Losing Gary Williams changes the ACC landscape
NC State, Maryland, and Florida State all have moderate basketball presences, and two of those teams have a pretty rich tradition. However, of late, they have had a hard time staying relevant in a UNC/Duke dominated ACC.
Mark Gottfried is the new coach at NC State, and he has the tough task of dealing with the Tobacco Row schools (UNC, Duke, and Wake.) Besides having to get around them, which has been tough of late, they have to complete their ACC schedule. They’ve fallen to the bottom of the barrel, and they need new talent and better recruiting.
Gottfried can furnish that. He rebuilt Alabama, and he can rebuild NC State too. I fully expect it.
Leonard Hamilton has been to the tournament at Florida State, and he’s even had some marginal stars emerge on his team. However, with Florida winning consecutive titles earlier this century, the Seminoles need to step it up. I don’t think Hamilton has a reason to be fired, but I fully expect that he can take his moderate successes and make more of them. He’ll need to if Jim Larranaga gets on a roll at Miami.
Mark Turgeon is the new man at the helm of Terrapin basketball after Gary Williams’ retirement. Williams won a national, and he managed to keep the team above water even when they were getting killed by stronger Duke and UNC teams. Now, Mark Turgeon has to do the exact same thing, but without the pull of being Gary Williams. He was doing a good job at Texas A&M, and if he can compete at A&M, he has a pretty good chance at Maryland. Only time will tell, but time may be short. Expectations are high at Maryland.
All in all, these coaches can do great things if they can find a way to recruit enough talent away from places like Duke and UNC. That’s the key to all of this. Without better recruiting, they’ll never get out from under the North Carolina shadow.
photo credit: brandonink2001
