Thank you, Gary

Although I have a lot of early sports memories, the ones that stick out the most in my head are those that took place in Cole Field House.  The legendary building was home to such stars as future first overall pick Joe Smith, the late Len Bias, John Lucas, Len Elmore, and for the first few years of their careers, the 2002 Maryland National Championship team.  My earliest memory of the building was when I was six or seven years old and me and my dad went to go see a Keith Booth led Maryland team dominate whoever it was we played that night.  Every time he would dunk the ball or hit a big shot the whole crowd would yell, "BOOOOOOOOOOOOTH."  It was these early memories of Gary Williams led Terps teams that made Maryland college basketball my favorite sport growing up, a honor that it still holds to this day.  Although I do not attend UMD, I still live and breathe Maryland basketball.  I don't think any of that would have been possible without Gary Williams being at the helm of the program for as long as I have been alive.  In 1989 Williams took over a struggling program that was still getting over the tragic loss of former player and number 2 overall pick Len Bias just three years prior.  A year after taking over in College Park, his team was hit with violations dating back to the years of his predecessor, Bob Wade, that barred the Terps from playing in the post season in 1991 and 1992, kept them off of live TV, and lost them scholarships.  Even with these restrictions, Gary tried furiously to rebuild the program, which he led to a surprise Sweet 16 birth in 1994.  This would start a streak of NCAA Tournament bids that would last for the majority of my childhood.  The Terps made the Big Dance every season from then until 2005.  For a true fan of all sports from the DC-metro area, this was a welcome contrast to pretty much all of our other mediocre (at best) teams.  Although, at the time, this streak was the longest in the ACC, Gary did it without a single McDonald's All-American.  During this magnificent streak, I started to get to go to the Maryland/Duke game every other year, and I can honestly say that it was (and still is) one of the most fun days of the year, especially when we would pull out a win.  Through his coaching and leadership, Williams managed to overshadow the historic North Carolina/Duke rivalry, culminating in their match up in the 2001 Final Four; a game which, to this day, I still believe Maryland should have won if it were not for that douche bag official calling off the foul when Lonny Baxter was at the free throw line, and instead saying the foul was on Baxter, thus fouling him out of the game.  Nevertheless, the Terps returned their star players the next year and Gary led them to the 2002 National Championship.  Nearly nine years later, I can still vividly picture Drew Nicholas driving down the baseline and hitting the jumper that sealed the game.  To this day, I still consider that one of the happiest days of my life.  Gary Williams achieved all of this without many highly recruited players, and instead with players he liked and knew he could develop.  Outside of a minority few, he recruited guys that he knew fit his flex offense and would be there for four years.  He retired on Thursday as the 5th in wins among active coaches and 3rd all time in the ACC.  The fact that he is not in the Hall of Fame is a sham to me that will hopefully be rectified soon.  I also hope that the university rectifies whatever roadblocks the motion to name the court after him seems to have hit.  I just wanted to write all of this to show my support and to give my thanks to one of the greatest college basketball coaches of our generation, if not of all time.  There are so many reasons why I love Gary Williams. Whether it was his fiery demeanor on the court, his patented fist pump as he walked out of the tunnel, or him coming out to speak half-heartedly (at the insistence of the biggest cunt in the universe, former AD, Debbie Yow) to the crowd about being more well behaved after someone threw a bottle that hit Carlos Boozer's mom in the back of the head, Gary is and always will be the man.  Thank you, Gary Williams.  You have contributed to so many great moments of my youth and you will be greatly missed.