No more outsiders: Maryland basketball legend offers solution to head coaching issues in College Park
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As Maryland hunts for its next head basketball coach, a Terrapin legend is urging the folks in College Park to narrow their focus. Len Elmore, Maryland's all-time leading rebounder and three-time All-ACC player, says that the Terrapins need to be led by one of their own. Elmore points to the coaching issues since the departure of legendary head coach Gary Williams, and believes that the only way to avoid more issues moving forward is to hire one of their own.
Elmore elaborated on his reasoning in a lengthy statement posted to his Twitter/X account.
The Terp basketball family has endured a lot these past days. For the sake of our program, I speak for so many of my brothers who have reached out to me in anguish over what has become of our program.
— Len Elmore (@LenElmore) March 31, 2025
It is time to speak… pic.twitter.com/h4Bye8rVxZ
You can read his entire statement below:
There will be more to come, but I have been contacted by so many members of the Terp basketball player family who are beside themselves seeing what has happened to our beloved program, that it is necessary to speak for us all.
The quest by fans, media types, and donor influencers to merely win the press conference by taking a "big swing" and hiring an outsider who leaves one program to coach the Terps only to leave after a few years is maddening.
When these hires leave their former program for us, they are telling you who they are, and we need to believe them, Since our full blooded Terp in Coach Gary Williams retired, it's been inconsistency after inconsistency after inconsistency. The common thread: outsiders.
Programs like Duke and North Carolina, to name a few, hire their own and promote their own, and are models of consistency. Their Athletic Department leaders are from within the "family," if not outright alumni.
The Administration and the Athletic Department of The University of Maryland College Park, along with their boosters and influencers must ignore the media recommended quick fixes and seek program consistency by hiring from within the Terp family understanding that the resulting loyalty and commitment will yield winning and respect, even in today's unprecedented program building through the current distasteful reality of the 'pay for play' environment.
I am not some casual observer. I was an integral part of a group that laid the foundation for future Terp basketball greatness that resulted in a National Championship several decades later under a coach who bled Terrapin red. No more room for mercenary coaches to play us like fiddles.
On behalf of those who gave their blood, sweat, and bodies to Maryland, we ask that University leaders ignore the shallow media exhortations and impatient fan cries and build from within the Terp family. Since Gary's retirement, we've tried the 'big swing' and whiffed.
It's time to return to fundamentals.
University of Maryland people must lead the University of Maryland athletics program and lead our basketball program.
Len Elmore '74
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Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. In January of 2025, he took over as Publisher for Maryland On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.
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