Williams pushes Terrapins to threshold of greatness

Sporting News, The, Oct 12, 1998 by Mike DeCourcy

You can see it in the numbers, if you look closely enough: 164-112. A record that whispers coach Gary Williams has not had it easy in his nine years at Maryland, that whatever he has achieved has been tempered by struggle.

The number with which Williams and Maryland begin this season tells a different story: 5. That is the Terrapins' preseason ranking by THE SPORTING NEWS. It is a number that suggests only success.

Williams' greatest challenge this season will be how to incorporate point guard Steve Francis, one of the top junior college recruits, into a Sweet 16 team that returns many of its most vital components.

This is the problem a coach loves to face.

"I feel good that I stayed and weathered the storm and we decided we could make this good," Williams says. "The whole thing we really want to do now is stay consistent. We've been good for five years, but we want to keep it on."

As Williams begins his 10th season at Maryland, it is difficult to remember the obstacles his program had to overcome, or that many didn't think he would stick around to address them. He had moved from American to Boston College to Ohio State to Maryland in seven years. When the program turned out to be more of a challenge than he had ever imagined, he could have left.

He took the job knowing the program was under NCAA investigation for rules violations allegedly committed while Bob Wade was coach, and aware the program was not completely removed from the specter of Len Bias' death. Williams never expected the sanctions that came: A two-year ban from the NCAAs, two years without TV games and the loss of two scholarships. Today, the NCAA rarely applies the first two penalties to programs that violate its rules.

"There was a three- or four-year period where I was wondering if we were ever going to be able to compete again," Williams says. "People have short memories sometimes of why you're in a position you're in. And if you don't win, people say, `That's too bad, that was a couple years ago.'"

As recently as two years ago, before Francis and McDonald's Ali-American guard Danny Miller signed, Williams was criticized by some fans for not recruiting on the same level with Duke and North Carolina. He says he does now and is just as proud to have developed players such as Rodney Elliott and Sarunas Jasikevicius into high-level ACC players.

Some wonder why Maryland keeps stopping once it reaches the Sweet 16, even though just 10 other programs have made it there three times in the past five years.

This could be the team that takes Williams further. Wing Laron Profit and center Obinna Ekezie are among the ACC's best players, sophomore forward Terence Morris could have a breakout season and sophomore big man Mike Mardesich is the kind of dependable reserve a top program needs.

The issue for Williams to resolve is at point guard. Senior Terrell Stokes is capable of dazzling performances and maddening mistakes. Williams benched him for a time last season, even though there was really no one to replace him, before ultimately returning Stokes to the lineup.

There are options now. Francis, who averaged 25.3 points and 8.7 assists for Maryland's Allegany Community College, is good enough that he nearly entered the NBA draft last spring.

Francis is a point guard, which would seem to displace Stokes. But Francis is an excellent shooter and could join Stokes and Profit in a three-guard attack.

"I wish practice started today, because you really want to get to that," Williams says. "He was a tremendous player at Allegany, and I want to see if he's the same way with our players.

"Every year, the challenge is different. This year, we have to blend. How much we use Terrell and Steve Francis together, which we will do, we'll have to see." If this team becomes truly extraordinary, it may get Williams to victory No. 400. He needs 28. Whether it's this season or next, he'll get it, and he'll get it at Maryland, his alma mater. Williams is glad he stuck around.

"Things always rolled in the right direction for me, and I didn't have serious adversity as a coach," he says. "l walked in here and got hit hard. I think it made you really appreciate whatever success you had from that point on."

Mike DeCourcy covers college basketball for the Cincinnati Enquirer. E-mail him at decourcg@sportingnews.com.