Mark Turgeon has left Texas A&M to take the Maryland job when Gary Williams left after over two decades at the helm. The Terrapins have a great history and tradition. They are a strong basketball school, and no one can deny that.
But, I heard the argument today that it is a top 10 or 20 job. Is it?
Well, here’s my list of top 10 jobs, not programs:
1. Duke
2. UNC
3. UCLA
4. Kansas
5. Georgetown
6. Villanova
7. Arizona
8. UCONN
9. Kentucky
10. Indiana
Whether you think the programs are hot or not, those are good jobs. For me, Maryland lies somewhere just below this list. Sure, some of these jobs would be work, but they are really good jobs at really nice basketball schools. That’s the thing.
Sean Miller, at Arizona, already had one of these jobs. Leaving for Maryland made no sense. Texas A&M may be fantastic, but it will never be on this list because it’s a football school first. That’s that.
There’s no way you can say that leaving someplace where Turgeon was comfortable, and going to a place where he’s going to have to work extra hard to not be swallowed up by Duke and North Carolina, is a bad thing. It’s a smart move even if it is hard work.
He’s going to a place where he will be better understood, and he will have a better chance at winning. He can recruit like crazy on the east coast and if he can steal any players from other ACC teams or Big East teams his roster could get pretty deep pretty fast.
No, Maryland is not a top 10 job — it’s a top 20 job though, and I, for one, am glad that people have taken notice. I think the world is right when Maryland basketball is good. When it’s not, it just isn’t the same.
Good luck and congratulations, Mark Turgeon.
photo credit: brandonink2001
