A couple of quick hits on the most recent University of Maryland Terrapins news.
As reported first by The Washington Post, and Inside MD Sports; Coach Turgeon completed the hiring of his Assistant Coaches, with the hiring of Dalonte Hill. Hill takes a pay-cut to leave Kansas State and return home to the Washington D.C. area (though he can likely make-up the pay differential through off-season camps). Hill has strong relationships with the D.C. based AAU teams, and in-conjunction with the retained Bino Ranson, and Scott Spinelli (who was on Turgeon’s staffs at Wichita State, and Texas A&M) forms a trio of experienced Coaches and Recruiters.
If that staff can be kept together for a couple of years, they will lock down the Baltimore / Washington talent.*
*As a sidebar, I’m extremely interested to see how Maryland’s Coaching staff handles the recruitment of Baltimore’s Aquille Carr. The 5’6 Carr (Class of ’13) has seen his reputation grown to almost mythical proportions locally. Despite that, there are questions of his ability to qualify for College, and the National Recruiting Analysts debate how much impact he can have at the high D1 level at his size. Despite any questions that might exist, if Turgeon wants to develop a strong relationship with the City of Baltimore, Carr is one recruit that can not be ignored.
Getting back to Hill, the hire is interesting considering the comments Gary Williams had about Hill landing Mike Beasley at Kansas State. Past that though, the hire represents the new commitment to Maryland’s flag-ship Athletic program under Kevin Anderson, vs. Debbie Yow. Hill alone is reported to being over $300k at Maryland ($423,750 at KState), while Gary Williams’ three Assistants made a total of $231k last year. That commitment to the program, and Hill’s local ties are enough to applaud the hire.
If Aquille Carr is the immediate future for Baltimore hoops, Nick Faust represents the present. Once it was determined that Ranson would be retained under Turgeon’s staff, it seemed pretty apparent that Faust would remain committed to Maryland. Faust reconfirmed last night that he will be in College Park this Fall. I’m glad to see there were no surprises, and that the National Top 50 talent will be a Terp. Maryland will have front-court questions this year, but there is plenty of skill at the guard and wing positions. Looking forward to seeing what type of immediate impact he can make.
While Faust reconfirmed his status as a Terp, Sterling Gibbs notified everyone via Twitter he will be heading to Texas. After the commitment of Seth Allen in the ’13 class, this was expected, and is probably something you can live with.
Martin Breunig has visited Lorenzo Romar and the University of Washington. His HS Coach says Breunig has received interest from Cal, Florida, Saint Louis, Temple, Tennessee, Texas and USC. With the Maryland staff now fully in-place, and with Faust back on board, I’d hope the focus turns back to Breunig.
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Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.