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Snider: For Turgeon, it’s Playoffs or Pink Slip

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WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – Either Maryland reaches the NCAA Tournament next spring or coach Mark Turgeon has to go.

Turgeon was hired to continue coach Gary Williams’ legacy of annual national rankings and March Madness victories. Instead, they haven’t come close to an NCAA bid.

Maryland opens against Wagner on Friday in what’s expected to be an 18- or 19-win season. Translation: another bubble year where Turgeon rationalizes close losses and pledges to be better. Sorry, we’re heard this for three years now. It’s time to get better or get out.

It’s not about graduation rates when defining coaches. That’s for the movies. No, this is all about filling seats, winning games and making the postseason. For that, Turgeon has been a major disappointment. He’s a nice guy who’s not finishing last, but certainly not raising trophies, either.

That’s the problem. Turgeon has been mediocre. Not bad enough for alumni to demand his ouster, but not good enough to improve the program. After an overachieving 17-15 mark in his 2010-11 debut when many expected a losing season, the Terps went 25-13 with an NIT semifinal loss in 2012 and 17-15 again last year.

Overall, Turgeon is 59-43 in three seasons, a big drop from 97-40 at Texas A&M in four season before coming to Maryland.

The biggest difference between Turgeon and Williams has been every February. Williams’ teams always improved in the final weeks. Turgeon’s seem rudderless, losing too many important games. That’s on coaching.

Turgeon said he feels no pressure entering his fourth season. That’s what an eight-year contract provides –complacency. Not many coaches can miss the NCAAs at a program that once entered annually and not feel pressure.

The Terps need a winner now or will need some of that blood money for switching conferences to the Big Ten for paying off Turgeon.

Certainly, this season will be tougher to gauge by changing conferences. Nobody’s quite sure how Maryland will fare against a conference of new opponents. While Turgeon smiled when saying the other teams don’t know the Terps, neither does Maryland exactly know how to stop Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa State and Nebraska that are all ranked.

The Big Ten is no easier than the ACC. It may be deeper. Maryland will miss the Duke and North Carolina rivalries, but the Terps will be just as tested in a conference where every single thing is new. It may be exciting, but there are layers of challengers when readying for opponents with no personal history. It was easy to pump up for even Georgia Tech and Florida State based off past years, but Maryland players have nothing against Iowa and Purdue.

At least the new faces will attract more people to games. Last season, the student section was regularly empty because, you know, they were at the library studying.

Turgeon boasters claim next year’s recruiting class will help. But, people always say that. Maryland has some playmakers this season in senior Dez Wells and freshman Melo Trimble.

This team is good enough to reach the NCAA Tournament. If Turgeon fails in his fourth try, it’s time to move on.

Rick Snider has covered Washington sports since 1978. Follow him on Twitter @Snide_Remarks.


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