Ex-Texas A&M coach to replace Williams
After considerable trial and error, Maryland has a new basketball coach to replace retired Gary Williams, the school announced Monday night. He is Mark Turgeon, formerly of Texas A&M. The 46-year-old notified his team Monday night of his decision and will be introduced at Maryland on Wednesday at noon.
“We’re thrilled to bring Mark to the university, where I’m sure he will continue to build on the great legacy and success of Maryland basketball,” Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson said in a statement. “In Mark, we have brought one of the outstanding young coaches in the country and one who has a proven record of achievement on and off the court. We couldn’t be more excited.”
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Turgeon, who had a 97-40 record at Texas A&M, took the Aggies to the NCAA tournament in each of his four seasons in College Station. Like Williams, Turgeon’s teams are known for their grit and commitment to defense.
Maryland had been frustrated in its efforts to quickly replace Williams, 66, who retired Thursday. Over the weekend, Anderson made overtures to Sean Miller (Arizona), Brad Stevens (Butler) and Mike Brey (Notre Dame) to no avail. Two other candidates, Jamie Dixon (Pittsburgh) and Jay Wright (Villanova), reportedly expressed no interest in the job.
But in Turgeon, Anderson has satisfied his quest to land a quality coach. The Aggies reached the NCAA round of 32 in Turgeon’s first three seasons. They were beaten in the opening round of the tournament this year in a mild upset by ninth-seeded Florida State. Turgeon was named Big 12 coach of the year each of the last two years.
Turgeon, a Kansas native who played point guard at Kansas under Larry Brown, has progressed rapidly through the coaching ranks. After two seasons as coach at Jacksonville State, Turgeon coached seven years at Wichita State. His next stop was Texas A&M, replacing Billy Gillespie when he took over at Kentucky. Turgeon also served as an assistant at Kansas and Oregon and one season with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Turgeon has few local ties, but he did successfully recruit former DeMatha standout Naji Hibbert, a guard who played a key role off the bench as a sophomore for the Aggies this season.
Turgeon leaves a quality team at Texas A&M, which returns its top two scorers, forwards Khris Middleton and David Loubeau, who announced his decision to return for his senior year Sunday after initially declaring for the NBA Draft. Turgeon also recruited two strong players for next season, Jamal Branch and Jordan Green, rated five and 4.5 stars by Rivals.com.
At football-centric Texas A&M, Turgeon had occasionally expressed frustration at the lack of fan support. The Aggies averaged 9,000 fans a game last year at the Reed Arena, which has a capacity of 12,989. Turgeon was well paid, however.
Last year, when Turgeon was pursued by Oregon, Texas A&M gave Turgeon a contract extension that paid close to $2 million a season in total compensation, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Terms of Turgeon’s deal with Maryland were not disclosed.
