Let's be frank, the Baltimore Sun isn't exactly a top notch newspaper, but you would think impartiality and accuracy would be something they would strive to achieve. Apparently the Sun has decided to just be a mouthpiece for the athletic department. In an article today the Sun reported comments by former Terrapin great and current University board member Tom McMillen that the public bickering between the head coach and the athletic department needed to stop. In that article the Sun mentioned this quote from Gary Williams:
Williams said he didn't understand why athletic director Debbie Yow wasn't handling the matter instead of Worthington, who he said "has never won a national championship" as Williams did in 2002.
"Why doesn't the athletic director do that? Does that appear strange?" he said.
The Sun followed up that by reporting that Yow was out of town for the funeral of her sister. Really? That is interesting because Adi Joseph of the Diamondback was told that Yow was in her office yesterday. So the Sun is trying some journalistic slight of hand by mentioning she is out of town (today) as a counter for why she was delegating this boondoggle to a totally unqualified subordinate even though she was in her office yesterday when the proverbial **** hit the fan. This kind of reporting is worse than stupid and lazy it is downright misleading. It is disappointing for the Sun to try such a fallacious stunt to fan the flames of a controversy that benefits no one. All this is beside the point of who authorized Kathy Worthington to contact the press (no surprise the Baltimore Sun) to refute allegations that Gary Williams never even made. There is some question now as to whether the athletic department was told directly not to respond to Williams' comments regarding Evans, Clark and Gilchrist. If that turns out to be true then it is essential that the University take drastic action. As for Debbie Yow the rumors are that her sister's funeral has not stopped her from contacting high level boosters at the University in an attempt to raise money to buyout and terminate Gary Williams' coaching contract.
I support what Tom McMillen said in the story about this needing to stop but a mere cease fire isn't going to solve anything. It is clear that College Park isn't big enough for both Gary Williams and Debbie Yow. While Williams comments were ill advised and a little too self pitying they were made in the heat of the moment after a crushing loss while he was being circled by reporters hoping for such an outburst. The comments of Kathy Worthington have only succeeded in turning this trivial and worthless dispute into a national soap opera. Trying to guess what Worthington or anyone else at the athletic department hoped to achieve by making this an even bigger story while releasing internal University documents in a pathetic bureaucratic attempt to shift blame is a futile exercise. While Williams should focus his time and energy on improving his roster instead of making excuses in the press the athletic department has no business engaging the media on its own accord and lighting a fuse to a bomb that cannot possibly result in anything good for the University, athletic department or basketball program.
The time is coming when Maryland will have to make a tough decision regarding this unsustainable internal conflict. Allowing Debbie Yow and her cronies in the athletic department to "win" this battle would only accomplish the estrangement of the single most important icon at the University of Maryland in at least the last thirty years. Once Yow is gone I have a feeling that Williams will be much more amenable to stepping aside and allowing a transition to a new head coach and hopefully a renaissance of Maryland basketball.
