Maryland Fans Ride The Wave Of Emotions As Gary Williams' Retirement Is Digested

After hearing that Gary Williams retired my first mental image was of Dick Vitale sitting on his sofa with a huge grin on his face and a bucket of popcorn in his hands watching the ESPN crawl go by with the Williams news and Vitale yelling, “That would never happen at Duke, BABY!”

My second thought later on after reading more about Maryland’s situation at Testudo Times was that Terrapin fans reacted adorably.

The poor Terrapin supporters had the rug pulled out from under them when Jordan Williams surprisingly committed to the NBA Draft. Gary leaving was just kicking them when they were down.

The day got even worse shortly after news broke of Williams’ retirement when word leaked that highly anticipated recruits Nick Faust and Sterling Gibbs (Ashton’s brother) might consider decommitting to look at other schools. Maryland fans were crushed and their reactions were extreme.

“This is the worst day of my life,” read one of my sister’s texts.

Only, it turns out that things might not be as bad as they originally seemed.

Jay Wright, Jamie Dixon, Sean Miller, and gasp, even Brad Stevens were mentioned as candidates for the vacancy. Even though Stevens is a stretch, Terps’ fans appeared shocked at the appeal of their position. (My take: the job is so attractive because A) of its proximity to Washington D.C. B) it’s a recruiting hotbed that the right guy could own C) the school’s chief rival is the No. 1 measuring stick in college basketball, Duke, and Maryland plays the Blue Devils twice a year not to mention North Carolina).

Just because the media thinks Maryland’s job is a huge opportunity doesn’t guarantee things will play out that way in real life.

Still, the Terrapins failed to make the NCAA Tournament this year and the memory of the 2002 National Title is growing more distant. At 66, Williams wasn’t getting younger and as beloved as he was at Maryland, the end of Gary’s career was indeed in sight.

So maybe a change won’t be quite as bad as originally thought, provided the Terrapins actually land one of those big fish. If not, it will truly be time to panic for Terps’ fans.