{"id":11572756,"date":"2025-07-25T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11572756"},"modified":"2025-07-24T19:40:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T23:40:24","slug":"qa-maryland-mens-basketball-coach-buzz-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/25\/qa-maryland-mens-basketball-coach-buzz-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Maryland men\u2019s basketball coach Buzz Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLLEGE PARK \u2014 On Friday, new Maryland men\u2019s 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\u2019s Elite Eight in 2013.<\/p>\n

Williams joked that of the \u201c712 boxes\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m predicting I won\u2019t throw it in the dirt,\u201d he quipped before adding that the players are supposed to join him on the mound. \u201cI want them to experience it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been a whirlwind three months since Williams \u2014 who turns 53 on Sept. 1 \u2014 was hired April 1 to succeed Kevin Willard<\/a> after the latter turned the team\u2019s run to the Sweet 16 in March into an almost-daily speculation of his tenure at Maryland until he left for Villanova<\/a> two days after the Terps\u2019 loss to eventual national champion Florida.<\/p>\n

In a 25-minute interview with The Baltimore Sun inside the players\u2019 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\u2019s House settlement that is expected to give universities up to $20.5 million to distribute among its athletes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Considering the turmoil surrounding the Terps after Willard\u2019s departure, why did you agree to take the job?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 \u2014 not just to me, but to all coaches, to all fans. I haven\u2019t been in a game at Xfinity, but I haven\u2019t found one person that hasn\u2019t said it\u2019s an unbelievable homecourt advantage. So on the turmoil [front], honestly, I didn\u2019t know any of it because we were playing, too. And [as a] typical coach, you\u2019re 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, \u2018Oh, I didn\u2019t know.\u2019<\/p>\n

Did the absence of full-time athletic director before Jim Smith was hired in May give you pause?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think anything that\u2019s unsettling in college athletics gives everyone pause, and I don\u2019t even say that in a negative way. I really respected Dr. Pines\u2019 transparency. He was telling me things about the turmoil<\/a> \u2014 as you called it \u2014 and I didn\u2019t 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\u2019s the AD? Is Colleen [Sorem, the interim athletic director who eventually followed previous Maryland athletic director Damon Evans to SMU<\/a>] going to be the AD? Obviously, Colleen was involved every step of the way with me. She was tremendous. I didn\u2019t know her either, and I loved her energy, I loved how competitive she was. But again, how did the search go and who\u2019s going to be the AD \u2014 I stayed out of all of it.<\/p>\n

How difficult was the position knowing every returning pIayer on Iast year\u2019s roster had entered the transfer portaI?<\/strong><\/p>\n

At that time, the legislation hadn\u2019t passed. So you don\u2019t 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\u2019t know. Are we good? I don\u2019t 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\u2019t want to sign a team full of seniors. You probably can\u2019t sign a team full of freshmen. And you can\u2019t sign all point guards, but you can\u2019t sign all centers. So who\u2019s 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\u2019ll adapt our style of play relative to who\u2019s on our team. I think we\u2019ve always done that. And we\u2019re trying to figure some of that out, literally, when you leave.<\/p>\n