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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Interesting article on 11W:
OHIO STATE HOOPS DOING FINE 25 YEARS AFTER GARY WILLIAMS BAILED
Last Friday marked 25 years since Gary Williams left Ohio State to take over his alma mater, Maryland, after only three seasons in Columbus. It was pretty shocking to me, since I considered very few jobs (read: none) were worth leaving Ohio State for.
I was disappointed, not quite irate like Jimmy Crum.
Williams had taken a lackluster Ohio State basketball program and turned it into a fast-paced, aggressive, exciting game that truly ignited a passion for the team. The results weren’t spectacular (two 20-13 seasons and a 19-15 mark in his final year of 1988-89). He won a now-quaint-seeming 59% of his games, 44% in Big Ten play.
In fact, the Buckeyes finished sixth in the conference in Williams’ first two seasons and eighth his last year. But the team was exciting to watch and it did reach the second round of the NCAA tournament in 1986-87. His other two years at Ohio State produced an NIT runner-up in 1987-88 and an NIT quarterfinalist in 1988-89.
The team, however, was getting better and you could see it. He was recruiting better players, like Jimmy Jackson, one of the guys Crum railed on him for running out on.
Williams took over for Eldon Miller. Everything about Miller was boring. He even looked boring. Miller’s teams averaged a record of 17-12 from 1977 to 1986 and made four NCAA tournaments, but mostly did very little. Williams was dynamic, animated on the bench and his teams played hard. By and large they didn’t win that many more games, but they did manage to steal a few they shouldn’t have, and probably wouldn’t have under Miller.
St. John Arena became a very difficult place for opponents to play in Williams’ three seasons in Columbus. It was loud and intimidating. And so was Ohio State’s defensive pressure. Williams brought in more athletic players and by the time the makeup of the team was what he needed to win, he bolted for Maryland.
So, the Buckeyes were changing coaches for the second time in four years.
“I really thought when I want to Ohio State that that would be the job,” Williams said at the time. “There was nothing there that didn’t meet my expectations.”
And yet, he left. I’m sure the pull of the ACC and his alma mater was strong. I didn’t like his decision and pretty much decided to hate him for a while. I got over it eventually, but I still tend to wrinkle my brow when his name comes up.
Like many fans of that era, it seemed like Ohio State would be stuck in mediocrity and even take a step backward from what Williams had begun to build. It seemed a shame for a coach of his caliber to bail just when things were getting good.
Big names were tossed around, but in the end, Ohio State promoted assistant coach Randy Ayers in a move probably designed to hang onto players and maintain some continuity within the program.
Ayers took Williams’ team to the NCAA tournament three straight years, reaching the Sweet 16 in 1991 and the Elite Eight in 1992.
Then the wheels fell off. The Buckeyes went 15-13 in 1992-93, finished seventh in the B1G, and were knocked out of the NIT in the first round. Ohio State fell to 13-16 the next year and missed the postseason, and then had consecutive years of 6-22, 10-17, and 10-17, before Ayers was ousted.
But Williams proved that Ohio State could become an attractive job where a coach could win, even if he left before that actually happened. Jim O’Brien succeeded Ayers and was mostly successful, despite NCAA sanctions that wiped out a huge chunk of his wins.
.
.
.
continued
Entire article: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-...oing-fine-25-years-after-gary-williams-bailed
Sure doesn't seem like it has been 25 years. But you know what they say....
Time's fun when you're having flies...or...vice versa.
OHIO STATE HOOPS DOING FINE 25 YEARS AFTER GARY WILLIAMS BAILED
Last Friday marked 25 years since Gary Williams left Ohio State to take over his alma mater, Maryland, after only three seasons in Columbus. It was pretty shocking to me, since I considered very few jobs (read: none) were worth leaving Ohio State for.
I was disappointed, not quite irate like Jimmy Crum.
Williams had taken a lackluster Ohio State basketball program and turned it into a fast-paced, aggressive, exciting game that truly ignited a passion for the team. The results weren’t spectacular (two 20-13 seasons and a 19-15 mark in his final year of 1988-89). He won a now-quaint-seeming 59% of his games, 44% in Big Ten play.
