Maryland Basketball: What the Coaching Search Says About the Program

There are two opinions out there on the job the University of Maryland and athletic director Kevin Anderson did in finding a replacement for Gary Williams: There are some who applauded the efficiency of the search and others who compared it to North Carolina State's less than stellar search.

Whatever the case, nothing tells you more about the state of a program better than a coaching search.

The fact that Notre Dame could not get Urban Meyer back in 2006 said a lot about the Irish's fall from the elite. NC State fans got their own reality check this offseason after failing to land Sean Miller or Shaka Smart. Then it was Maryland's turn for a program evaluation, and the results were mixed.

Once the job opened up, the media was quick to anoint Maryland as a top-15 job, praise not typical of a school that was snubbed by the NIT in 2011. But when you think about it, Maryland is one of the better basketball schools in the country. Multiple coaches have won in College Park, which cannot be said for a lot of the programs believed to be in the elite.

Is Connecticut really a better job than Maryland when only Jim Calhoun has been able to win there?

What about Syracuse, whose history of success begins and ends with Jim Boeheim?

The mark of a great basketball program is one that has had multiple coaches who have enjoyed success. Then you add in the recruiting hotbed that is the Baltimore/Washington area and the top-notch facilities, and you can start to see why Sean Miller thought about leaving a top-five recruiting class behind at Arizona.

There are those who believe that Miller was ready to sign but Kevin Anderson dropped the ball during the interview, but I don't buy it. Miller was never going to leave Arizona, and he knew it. He used the Maryland job as leverage, and it worked.

As well, anyone who thinks the hiring of Mark Turgeon is a failure is mistaken. Behind Miller, who was obviously No.1 on the list, Turgeon was the best option for Maryland. He has won everywhere he has coached, and he took Texas A&M to the NCAA tournament in all four of his years in College Station.

Texas A&M is a football school that competes with Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Kansas State for basketball recruits. Imagine what Turgeon can do at basketball-centric Maryland, where the only recruiting competition is Georgetown.

The fact that Turgeon left behind a possible Top-25 team coming off five straight NCAA tournament appearances has to say something about the quality of the Maryland program.