This NCAA Tournament marks 14 years since Gary Williams retired as Maryland’s head coach and traded in the sidelines for an office as an assistant AD, and this year, he’s watching his fourth-seeded Terps try to get past the Sweet 16 for the first time since he led them to their lone national title in 2002.
And as he told the Junkies Tuesday, he misses this time of year most among anything involved in being on the sideline, but he’s happy for both the Terps and former player Duane Simpkins, who, in his second season as head coach at American, has led the Eagles to the dance this spring.
And before he talked about his own school’s current squad, Williams did share one of his favorite Simpkins stories with the Junks:
“We played Georgetown, the big win that got us back on the map, and we finally get the game into overtime. We have the ball, score’s tied, he drives down the lane, and Othello Harrington comes over and tries to block Duane’s floater as he goes down the lane,” Williams said. “Joe Smith, the No. 1 pick in the draft that year, is standing there wide open, and Duane sees him and still continues on and shoots that floater over Harrington. He had to throw it about 12 feet in the air to get it in, and it went in. I showed him the tape after the game, and he said, ‘yeah, coach, but I knew I was gonna make it.’ I just hope that one of his players, is like that! But good players, you can't intimidate them.”
Listen to Williams’ entire visit with The Junkies above!