In fact, the Buckeyes finished sixth in the conference in Williams’ first two seasons and eighth his last year. But the team was exciting to watch and it did reach the second round of the NCAA tournament in 1986-87. His other two years at Ohio State produced an NIT runner-up in 1987-88 and an NIT quarterfinalist in 1988-89.
The team, however, was getting better and you could see it. He was recruiting better players, like Jimmy Jackson, one of the guys Crum railed on him for running out on.
Williams took over for Eldon Miller. Everything about Miller was boring. He even looked boring. Miller’s teams averaged a record of 17-12 from 1977 to 1986 and made four NCAA tournaments, but mostly did very little. Williams was dynamic, animated on the bench and his teams played hard. By and large they didn’t win that many more games, but they did manage to steal a few they shouldn’t have, and probably wouldn’t have under Miller.
St. John Arena became a very difficult place for opponents to play in Williams’ three seasons in Columbus. It was loud and intimidating. And so was Ohio State’s defensive pressure. Williams brought in more athletic players and by the time the makeup of the team was what he needed to win, he bolted for Maryland.
So, the Buckeyes were changing coaches for the second time in four years.
“I really thought when I want to Ohio State that that would be the job,” Williams said at the time. “There was nothing there that didn’t meet my expectations.”
And yet, he left. I’m sure the pull of the ACC and his alma mater was strong. I didn’t like his decision and pretty much decided to hate him for a while. I got over it eventually, but I still tend to wrinkle my brow when his name comes up.
Like many fans of that era, it seemed like Ohio State would be stuck in mediocrity and even take a step backward from what Williams had begun to build. It seemed a shame for a coach of his caliber to bail just when things were getting good.
Big names were tossed around, but in the end, Ohio State promoted assistant coach Randy Ayers in a move probably designed to hang onto players and maintain some continuity within the program.
Ayers took Williams’ team to the NCAA tournament three straight years, reaching the Sweet 16 in 1991 and the Elite Eight in 1992.
Then the wheels fell off. The Buckeyes went 15-13 in 1992-93, finished seventh in the B1G, and were knocked out of the NIT in the first round. Ohio State fell to 13-16 the next year and missed the postseason, and then had consecutive years of 6-22, 10-17, and 10-17, before Ayers was ousted.
But Williams proved that Ohio State could become an attractive job where a coach could win, even if he left before that actually happened. Jim O’Brien succeeded Ayers and was mostly successful, despite NCAA sanctions that wiped out a huge chunk of his wins.
.
.
.
continued
Entire article: http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-...oing-fine-25-years-after-gary-williams-bailed
Sure doesn't seem like it has been 25 years. But you know what they say....
Time's fun when you're having flies...or...vice versa.
Upvote
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In fairness to GW, the 88/89 team was 17-7 when Burson broke his neck; went 2-8 without him, including losing 7 straight to end conference play when they had previously been ranked and a virtual lock for the NCAA tourney.
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DZ83CK
Not Banned
Interesting article on 11W:
Last Friday marked 25 years since Gary Williams left Ohio State to take over his alma mater, Maryland, after only three seasons in Columbus. It was pretty shocking to me, since I considered very few jobs (read: none) were worth leaving Ohio State for.
I was disappointed, not quite irate like Jimmy Crum.
I guess it was good that they didn't hire the CSU coach that eventually got caught in a crack house.
Upvote
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ScriptOhio
Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
Ohio State men's basketball | Former coach Gary Williams reflects on time in Columbus
It’s been nearly 27 years since Gary Williams made one of the toughest decisions of his life. After three seasons as the Ohio State men’s basketball coach, Williams took the chance to return to his alma mater in 1989 and embark on what would be a 22-year tenure as the head coach at the University of Maryland.
Monday, a five-episode series titled A Taste of Coaching featuring Williams, Jud Heathcote and Tom Davis discussing their experiences coaching in the Big Ten and elsewhere premiers on the Big Ten Network. Steve Lavin hosts the show, which has the four seated around a dinner table sharing memories and thoughts on the game. For Williams, it was a chance to reminiscence about a formative part of his coaching career.
From 1987-89, Williams went 59-41 overall and 24-30 in the Big Ten. In his first season, he led the Buckeyes to a 20-13 record and an NCAA Tournament berth. No.9 seed Ohio State beat Kentucky in the first round before suffering a three-point loss to No.1 seed Georgetown, which would go on to advance to the regional final.
