In addition to recently suspending their assistant coach, the Maryland Terrapins basketball program have also been without a head coach for nearly two months. And despite finding periods of success under interim coach Danny Manning, emulating the season-long results and former achievements of Mark Turgeon won’t come easy.
The evidence that the Terrapins require a new head coach were displayed when being utterly outplayed by Indiana this past weekend; failure to climb the Big Ten standings due to a 68-55 home loss isn’t an ideal situation for a team that’s already struggled this term.
The Terrapins 11-9 record on the season heading into their clash with the Hoosiers didn’t provide much positivity from the basketball wagering stratosphere, but for Maryland, sports betting hopefuls a -1.5/+1.5 spread gave a small margin of hope. However, this betting spread would soon be destroyed when the visiting Hoosiers extended their abysmal 1-4 away record by defeating the home side by eight points.
Concerning the Terrapins performance, a cause for concern was found in the mental errors displayed during the second half. A lacklustre effort was delivered through turnovers. Outside of their free throw percentage, they lost in all areas of the game – further pointing fingers at the coaching issue within Maryland.
With a team possessing tremendous potential to challenge for a national championship but a recent run that’s provided postseason setbacks, who’s a viable coach to take the reins?
Since the departure of Turgeon, Rick Pitino’s name has often been thrown into the mix, but many believe he cannot be trusted. Sure, Iona are 17-3, and he’s accomplished multiple national championships at Kentucky and Louisville, but his track record in the reliability department is a cause for concern. Pitino promised not to exit Providence days before he left for the NY Knicks coaching position. He replicated a similar promise to Kentucky just days before heading out for a job with the Celtics.
The Terrapins require stability and solid identity; while Pitino can guarantee wins, he isn’t the reliable source needed in Maryland. To add, he’d be 70 years old coaching his first game; if an old coach is viable, you want Gary Williams. Albeit taking the Maryland grad from retirement to assist the program until an eventual second retirement doesn’t seem likely, he could slide perfectly into the search committee and assist in deciding on the next head coach.
Ed Cooley, Andy Enfield, Ryan Odom and LeVelle Moton have all been mentioned as potential coaches thus far. Still, the early season advantages during Maryland’s search have been stunted since Louisville joined the hunt. The Terps will be hoping the search committee has been hard at work because they’re no longer the most significant program searching for a head coach.
Chris Mack parted ways with Louisville this week, meaning that Maryland are no longer the best available job in the country, and their early market entry isn’t an advantage anymore. Before Cooley, Enfield, Odom, and LeVelle, the names Maryland wanted to hear were Pearl, Holtmann, Musselman, Oats – but these elite names aren’t likely to surrender their positions for Maryland now that Louisville is the attractive choice.
Speculation aside, USC’s Andy Enfield would struggle to gain employment in Louisville, but Maryland shouldn’t overlook this option with a strong season record (17-2) and great potential. Alongside Enfield’s nine-year experience at USC, the Trojans have already qualified for the NCAA tournament that’ll mark the fourth time in seven seasons where they’ve achieved this under his tenure. Aged 52, he provides youth (in coaching age) and a bond to the area, having stemmed from Johns Hopkins.
Another young and prosperous coach is Cooley, also 52 years old with a 17-2 2021/22 record. Eleven seasons guiding Providence, he’s just entered the tournament for a sixth time with the Friars.
Odom is popular in College Park following the 2018 season at Maryland Baltimore County. He managed to realign a program that caused a history-making upset versus Virginia as no. 16 seed. Although starting his debut season at Utah State, he’d likely join Maryland based on his connected past and the opportunity at hand.
With that said, Maryland could acquire any of the coaches mentioned above, but they’d be foolish to ignore resumes, and past success – Enfield and Cooley should be topping the most wanted list if that’s the case.