OT: Turgeon Fired

[gtcam]

Won the Big East tourney last year and had a couple of nice pieces and a top recruit coming in, kids these days just aren’t patient. Ewing’s sucks and all but if he stayed, I think things could have been decent around there.

Stop the BS - Ewing doesn't suck
You have absolutely no idea what has been going on at Gtown

 

[Improviser]

Clip from the Maryland Board on their perspective. They got ticked because they thought Loyola Chicago was a better team than Maryland and they thought Turgeon was at fault for that.

2021-2022 Men's Basketball Season Thread (B1GT 3/10 MSU 6:30 )

2021-2022 Men's Basketball Season Thread (B1GT 3/10 MSU 6:30 )

247sports.com

 

[Chief00]

Stop the BS - Ewing doesn't suck
You have absolutely no idea what has been going on at Gtown

Patrick is a great guy.

 

[Ts5034]

Maryland's conference record when they were in the ACC? 418-397. Yes, they have 1 NCAA championship in 2002 and they have played in 2 in 2001 and 2002, but they haven't been to the Elite 8 since 2002, 19 years ago, and they have one Sweet 16 appearance since 2003. They aren't ranked in the top 50 in all time wins. That doesn't sound like a top 10 job. And, conference realignment has blown up Maryland's rivalries with Virginia, Duke, and UNC.

Turgeon did a solid job at Maryland, but he couldn't get them over the hump.

Very mediocre program. Yes, they have had some decent regular season wins, but they have done virtually nothing in the Tournament since they won it all in 2002. Yes, that Elite 8 loss still hurts me.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Quinnipiac has a kid that did this - their center, Kevin Marfo. He started at George Washington, redshirted to play two years at QU, grad-transferred to Texas A&M and now is using his COVID-year to play at QU again. 24 year-old in his sixth year of college - a man amongst boys.

Hurley recruited him at URI

 

[awfuldan]

Hurley recruited him at URI

I wanted us to bring him to UConn after he left QU the first time tbh. He led all of D1 in rebounding his senior year and put up decent stats at A&M. Should be a monster for QU this year.

 

[Vowelguy]

I haven't followed what's been happening there. Why was he fed up with the fans?

They were booing him, at home. Kinda hard to bring in a recruit for a visit when your own fans are booing you.

 

[olehead]

Must have missed those lists that read OTE, G League, NBL, and Maryland.

 

[bingethinker]

This is a perfect example of a fanbase that thinks their school is better than it actually is. Turgeon has done a perfectly good job at Maryland. But of course they think they should be competing for national championships every year, when that's just not realistic. The grass isn't always greener, and I think they'll be disappointed by whoever it is that replaces Turgeron.

Turgeon had quit doing his job long before he literally quit his job. He was nearly fired last year but the optics were bad. It's tough to fire a guy following a Covid season who was a year removed from a (three-way) conference co-title. This explains why the extension Turgeon signed had such favorable conditions for the school i.e. his buyout being reduced from $10M to $5M and new language that allowed the buyout to be paid out over several years instead of in a lump sum payment.

And to be clear, he quit his job. Turgeon initiated the conversation with the AD in a hallway under the arena right after that awful loss to Virginia Tech. To non-local media and fans of other schools this might seem suddenly and jarring, but this ending had been brewing and, despite the irregular timing, isn't all that sudden.

Turge had effectively stopped recruiting like someone who cares about job performance. He had literally handed off key in-game head coaching responsibilities to an assistant. He didn't want to do media. He didn't want to deal with boosters. He didn't want to deal with fans. He's the only college coach I know of who wanted to go unnoticed when he walked into a local store or restaurant. Turgeon shying away from big moments probably explains why he didn't win big games. He's a nice guy who seems much better suited for a 9-5 in a nondescript office park than the head coach of a Big Ten basketball program. He just wasn't a good fit at Maryland from day one. Nevermind his god awful boring style of basketball.

Sure, some Maryland fans are delusional. Lots of fan bases have delusions. The reality is Mark Turgeon is a really nice person but he's a mediocre coach who has made it to exactly two Sweet 16s in a 20+ year coaching career. He's a 20-10, first weekend of the tourney coach at heart. While I don't think he'll ever be a head coach again, I know he wouldn't be much better than that if he did. Maryland is no Kentucky or North Carolina, but with the money, facilities, conference affiliation, location in a hotbed of recruiting, fan support, and history/tradition Maryland has, it deserves a better effort than Turgeon was giving it.