But in his Ohio State debut, Williams said he remembers being surprised by a reaction he got with 12:58 remaining in what would be a 28-point win against Bucknell at St. John Arena.
“We’re up 26, the referee makes a call and I stand up and I guess I yelled too much at the ref and he gave me a technical foul,” Williams told The Dispatch in a phone interview this week. “I think, ‘Oh, here we go. My first game, I’m trying to create a really good situation here and people must think I’m nuts to get a technical foul up 26 against Bucknell.’ I got a standing ovation because they just wanted to make sure that whoever the new coach was, he was going to be passionate and he was going to care about Ohio State basketball.
“There’s no better fans than Ohio state fans. Believe me, they want Ohio State to be great in every way, not just the basketball program but as a school. You don’t get that feel everywhere you go. I felt it when I coached there: whenever Ohio State played, wherever you went to school whether it was Bowling Green or Miami of Ohio, it didn’t matter in that state. That state was behind the Buckeyes, and you actually felt that as a coach and I’m sure the players did too. That’s a great feeling to walk out on the court that you had the state behind you.”
Entire article: http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2016/01/15/0115-gary-williams.html
It’s been nearly 27 years since Gary Williams made one of the toughest decisions of his life. After three seasons as the Ohio State men’s basketball coach, Williams took the chance to return to his alma mater in 1989 and embark on what would be a 22-year tenure as the head coach at the University of Maryland.
Monday, a five-episode series titled A Taste of Coaching featuring Williams, Jud Heathcote and Tom Davis discussing their experiences coaching in the Big Ten and elsewhere premiers on the Big Ten Network. Steve Lavin hosts the show, which has the four seated around a dinner table sharing memories and thoughts on the game. For Williams, it was a chance to reminiscence about a formative part of his coaching career.
From 1987-89, Williams went 59-41 overall and 24-30 in the Big Ten. In his first season, he led the Buckeyes to a 20-13 record and an NCAA Tournament berth. No.9 seed Ohio State beat Kentucky in the first round before suffering a three-point loss to No.1 seed Georgetown, which would go on to advance to the regional final.
But in his Ohio State debut, Williams said he remembers being surprised by a reaction he got with 12:58 remaining in what would be a 28-point win against Bucknell at St. John Arena.
“We’re up 26, the referee makes a call and I stand up and I guess I yelled too much at the ref and he gave me a technical foul,” Williams told The Dispatch in a phone interview this week. “I think, ‘Oh, here we go. My first game, I’m trying to create a really good situation here and people must think I’m nuts to get a technical foul up 26 against Bucknell.’ I got a standing ovation because they just wanted to make sure that whoever the new coach was, he was going to be passionate and he was going to care about Ohio State basketball.
“There’s no better fans than Ohio state fans. Believe me, they want Ohio State to be great in every way, not just the basketball program but as a school. You don’t get that feel everywhere you go. I felt it when I coached there: whenever Ohio State played, wherever you went to school whether it was Bowling Green or Miami of Ohio, it didn’t matter in that state. That state was behind the Buckeyes, and you actually felt that as a coach and I’m sure the players did too. That’s a great feeling to walk out on the court that you had the state behind you.”
Entire article: http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2016/01/15/0115-gary-williams.html
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BUCKYLE
Washed
1.
Hey, @ORD_Buckeye...2. Always liked Gary Williams. I was just a kid when he was here, but during his tenure, my dad and uncle would take me and my cousins to a few games a year. Even got Dennis Hopson's autograph before a game once.
3. Never got angry at him for taking the MD job and frankly don't understand how anyone could get pissy about a coach going home. Even rooted for Maryland to win it all when they got the NC.
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ORD_Buckeye
Wrong glass, Sir.
1.
2. Always liked Gary Williams. I was just a kid when he was here, but during his tenure, my dad and uncle would take me and my cousins to a few games a year. Even got Dennis Hopson's autograph before a game once.
3. Never got angry at him for taking the MD job and frankly don't understand how anyone could get pissy about a coach going home. Even rooted for Maryland to win it all when they got the NC.
I didn't either. It was his alma mater. He had turned the program around and left the cupboard stocked. Ayers just rode on his coattails for the first couple of years and then destroyed the program with bad kids and bad coaching. Ayers is undoubtedly the most disastrous major sport coach that Ohio State had since my involvement with the university.
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