For Terps coach Williams, the past no longer outshines the present

In 2003, the University of Maryland men’s basketball program was a year removed from its first national title, several months removed from its seventh Sweet Sixteen appearance among 10 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Terps were a member of the sport’s elite.

Five years later, here is Maryland coach Gary Williams, the one who resurrected the Terrapins and became the biggest thorn in Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s backside while cementing a Hall of Fame career at his alma mater, trying to keep the end from turning ugly.

This is what happens when your team starts making a habit out of missing the NCAA Tournament by becoming a regular in the National Invitational Tournament, where the Terps have settled three times in the past four years.

This is what happens when a coach rarely known for his inspired recruiting loses two perceived gems in guard Tyree Evans and forward Gus Gilchrist, each of whom brought considerable baggage with his talent, then finally said thanks but no thanks after signing with the Terps.

Williams soon could be basking in some good news for a change, since incoming shooting guard Sean Mosley is on the verge of qualifying academically.

But for Williams, coming off a 19-15 season that featured the worst February collapse in his 19 seasons at Maryland, the wagons — and maybe a buzzard or two — are circling around Comcast Center. The alumni base (see donors) is in disgruntled mode. Season ticket sales have dipped. The feverish expectations, once assumed, are gone.

It would be a shame if Williams ended a long, accomplished run like Louisville’s Denny Crum or Purdue’s Gene Keady, distinguished coaches who went out with a whimper.

That is in danger of happening in the next year or two, should Williams fail to meet the expectations he built while rescuing Maryland from college basketball’s scrap heap.

In an ideal world, Williams, 63, has earned the right to leave the game on his terms, when the notion of swatting golf balls at the country club or visiting his grandkids whenever he pleases takes precedence over stalking the sidelines.

Any coach who has won 604 games, gone to consecutive Final Fours and led his school to 11 straight NCAA Tournaments, should be able to announce his own retirement. They probably should name the home court after Williams now.

Yet, there is still the always pressing matter of what-have-you-done-lately?

The perfect storm has begun to close in on Williams. It starts — it always starts at the collegiate level — with recruiting.

It includes upheaval in his coaching staff, dating to the departures of longtime assistants Dave Dickerson and Jimmy Patsos in 2004, and even that of Billy Hahn in 2001. It also includes a coaching performance last season that simply was not among Williams’ best.

Williams failed to develop his bench as the season hit its homestretch. He gave point guard Greivis Vasquez too much of a leash, tried unsuccessfully to turn point guard Eric Hayes into a shooting guard and lost control of the game when the Terps blew a huge lead to Clemson that essentially killed their hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.

The recruiting problems did not begin with Gilchrist and Evans, whose checkered legal past marked a sign that Williams was lowering his standards for short-term gain at the end of his career.

The Maryland foundation was cracking several years ago, when the back-to-back recruiting classes following the 2002 glory stumbled. It began with the supposed bumper crop that hit College Park in the fall of 2002, featuring McDonald’s All-American forward Travis Garrison and forward Nik Caner-Medley, the best high school player in Maine.

It continued in 2003, when guard Mike Jones, ranked No. 2 behind LeBron James by recruiting “experts,” led a five-man class that included big men Ekene Ibekwe, Will Bowers and Hassan Fofana, who all proved to be big busts.

Don’t be shocked if next year’s Terps, which feature promising sophomores such as guard Adrian Bowie, forward Cliff Tucker and forward Braxton DuPree, emerge as solid ACC competitors behind an improved Vasquez.

Williams has fashioned quite a career by doing the unexpected with his back to the wall. He might need to do it yet again to keep the end from turning sour.

Gary Lambrecht writes about the NFL, Major League Baseball and college sports. He can be reached at glambrecht@baltimoreexaminer.com