If He Could, Gary Williams Would Cheat, Too

(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Don’t be mistaken.

Gary Williams would cheat if he could, because everybody else in the world is doing it. My initial thoughts after reading Steinz’ post on Williams’ tirade on ESPN 980’s “The Sports Reporters” about beloved coaches that cheat like crazy, was that Williams kind of got a bad rap.

He can coach, he can motivate, but Lord knows he can’t recruit. And in some ways, it’s respectable that he enjoys playing it straight.

I even commented as much beneath the post.

But thinking about it, I realize that Gary Williams isn’t the moral knight that he, or Terrapin faithful, would make him out to be.

If he were he that kind of guy, he wouldn’t have such an idiotic stance on graduation rates at College Park, a stance that likely contributed to the dubious conclusion of Chris McCray’s career at Maryland.

The real reason Gary Williams decries cheating so much, and dry snitches without dropping names on other coaches?

It’s because it is impossible for him to do so.

Bob Wade sullied the program to a point of permanent residence on the NCAA’s watch list. Where the attention of the Association is not so transfixed on Maryland, if Williams could tap into the hotbed of Metro-area talent with more than promises of playing on national television against the best the ACC has to offer, then he, too, would cheat.

And he, too, would be annually competitive for national championships.

So it’s a bunch of crap when you hear Williams speaking out against the ills of basketball.

It may sound good when you first hear it, but when you think about it, you realize it’s more a vent of frustration than a commitment to playing a game outside of its new rules of engagement.

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