Fresh off of a Sweet 16 run, Maryland has hired Buzz Williams as the new men’s basketball coach, the school’s athletic department announced on Tuesday.
Williams most recently coached Texas A&M, which made the second round of the NCAA tournament before a 91–79 loss to Michigan on March 22. Maryland fell short in the Sweet 16 to Final Four-bound Florida, 87–71, on March 27. Former Terrapins head coach Kevin Willard coached the team before he left to coach Villanova shortly after the Michigan loss.
“We are thrilled to bring a coach of the caliber of Buzz Williams to the University of Maryland,” Maryland interim athletic director Colleen Sorem said via a press release on Tuesday. “His incredible record of success at three prominent basketball programs speaks for itself, but we were equally impressed with his tireless work ethic and his dedication to building a program the right way.”
“He embraces the high expectations here at Maryland and we are all excited to get started on this new era in Maryland basketball,” Sorem added.
Maryland has been without an athletic director since Damon Evans left to take the AD job at SMU in March. The Terrapins have a storied history amid one national title in 2002, two Final Four appearances, 31 NCAA tournament appearances, seven ACC regular season titles, and four conference tournament titles.
“In leading this program, I promise to uphold the history of Maryland basketball and make Terp Nation proud with the men who represent this institution,” Williams said.
Despite the Terps’ storied history and recent success, Williams will have to rebuild, beginning with the starting lineup. Forward Justin Reese and guard Selton Miguel both finished their final seasons of college hoops, and star guards Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rodney Rice are transferring. Freshman center Derik Queen meanwhile could enter the NBA Draft.
Queen led the team in scoring with 16.5 points per game plus nine rebounds, 1.1 blocks, 1.1 steals, and 1.9 assists per night. Gillespie scored 14.7 points and dished 4.8 assists per game, and Rice averaged 13.8 points and 2.1 assists per contest. Similar to Queen, neared a double-double of 13.3 points and nine rebounds per game, and Miguel averaged 11.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.
Williams has built up programs in previous stops with the Aggies and Virginia Tech. At Texas A&M, Williams had a 24–24 record between his first two COVID-shortened seasons in 2019 and 2021 when the Aggies missed the NCAA tournament.
In year three, Williams led the Aggies to a 27–13 record and reached the NIT championship game. He then led the Aggies to three-straight NCAA tournament appearances with 21 or more wins each year.
“We would like to thank Buzz for his years of service heading up our men’s basketball program,” Aggies athletic director Trev Alberts said in a statement on Tuesday. “We wish he and Corey and their family all the best moving forward.”
Williams did the same at Virginia Tech where the Hokies went 11–22 in his first season in 2014-2015. He led the Hokies to a 20–15 record and an NIT appearance the following season before three-straight NCAA tournament appearances and 20-plus win seasons.
Overall, Williams has a career 373–228 record and 11 NCAA tournament appearances between his stops with Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Marquette, and New Orleans. A Greenville, Texas native, Williams began his coaching career as an assistant at Texas-Arlington in 1994, and he continued in assistant roles until he landed a head coaching job at New Orleans in 2006. Williams then coached Marquette from 2008 to 2014 where he led the Golden Eagles to five NCAA tournaments before his stops with Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, and now Maryland.
Willard served as the Terps coach from 2022 to this year after 12 seasons at Seton Hall. Maryland went 65–39 and made two NCAA tournaments under Willard.
Texas A&M meanwhile will begin a search for a new head coach. The Aggies have been successful over the past decade amid seven winning seasons and five NCAA tournament appearances.
“We are excited about the future of Aggies basketball, and we will find the right leader for our program,” Alberts said.
