Words like ‘weasel’ and ‘snake’ have been thrown around on the Audacy DC airwaves about Kevin Willard, and the circumstances surrounding his departure from Maryland have ranged from ‘as poorly handed as it gets’ to ‘clown-like’ as he ‘ran away like a thief in the night.’
Tony Massenburg is a Maryland alum who understands head coaching chaos – his time in College Park from 1986-90 saw controversy with both Lefty Driesell and successor Bob Wade – so he gets the gig as well as anyone, and as he told Grant & Danny Monday, this is now the sad reality in college hoops.
Massenburg is hopeful, though, that the program will find its next Gary Williams, the man who brought back stability and tradition at the end of Massenburg’s time.
“There’s been a level of excellence, and a tradition of Maryland basketball, that’s been consistent throughout decades, but we had three coaches in five years after the death of Len Bias,” Massenburg said. “Once Gary Williams got there, he was able to unite the program in a way that really nobody outside of the program could have, because he was one of Maryland's own. When the opportunity arose for him to be able to come back to the program at a time that the program really needed it, Gary was viewed as that guy who could really bring it all together – not that the program now is in that type of turmoil, but it is in a place where we feel like we need someone who is actually a part of the program to truly be the one to sort of galvanize the alumni and the fans, and get back to the historical aspect of Maryland guys being part of it.”
Listen to Massenburg’s entire visit with Grant & Danny above!