his staff at Maryland dealt improperly with players and recruits. As a result of this, the program received heavy NCAA sanctions and was placed on temporary probation. The proud program that once featured players like John Lucas, Len Elmore, Buck Williams, and Albert King was sinking to the bottom fast.

Enter Gary Williams, a Maryland alumnus who played point guard with the Terps and had moderate success coaching at American, Boston College, and Ohio State. He returned to College Park to guide the program back on track and clean up the mess. After making moderate progress in helping Maryland get to the NIT in his first year, Williams endured three treacherous campaigns from 1990 to 1993 that ended with a 2-14 dismal season in the ACC that landed the Terps dead-last in the conference. But with the temperature of his seat getting warmer, Williams pulled the rabbit out the hat by signing two huge recruits in 1993: current assistant coach Keith Booth and a talented kid out of Virginia named Joe Smith.

Booth, who starred at Dunbar, broke the "drought" of Baltimore City star players not going to Maryland after Wade's resignation. Meanwhile, Smith was a highly-touted recruit who got away from Duke and North Carolina. The impact of Smith and Booth, along with returning starters Duane Simpkins, Johnny Rhodes, and Exree Hipp, brought Maryland to a surprising 18-12 regular season record and a Cinderella story where they landed in the Sweet 16 of the 1994 NCAA tournament. Smith lead the 1994-95 team to a share of regular season ACC crown and back to the Sweet 16 in a year that he also won the Naismith Award for the Player of the Year in college basketball. Williams had the Terps back on track and into the tournament on an annual basis. Recruits were coming in and Maryland cemented itself as a mainstay at the top of the ACC standings with Duke and North Carolina. However, Williams' best job possibly came when he took the program to the next level.

If there was any knock on Williams early, it was that Maryland met consistent success getting to the tournament and advancing, but would always met their demise in the Sweet 16. In the eight-year run, leading up to the 2000-01 season, the Terps never reached past the Sweet 16, and it this stigma was sticking with Williams and his teams. The breakthrough came in 2001, where in the Sweet 16, they defeated Georgetown and then upset the West Region No. 1 seed Stanford to reach the first Final Four in school history, lead by Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, and Lonny Baxter. Not since the 1957-58 season did the Terps reach past the Sweet 16 into the Elite. Gary Williams, who was known as good coach, was putting himself into the upper echelon of college basketball maestros.

After the national championship, Maryland seemed as if it would be in the conversation for quite some time. They opened a new basketball facility, the Comcast Center, in 2002 that was way more state-of-the art than the reliable Cole Field House. Gary began to sign the All-Americans that avoided Maryland for so long and the support and excitement for the program was at an all-time high.

After a couple of years of making it back to the tournament, however, the decline came hurdling down like a brick off the top of the Sears Tower. The rocket blast into the stratosphere of success wasn't as smooth a ride as Williams expected. A couple of All-American recruits, including Travis Garrison, didn't exactly pan out as expected and the competition in the ACC got tougher. Suddenly, in 2005, as the end of the year came, Williams and the Terps found themselves out of the NCAA tournament for the first time in 12 years.

Everyone expected Maryland to get back on track, but the feat repeated itself the next year, followed by an embarrassing loss in the first round of the NIT, which lead to fans booing the Terps off the floor. After reaching the tournament in 2007 and losing in the second round to Butler, Williams and his squad had an up-and-down season where they finished 19-15 and .500 in conference, and headed to the NIT again, this time being ousted by Syracuse.

Now heading into his 19th season, Williams almost finds himself back in the same predicament when he first came back to College Park. Getting Maryland back on track in the much more competitive ACC than when he first started will be a difficult task. North Carolina is a sure lock of a favorite to win not only the ACC, but the national title, Duke will always be a factor with Coach K at the helm, and teams such as Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami (FL), and Boston College will challenge for prime positions come tournament time. The challenge stands taller than anything that Williams has faced in his tenure at his alma mater.

If there is a coach that can do it, however, it is Gary Williams. He took over Maryland at a juncture that could have damaged the program more than usual. He's brought the morale and pride back to a school that was viewed as second-fiddle to North Carolina and Duke in the ACC. In the big games, he knows how to get his teams motivated to play. In his tenure at Maryland, no other program has registered more upsets of top-five teams and No. 1-ranked teams than the Terps. Teams such as Florida, Kentucky, Duke, and North Carolina (multiple times) have all fallen to Maryland while ranked No. 1 in the polls. The hurdle for Williams and Maryland is to balance out the highs and maintain consistency.

This year's squad will be lead by Eric Hayes, Landon Milbourne, and the ultimately talented Greivis Vasquez. After losing two major post-players in James Gist and Bambale Osby, the Terps head into this season a bit undersized and possibly overmatched in the tough ACC. But if the past is any indicator, it's when Maryland and Gary Williams have their backs against the wall in front of the improbable that they come out fighting the hardest.