Maryland Rebounding Under Williams : College basketball: Despite the threat of NCAA sanctions against the program and difficult times in his personal life, the Terrapins’ coach has led a resurgence at his alma mater.

Gary Williams emerges from the locker-room tunnel at Cole Field House, shoulders stooped, chin jutting, eyes straight ahead, a human Leaning Tower of Pisa. If you did not know him better, you would think he was about to fall on his face.

It is the purposeful stride of a man in a hurry, which Williams has been since taking over the job of head basketball coach at his alma mater, the University of Maryland, in June. In a hurry to win games, in a hurry to earn back respect in the Atlantic Coast Conference and, most of all, in a hurry to bring life back to the program.

During the 1989-90 season, Williams has been successful on all counts. The Terrapins, 9-20 a year ago under Bob Wade, are 18-12. Included among six conference victories are sweeps of North Carolina and Virginia. In the latter stages of the season, sellouts for ACC home games were the rule rather than the exception.

“I think we’ve accomplished a lot,” Williams said. “Attitude-wise, we’re stronger people than we were before. Maybe that’s the biggest accomplishment. But I want to keep it going after the season is over.”

It has not been easy. In fact, Williams said recently that this has been “the longest year I’ve ever had as a head coach.” This campaign marks his 10th winning season in the past 12 years spent at American University, Boston College, Ohio State and at Maryland.

What made it even more difficult was an admitted violation by Williams of a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rule that prohibits coaches from watching their teams work out before the Oct. 15 starting date. Last month, Williams said that he twice watched the Terps scrimmage informally.

It was an embarrassing blot on what has been one of Williams’ best coaching jobs. In essence, he took a group of players with raw talent, no depth and little collective quickness--perhaps the one thread that has run through each of his programs--and turned it into the most improved team in the ACC.

“The biggest thing is to believe that you can be successful competing at this level,” said Williams, who inherited a nucleus of four players from a team that finished 1-13 in the ACC last season. “Once you see the success, it’s easier for you to do the things it takes to be successful.

“The biggest problem was having the players accept something before they saw results. If I could have promised them that we would beat North Carolina twice, that we would win on the road at Virginia, it might have been easier (for them to work hard). Even when we were losing those close games to Georgia Tech, Duke and Clemson, the players saw how far we had come as a team.”

It is not difficult to pinpoint when the players began to understand what Williams was talking about, and screaming about, in practice. It did not sink in after they lost to South Carolina at the buzzer Dec. 1 in Richmond, Va., or after they were blown out by Connecticut three nights later in the ACC-Big East Challenge.

It happened when the Terps lost at home to Coppin State, 70-63, on Dec. 12.

“If we don’t lose that game,” Maryland assistant Roger McCready said, “we’re not the team we are today.”

During the 10 days between that loss and Maryland’s next game, the players spent the beginning of their Christmas vacation in long, difficult practices. When they arrived in Hawaii for the Chaminade tournament, the Terps were a different team. Williams changed his lineup, moving Walt Williams from shooting guard to point guard, Teyon McCoy from point guard to shooting guard and Jesse Martin off the bench to small forward. It led to center Tony Massenburg, the only senior who plays regularly, taking an active leadership role.

“We’d talk from time to time, and I understood his philosophy and what he expected from his players,” said Massenburg, who has gone from being a talented, yet inconsistent player, to an all-conference candidate. “I’ve tried to be sort of his offspring on the court.”

If Massenburg is Williams’ offspring, then Mike Anderson and Vince Broadnax have become his playing reincarnates. Neither possesses a great deal of natural ability, as was the case with Williams when he played at Maryland during 1965-67. But along with freshman Evers Burns, they have helped shape the team’s personality.

His players have learned during the past few months that it’s not always how the volatile Williams says things, or how loud, but it’s what he is saying. Massenburg said what amazes him is the way Williams can seem crazed one moment and so focused the next. That it happens in the middle of close games, in front of packed, hostile crowds, only builds confidence.

“We believe in him,” said Massenburg, who probably has benefited the most from this newly instilled work ethic. “He’s been through these situations so many times, and he’s a proven winner.”

Williams credits his players for helping him pull through the tough moments. Aside from the admitted violation, which is considered a secondary infraction, there have been the likely sanctions by the NCAA from Wade’s three-season tenure, which have hung over the program since mid-October.

On top of that, Williams has gone through a difficult year in his personal life. In November, he was divorced after more than 20 years of marriage. He was engaged recently to Victoria Chen, an attorney and television personality from Los Angeles.

“All of the other things would have been the same, but the fact that you go through a divorce is a big thing in anyone’s life,” said Williams, who turns 44 today.

“I’ve been fortunate to have Victoria be here. It’s been a tough year, but I also feel good about the way things have gone lately. Coming in, I knew there were some things that had to be smoothed out. But the positive thing is that we can do it here. We can win the ACC. We can go to the Final Four. You like a job where there are no barriers to your success.”

There are obstacles. Although the Terps are in position to be considered for an NCAA tournament bid this season, the program has yet to hear from the NCAA infractions committee regarding the violations that occurred under Wade. The severity of the penalty will help determine how quickly Williams is able to rebuild. But this season was a positive step.

And although there have been bumpy moments, the ride has been smoother than any in the past five seasons at Maryland. Like many of Williams’ other teams, these Terps, for the most part, have been overachievers. The one notable exception earlier in the season, sophomore forward Jerrod Mustaf, recently has played his best stretch since coming to Maryland.

Mustaf scored 20 points Saturday as the Terps defeated Virginia, 89-74, in the schools’ regular-season finale.