Gary Gone-- in other words... Williams waves goodbye.

Gary Williams retiring should not be a surprise.

He's 66 years old in a sport dominated by much younger men willing to recruit 24-7/365. While his age is merely a number, his attitude is regarded as antiquated: Williams has remained above the fray in an era when even the seemingly righteous run into ethical issues bringing players to campus... and the questionably dirty are downright filthy. And he's accomplished everything a coach could: guiding his Alma mater to a first ever Final Four... and then a National Title a year later... followed by an ACC Tournament title (as a #6 seed with an overtime win over Duke in the finals) two seasons after that. Plus, he outlasted his biggest critic as former Athletic Director Debbie Yow is reduced to firing shots from Raleigh.

Why now, though? Why make this move in May? Finding a successor of his caliber will be nearly impossible. The next Maryland coach will also have to fill the huge hole of Jordan Williams-- now officially departing for the NBA. Regardless... this is opportunity #2 for less than a year at the helm Athletic Director Kevin Anderson to make a statement hire. Or is it in the best interests longterm of this program to hire a stop-gap for a year... and then open the job again in 2012 when the candidate field will be better and more apt to make a move?

Gary Williams rebuilt a proud program from the dark, dismal days of the Bob Wade era (what's worse than 0-14 in the ACC? How about double-secret probation!) and guided the Terps to places they only dreamed about. The gold standard of Maryland basketball remains the era that began during Joe Smith's freshman year (and the takedown of Georgetown)... the first of eleven straight NCAA seasons (wrapping up with the improbable ACC title run). In the seven years since-- just a pair of over-500 in the ACC seasons...one trip to conference semifinals and no sweet sixteens at a program that was beginning to expect such situations as annual birthrights. So despite the fact that nobody will ever coach this team and represent this program as well as Gary, maybe it is time for him to walk off into the sunset.

Williams retirement also completes a near-clean break from the ACC's glory days: eight schools with no play-in games or rounds come conference tournament time... a coaching fraternity that included Dean Smith and Jim Valvano... as well as Bobby Cremins and Terry Holland. The league has morphed from hoops heaven with a football chaser into a football wannabe plus an unwieldy basketball bonanza... and Coach K is now the only link to the 80's... or even the 90's. And the best basketball league has now been turned into a Blue Devil playpen (10 of last 13 tournament titles). Gary's been the second-longest tenured coach for some time-- now that honor (do we dare call it the Prince Charles Award?) goes to Florida State's Leonard Hamilton.