Former Maryland basketball players ‘incensed,’ don’t want ‘mercenary coaches’

As a senior lecturer in the Columbia University Sports Management Program, Len Elmore takes great responsibility in instructing his students on the virtues of athletics. So the former Maryland center was dismayed to see how a two-week kerfuffle at his former school resulted in the departures of athletic director Damon Evans, men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard and four players.“I teach the business of sports, and we’re teaching just the opposite: authenticity, principles, ethics,” he said.

“Those are the things that are going to take you far, and those teachings get betrayed by reality.”Elmore, a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference pick and All-American choice in 1974 who is still the Terps’ career leader in total rebounds and rebounding average, was so frustrated by what he witnessed that he penned a letter that he shared on social media Monday blaming “outsiders” for “what has happened to our beloved program.”Elmore’s reaction followed Willard leaving Maryland for Villanova on Sunday and coincided with the decisions by the starting backcourt duo of junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice and reserves Tafara Gapare and Jayhlon Young to enter the transfer portal Monday.



Elmore, who was selected in the first round of the 1974 NBA draft and spent 10 years in the league, said he felt compelled to publicize his thoughts after multiple conversations with other former Maryland players who played for the late Lefty Driesell and Gary Williams and have expressed similar emotions.“I wouldn’t have done it except I’ve been approached by a number of former Terp basketball players across generations — some of Gary’s guys, some of Lefty’s guys, guys from my class,” said Elmore, who celebrated his 73rd birthday last Friday. “They’re incensed.

They may not be the big money donors who bought their way into influence, but these guys gave their blood, sweat and bodies to the university, and we weren’t getting NIL money. So that further cements our loyalty and love for the university as a tradition and institution. We want to see it succeed because it validates our legacy more so than people just throwing money at it.

Fans need to know this hurts us.”READER POLL: Who should be Maryland’s next men’s basketball coach?Elmore isn’t alone in his frustrations. Former three-time All-American forward and 1974 NBA draft first-round pick Tom McMillen disagreed with how Willard declared Evans’ departure to SMU the day before the team’s NCAA Tournament first-round game against Grand Canyon on March 21 and petitioned for a greater portion of the university’s revenue-sharing plan.

McMillen — a former congressman who recently stepped down as president and CEO of Lead1 Association, which represents the athletic directors of 133 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision schools — took particular umbrage with Willard publicly questioning why he and the team could not spend one more night in New York City during the Christmas break, especially in light of more than 90,000 federal employees losing their jobs in the first three months of the year.“There’s a ‘let’s fiddle in Rome while it’s burning’ kind of thing,” McMillen, 72, said. “You keep that stuff between you and the AD.

Maybe because Damon was leaving, he thought he could air it, but I just thought that was not appropriate.”Elmore’s primary criticism centers on how the university has eschewed hiring graduates as Driesell and Williams were in favor of “mercenary coaches” who have no history or loyalty to the basketball program. It is a sentiment shared by former point guard Greivis Vasquez, who posted on X about wanting the program to “bring the real Maryland Blood back again.

”“We’ve tried it one way, and we could almost say that it’s the definition of insanity because we keep doing the same thing over and over again with the same results,” Elmore said. “Our position now is the University of Maryland needs to have University of Maryland people running the program and leading the basketball program. I think that’s not out of the question.

I know fans listen to big names, and a lot of these names are planted by agents and a lot of other people, and we understand that. But administration insiders shouldn’t get sucked into that.”McMillen agreed, citing a statistic shared last year by North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham that 31% of that school’s athletic department employees earned a degree in Chapel Hill.

By comparison, 16.8% of the Terps athletic department employees have a degree from Maryland, according to McMillen who said he received that number from Evans in February.“I think it’s important that the program has a connectivity to the alums,” McMillen said.

“Carolina has got the advantage of a nice college town in Chapel Hill and this nice little ecosystem. Maryland has to find a way to build that camaraderie, and I think that’s going to be a challenge for both the AD and coach.”Related Articles 4 Maryland basketball players enter transfer portal after Kevin Willard’s departure READER POLL: Who should be Maryland’s next men’s basketball coach? Kevin Willard is gone.

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Maryland men’s basketball coach Kevin Willard leaving to take job at Villanova McMillen said whoever succeeds Willard must improve at connecting with alumni, donors and students. He said he did not hear from Willard during his three-year tenure in College Park and that no one from the athletic department has reached out to him for a donation in the last 20 years.“It’s not just Xs and Os and getting the best players.

It’s creating excitement and building an aura,” McMillen said. “Coach Williams did that, and Lefty did that. I think we had a little momentum going on this season, but just in general, I think that’s missing, and the program needs that kind of jolt.

”Time would not seem to be on Maryland’s side as the transfer portal has been open since March 24 and the team is rudderless without a coach at the helm. But Elmore said quality should be emphasized over quickness.“Maryland is part of the Big Ten Conference, and they have committed to sharing up to $21 million,” he reasoned.

“So the money is there, and there is an attraction to the program, to the campus, to the media that surrounds the University of Maryland athletics. So I guarantee there will still be some good players out there, but to be able to command the field, it might take another year or two, and that’s what I mean by patience. We lived through a 16-17 season and got to the Sweet 16.

Who’s to say that can’t happen again, but on a consistent basis if we go back to fundamentals?”Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at [email protected], 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.

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