Turge is worn down and has been for some time, stopped liking his job, and stopped doing much of his job. What fan base or AD would want that?

 

[Improviser]

Turgeon had quit doing his job long before he literally quit his job. He was nearly fired last year but the optics were bad. It's tough to fire a guy following a Covid season who was a year removed from a (three-way) conference co-title. This explains why the extension Turgeon signed had such favorable conditions for the school i.e. his buyout being reduced from $10M to $5M and new language that allowed the buyout to be paid out over several years instead of in a lump sum payment.

And to be clear, he quit his job. Turgeon initiated the conversation with the AD in a hallway under the arena right after that awful loss to Virginia Tech. To non-local media and fans of other schools this might seem suddenly and jarring, but this ending had been brewing and, despite the irregular timing, isn't all that sudden.

Turge had effectively stopped recruiting like someone who cares about job performance. He had literally handed off key in-game head coaching responsibilities to an assistant. He didn't want to do media. He didn't want to deal with boosters. He didn't want to deal with fans. He's the only college coach I know of who wanted to go unnoticed when he walked into a local store or restaurant. Turgeon shying away from big moments probably explains why he didn't win big games. He's a nice guy who seems much better suited for a 9-5 in a nondescript office park than the head coach of a Big Ten basketball program. He just wasn't a good fit at Maryland from day one. Nevermind his god awful boring style of basketball.

Sure, some Maryland fans are delusional. Lots of fan bases have delusions. The reality is Mark Turgeon is a really nice person but he's a mediocre coach who has made it to exactly two Sweet 16s in a 20+ year coaching career. He's a 20-10, first weekend of the tourney coach at heart. While I don't think he'll ever be a head coach again, I know he wouldn't be much better than that if he did. Maryland is no Kentucky or North Carolina, but with the money, facilities, conference affiliation, location in a hotbed of recruiting, fan support, and history/tradition Maryland has, it deserves a better effort than Turgeon was giving it.

Turge is worn down and has been for some time, stopped liking his job, and stopped doing much of his job. What fan base or AD would want that?

If he is the private person you describe above, he could still get an avatar on the Maryland fan website and throw barbs at the new coach without public knowledge.

On the other hand, maybe he would be fair-minded and deflect the other posters' criticism of the new coach since he had been there and done that.

Sounds like he can take his time looking for work with the payout and with earnings he had over the years from other coaching gigs.

I agree that it's better to leave on one's own terms and on one's own time.

I hope he does okay and finds his 9 to 5 wherever and whenever.

 

[HooperScooper]

Maryland fans will finally get the new coach they've been wanting after wearing down Mark Turgeon

Turgeon, who stepped down as the Terrapins coach, was consistently good, but not great, and that wasn't good enough

www.cbssports.com

 

[SwingDog]

I was initially very surprised when I heard this, but I watched Maryland's most recent game where they lost at home to Virginia Tech. The game also served to honor the memory of former Terps great Len Bias who tragically passed away at a young age due to a health issue. When you watch Turgeon's post game presser it's clear that this loss weighed very heavily on him for a number of reasons, and high expectations at Maryland was a big part of it. Mark Turgeon Virginia Tech postgame

 

[Dean Wormer]

Just the worst fan base. Rude and dumb. Quite the combo

Absolutely. My BIL is a UMD grad and the inferiority complex is strong with him. They were little brother with the Carolina teams in the ACC for years, and then Georgetown had their run too. Maryland lost so many great players to other programs in maybe the best recruiting base in the country. He thought they would step into the Big 10 and dominate but that hasn't happened either. If they stumble into a great hire though, they would be tough.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Quinnipiac has a kid that did this - their center, Kevin Marfo. He started at George Washington, redshirted to play two years at QU, grad-transferred to Texas A&M and now is using his COVID-year to play at QU again. 24 year-old in his sixth year of college - a man amongst boys.

He’s gotta be close to the most ncaa rebounds of all time

 

[awfuldan]

He’s gotta be close to the most ncaa rebounds of all time

Just looked it up… Marfo has about 800 career rebounds. All-time leader? Tom Gola with 2,201. Long way to go!! Maybe by year 12?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Maybe it is the KU fan in me that sees the irony here.