Well this is good to hear, now let's hear what Faust has to say.

Regarding the assistant coaches, I have a novel idea: why not keep an expanded staff of assistants for the first year, including Williams' current staff and the coaches from Turgeon's A&M staff that he would like to bring with him (or other new hires).

There are a number of reasons why I think this could be a reasonable investment by Maryland:

1) It would mean doing right by the current staff, who would otherwise be screwed over by Gary's decision to retire months after most schools have made their coaching hires. From their perspective, it would give them a chance to prove themselves to Turgeon, and if they aren't a part of the long-term picture they would be let go in 9 months (at the close of next season).

2) Everyone agrees that Turgeon's #1 priority in his first year will be making a strong impression with area coaches and AAU teams- an expanded first-year staff would allow him to maximize Maryland's presence across the region during this extremely critical "first impression" phase. Additionally, the assistants will put maximum effort into landing highly-rated recruits, knowing that this will ensure their long-term job security when MD pares down the staff after the first year or two.

3) This will free Turgeon up to dedicate time to the most important tasks. Needless to say, Turgeon has a lot on his plate for this first year. A temporarily-expanded staff could enable him to focus on the most valuable uses of his time. He could develop relationships with AAU coaches and top-tier prospects, build out his network within Maryland as well as across the fan/booster/media community, and last but not least focus on creating a game plan/system for the new roster of players and slate of opponents he will be facing (many have said he may want to accelerate his current system to appeal to current players/fans/recruits, for instance).

4) It would minimize unnecessary turnover risk and enable a transfer of knowledge to the future staff.

I'm not saying that we should have an unwieldy 10-person staff of assistants; I'm simply suggesting that Turgeon keep a few coaches from the current staff (like Ehsan and Ranson), his best assistants from his A&M staff (like Spinelli), and maybe a top-notch new hire with MD/East coast connections. At the end of the day, it would only mean carrying 1 or 2 coaches more than typical for only 9 months- certainly not a prohibitive expense for a program like Maryland, especially given the benefits above.

Andrew,
I'm pretty sure NCAA rules for Division I basketball limit programs to one head coach, three assistants and one student assistant coach.

@Andrew - Good points in favor of keeping a larger staff. However, I have a feeling there is probably a limit on the number of coaches permitted under NCAA rules. Particularly the part about greater presence with AAU and other coaches that more assistants would permit would seem to give a greater edge to schools that had more coaches on staff so there is probably a fixed limit, something on the order of three full time assistants and a graduate assistant or something like that.

Just an uneducated guess, but I can see Booth being the odd man out with Ranson and Ehsan being kept, unless Ehsan decides to take another offer - it was reported that he was being sought by VT.

Darn- I should have known that "novel idea" seemed a little too obvious... Thanks guys :)

I guess Keith Booth is gonna be the odd man out. If Turgeon wants to keep the class together he is going to need Rob and Bino... but he is not going to retain the whole staff. Seem's pretty obvious he is going to bring Spinelli with him (unless Spinelli gets the A&M job) since he is has been Turgeons point man in the the DC/Baltimore area, and used to coach at American.

But we do have a Dir. of Bball Operations slot open. Look at what St. John's did with that slot - go Mo' Hicks (Rice HS)...Mo' Better with a connected local HS coach as DoBO who can later become an asst coach. Just can't recruit at that DoBO's HS for two years per the NC2A

curious - why keep ehsan over booth?

Is the Director of Bball Operations job open? That's certainly a question. Matt, have you heard anything about the team using one of those spots (Director of Bball Operations or a similar position) to keep a fourth assistant?

I think we've been doing that for a couple of years now with Joe Harrington. I think he was close friends with Gary. He may want to move on now that Gary has gone or join Gary as a fundraiser for the university.

I noticed that Duke recently did the exact same thing. They hired Capel and slid Nate James over to the Director of Basketball Operations job.

Charles: Director of Basketball Ops is a nice spot for an up and comer, albeit not a true assistant. It's basically one rung below that third assistant. Towson just hired Duane Simpkins for that position. -- Matt

@pepper - Better recruiter, rising star in the coaching ranks. Hate to say it, but Booth has not done much of anything in his time on the staff. I'm pretty sure Ehsan was Gibb's recruiter, and Bino was Faust's.

KA went as far as to make Ehsan the interim coach (on Gary's advice) even though he is only 28, and been there less time then Booth. That should tell you something.

Charles - fyi, Troy Wainwright used to be DoBO but received a promotion to asst AD. Troy's with us almost 15 years - we're fortunate to have him.