Maryland Hires Mark Turgeon As Head Coach

Turgeon succeeds Gary Williams at Maryland, who retired last week after 22 seasons as the coach in College Park.

Turgeon, 46, was 97-40 in his four years at Texas A&M, reaching the NCAA tournament in all four seasons. Before coaching at Texas A&M, Turgeon spent seven seasons as the coach at Wichita State and took the Shockers to the Sweet 16 in 2006. That team lost to George Mason, who later became just the third No. 11 seed (at the time) to ever reach the Final Four.

“Maryland’s got a great basketball tradition, Turgeon said. (These programs are) real similar. It’s a gut feeling. … I’m a blessed person to have the choice that I had to make today. They’re both great programs. The one thing I feel good about is I inherited a good team and I think I’m leaving my best team behind. That made the decision really hard, but I feel good about what I’m leaving behind for the next guy to continue what Billy (Gillispie) and I have started.”

Maryland athletics director Kevin Anderson said in a statement that Turgeon is just what the Terps were looking for.

“We’re thrilled to bring Mark to the University, where I’m sure he will continue to build on the great legacy and success of Maryland Basketball, said Anderson. In Mark, we have brought one of the outstanding young coaches in the country, and one who has a proven record of achievement on and off the court. We couldn’t be more excited.”

But Turgeon wasn’t necessarily Anderson’s first choice to succeed Williams. Several coaches, including Arizona’s Sean Miller, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey and Villanova’s Jay Wright, have said they were either signing extensions or were happy with their current positions.

FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goodman was the first to report the hire.

The Terps went 19-14 last season, missing the postseason altogether.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M now finds itself in a tough spot with Turgeon’s departure.

The coach said his now-former players didn’t take the news well.

“I inherited a good team and I think I’m leaving my best team behind … The players are mad at me and I can’t blame them, Turgeon said acccording to Zwerneman’s reports.

But despite the setback, Aggies athletics director Bill Byrne said the program he’s pitching to prosepective coaches is in a good spot.

The good thing about this compared to when we hired Billy (Gillispie) and Mark is we have built a (program), Byrne said.

Byrne said the school is prepared to move quickly in its search for a new coach.

We always keep a list. We always know some people that we think will work well with us here, so we’ll start that process again. (Mark) has done an incredible job for us. I really think we’ve built ourselves at Texas A&M to the point where we can go out and attract great coaches. If you look at who we’ve attracted in our other sports we’ve got some really outstanding coaches here.”

In the ACC, Turgeon will face off with a coach he used to work for. He served as an assistant coach at Kansas for five seasons, the last four of which were under current North Carolina head coach Roy Williams.

Turgeon was also a Jayhawk during his playing days and was the first player in school history to play in four consecutive NCAA tournaments.

He also served as an assistant coach at the University of Oregon and in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers before he took his first head-coaching job at Jacksonville State.

“I’m really sorry to see Mark go, Byrne said. He did a tremendous job for us.”

Maryland Hires Mark Turgeon As Head Coach

USA Today, Tim Gardner

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2011/05/mark-turgeon-maryland-coach-texas-a38m/1

Texas A&M head basketball coach Mark Turgeon is on the move after agreeing Monday night to become the next head coach at the University of Maryland.

Mark Turgeon has reportedly been offered the coaching job at the University of Maryland.

Turgeon succeeds Gary Williams at Maryland, who retired last week after 22 seasons as the coach in College Park.

Turgeon, 46, was 97-40 in his four years at Texas A&M, reaching the NCAA tournament in all four seasons. Before coaching at Texas A&M, Turgeon spent seven seasons as the coach at Wichita State and took the Shockers to the Sweet 16 in 2006. That team lost to George Mason, who later became just the third No. 11 seed (at the time) to ever reach the Final Four.

” Maryland’s got a great basketball tradition, Turgeon said. (These programs are) real similar. It’s a gut feeling. … I’m a blessed person to have the choice that I had to make today. They’re both great programs. The one thing I feel good about is I inherited a good team and I think I’m leaving my best team behind. That made the decision really hard, but I feel good about what I’m leaving behind for the next guy to continue what Billy (Gillispie) and I have started.”

Maryland athletics director Kevin Anderson said in a statement that Turgeon is just what the Terps were looking for.

“We’re thrilled to bring Mark to the University, where I’m sure he will continue to build on the great legacy and success of Maryland Basketball, said Anderson. In Mark, we have brought one of the outstanding young coaches in the country, and one who has a proven record of achievement on and off the court. We couldn’t be more excited.”

But Turgeon wasn’t necessarily Anderson’s first choice to succeed Williams. Several coaches, including Arizona’s Sean Miller, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey and Villanova’s Jay Wright, have said they were either signing extensions or were happy with their current positions.

FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goodman was the first to report the hire.

The Terps went 19-14 last season, missing the postseason altogether.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M now finds itself in a tough spot with Turgeon’s departure.

The coach said his now-former players didn’t take the news well.

“I inherited a good team and I think I’m leaving my best team behind … The players are mad at me and I can’t blame them, Turgeon said acccording to Zwerneman’s reports.

But despite the setback, Aggies athletics director Bill Byrne said the program he’s pitching to prosepective coaches is in a good spot.

The good thing about this compared to when we hired Billy (Gillispie) and Mark is we have built a (program), Byrne said.

Byrne said the school is prepared to move quickly in its search for a new coach.

We always keep a list. We always know some people that we think will work well with us here, so we’ll start that process again. (Mark) has done an incredible job for us. I really think we’ve built ourselves at Texas A&M to the point where we can go out and attract great coaches. If you look at who we’ve attracted in our other sports we’ve got some really outstanding coaches here.”

In the ACC, Turgeon will face off with a coach he used to work for. He served as an assistant coach at Kansas for five seasons, the last four of which were under current North Carolina head coach Roy Williams.

Turgeon was also a Jayhawk during his playing days and was the first player in school history to play in four consecutive NCAA tournaments.

He also served as an assistant coach at the University of Oregon and in the NBA with the Philadelphia 76ers before he took his first head-coaching job at Jacksonville State.

“I’m really sorry to see Mark go, Byrne said. He did a tremendous job for us.”