When a blog reader emailed me the link to the breaking news about Gary Williams’ retirement yesterday, it was like a torpedo that came straight through my inbox and hit me right between the eyes. Not gonna lie, it was no easy task holding myself together and getting through the rest of the work day.
In a recent post about Jordan Williams leaving for the NBA, I wrote, “Maryland was successful before he showed up and the team will be successful after he leaves. It’s really not the end of the world.”
The same, hopefully, will hold true for Gary Williams, but when I got the news, it legitimately felt like the end of the world.
It’s partly because I’m a young’un (relatively speaking), and partly because I didn’t become a diehard Maryland fan until fairly recently, but I’ve never known Maryland basketball without Gary Williams - and to be honest, I don’t really want to. Of course, Maryland basketball existed before he was the coach (otherwise, how could he have played for the Terps??) but a team without Gary on the sidelines is a totally foreign concept for me.
Maryland could get a really great coach to take over the program next season. But it won’t be Gary. The fist pumps, the screaming, the sweating, the yelling at the bench for the mistakes of the guys on the court, the ridiculous Midnight Madness entrances - the overall passion for the game, the school, and the fans can’t be replaced. Gary Williams can’t be replaced. Maryland basketball will go on without him, of course, but it’s the end of an era. My only regret is that I didn’t get to see more of it.
