COLLEGE PARK — On Friday, new Maryland men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams will throw out the first pitch before the Orioles meet the Colorado Rockies at Camden Yards. He said he thinks the last time he handled the ceremonial honor was at a Milwaukee Brewers game shortly after he guided Marquette to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight in 2013.
Williams joked that of the “712 boxes” that are still packed, one contains his baseball glove and ball. He said that he asked Terps baseball coach Matt Swope for some practice time to warm up his arm.
“I’m predicting I won’t throw it in the dirt,” he quipped before adding that the players are supposed to join him on the mound. “I want them to experience it, too.”
It has been a whirlwind three months since Williams — who turns 53 on Sept. 1 — was hired April 1 to succeed Kevin Willard after the latter turned the team’s run to the Sweet 16 in March into an almost-daily speculation of his tenure at Maryland until he left for Villanova two days after the Terps’ loss to eventual national champion Florida.
In a 25-minute interview with The Baltimore Sun inside the players’ lounge inside Xfinity Center, Williams touched on topics such as his decision to leave Texas A&M despite leading that program to three NCAA Tournament appearances in six seasons, the challenges of replenishing a depleted roster and his thoughts on the NCAA’s House settlement that is expected to give universities up to $20.5 million to distribute among its athletes.
Editor’s note: Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Considering the turmoil surrounding the Terps after Willard’s departure, why did you agree to take the job?
I think the history of the job, I think the location relative to really good players and really good coaches, I think the history of the program speaks for itself — not just to me, but to all coaches, to all fans. I haven’t been in a game at Xfinity, but I haven’t found one person that hasn’t said it’s an unbelievable homecourt advantage. So on the turmoil [front], honestly, I didn’t know any of it because we were playing, too. And [as a] typical coach, you’re so into your own team and how can you try to win the next game? Some of the things that were going on, I never heard about them until [university president] Dr. [Darryll J.] Pines introduced himself and began to explain some of it, and I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know.’
Did the absence of full-time athletic director before Jim Smith was hired in May give you pause?
I think anything that’s unsettling in college athletics gives everyone pause, and I don’t even say that in a negative way. I really respected Dr. Pines’ transparency. He was telling me things about the turmoil — as you called it — and I didn’t know. For someone who I just met, I had great confidence in who he was as a person by his willingness to be so upfront professionally. To your point, who’s the AD? Is Colleen [Sorem, the interim athletic director who eventually followed previous Maryland athletic director Damon Evans to SMU] going to be the AD? Obviously, Colleen was involved every step of the way with me. She was tremendous. I didn’t know her either, and I loved her energy, I loved how competitive she was. But again, how did the search go and who’s going to be the AD — I stayed out of all of it.
How difficult was the position knowing every returning pIayer on Iast year’s roster had entered the transfer portaI?
At that time, the legislation hadn’t passed. So you don’t even know what the rules are going to be. And everybody was thinking that at any day the litigation was going to be solved. I don’t know. Are we good? I don’t know. Are we bad? I think you just try to do the best you can that late in the cycle relative to the character of the people that you want to be on your team, the work ethic of those individuals. I didn’t want to sign a team full of seniors. You probably can’t sign a team full of freshmen. And you can’t sign all point guards, but you can’t sign all centers. So who’s left? Who can we get involved with? What makes sense for today? What potentially gives us some foundational pieces going forward? So I think the staff did a really good job in regards to who has eligibility remaining for more than a year, who has versatility to do more than one thing. I think we’ll adapt our style of play relative to who’s on our team. I think we’ve always done that. And we’re trying to figure some of that out, literally, when you leave.
How much of the $20.5 million from the NCAA’s House settlement will go to basketball?
I don’t know how it’ll end up shaking out. This is my opinion. … I think that’s probably why there seems to be, even 20 days in, such concern. How does this work? The wording of the ruling, what’s it going to be? So what I think probably doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things, but I feel very confident. I’ve had a couple of interactions with Mr. Smith. I think he started officially last week after the [MLB] All-Star Game, but we’ve been on the road recruiting. Our recruiting period just ended, so I’m meeting with him. My first meeting with him officially, I guess, is Thursday morning. He’s been tremendous.
How would you describe your relationship with Smith?
I didn’t know him. And as I mentioned to you, I wasn’t involved in any of the [interviews]. I like his energy though. I like that in my interactions, he has the personality to find a way to be successful instead of having a predetermined list on why it won’t work. I think in what this has become, there is no easy answer, and if you’re the person that’s going to bail out when it becomes complex … This state of college athletics is much more complex than I think people realize, and that’s why you see so many opinions. Is it the commissioners? Is it the government? Is it Congress? What’s this going to become? I don’t think anybody knows. And so I think that Mr. Smith’s energy on, ‘We’re going to figure it out, we’re going to keep trying to figure it out,’ I personally think that’s probably what you’re going to need over the next five to 10 years on whatever this is going to become.
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