COMMENTARY : For Maryland’s Teams, No More Excuses

The University of Maryland’s immediate task in the wake of the Bob Wade fiasco was relatively simple. Don’t run afoul of the NCAA, and win a few games. That, however, is apparently asking a lot in College Park.

Gary Williams, the basketball coach who seems very close to turning things around quickly, broke an NCAA rule. He admits breaking one critical rule once, and sources say he broke it with the full knowledge of the athletic director -- Lew Perkins -- whose job it is to make sure his coaches uphold the NCAA rules. Where was Perkins said to be while Williams was breaking the rule? Standing beside him, watching him break it.

Is the rule Williams broke -- watching practice before Oct. 15 -- as big a deal as paying a player or flying him home or letting him use the coach’s phone credit card? Of course not. Is the rule Williams broke a legitimate one, as opposed to those hundred other picky guidelines the NCAA enforces selectively? Absolutely.

Yes, kids play basketball every day, whether or not adults watch. But without the ‘no organized practice before Oct. 15’ rule, every college basketball coach in the country would have players in a structured practice environment 365 days a year. This is one of the key rules separating professional basketball players from college students.

Let’s not be naive about this; Williams isn’t the only coach in the nation who watches practice before Oct. 15. And plenty of coaches organize practices before Oct. 15.

So why blame Gary Williams? He comes to the rescue at Maryland, his alma mater, at a time when he is desperately needed. He’s already won more games this season than most people could reasonably have expected. The team is competitive in the ACC again, the players seem happier than they have been in four years, the fans and the excitement are back in Cole Field House. So why jump on Williams for doing something many of his colleagues do every year? Because Maryland can’t afford any more bullet holes in its foot.

Maryland is the school whose star basketball player (Len Bias) died of a cocaine overdose in June 1986, whose famous and successful head coach (Lefty Driesell) was forced out in October 1986 in the wake of that scandal, whose next head coach (Bob Wade) was so in over his head he got caught cheating to get back a player (Rudy Archer) who had flunked out and wasn’t exactly a star. Now Williams gets caught watching practice.

Williams has the burden, unfortunately for him, of having to improve not only the Maryland basketball program but what it is perceived to be. If anybody needed to get an early start on righting a sinking ship, Williams perhaps figured, it was him. But the perception is that Maryland, no matter how many times warned, cheated again.

There are too many eyes on Williams at Maryland -- eyes belonging to those still loyal to Driesell and Wade and even the eyes of some NCAA investigators. With that microscopic examination, such an obvious rules violation as watching an early practice could hardly go unnoticed.

You know how easy it is to observe a coach watching practice at Cole Field House? Nothing’s easier. Cole is open to the public just about all the time. Anybody can see it, which is just the reason Williams should have put on a sleep mask every day when he left his office (which sits right on top of the open gymnasium) if necessary to avoid being perceived as another Maryland coach who will skirt the rules.

But clearly he did not and so again we’re forced to ask: What did Maryland know and when did Maryland know it? If the violation occurred in October, why did Perkins wait until January to report it?

Now, we might expect to hear the voices of Wade’s supporters, who may say that less than decisive action in this case would prove a double standard exists at Maryland, if a white coach who violates the rules isn’t dealt with as was Wade. This is yet another reason university officials cannot simply look the other way and attempt to return to business as usual.

It’s difficult to know where exactly to draw the line at Maryland these days. But this much is clear: everybody will be watching Williams and now, Perkins. Inside and outside of Cole Field House. If they as much as jaywalk, they’ll get nailed. Instead of slipping through its initial bout with the NCAA with nothing more than a firm slap on the wrist, Maryland now runs the risk of incurring a substantial penalty, which would prove to be the latest in a series of embarrassments.

I’ve known Gary Williams for 10 years and there’s never been anything that suggests he maliciously violates NCAA rules. As Wade was being shown the door last May, I thought Williams was the best man in the country for the Maryland job and I still do. He’s bright, nobody works harder and nobody cares more about seeing Maryland rejuvenated than he does.

Having been head basketball coach at American, Boston College and Ohio State, Williams knows the rules backward, or should. Maryland officials said during the Wade inquiry that not knowing the rules was no excuse for Wade (a novice with no collegiate head coaching experience before Maryland). So what could be the excuse for Williams?

Williams himself said Thursday that what he did is inexcusable, which is more than Wade ever said following his involvement in 10 of the 18 violations Maryland admitted committing under his regime. At the least, Williams should be contrite. And he should be accountable. There can be no more next times at Maryland.