FanPost

Comparing Mark Turgeon and Pat Chambers

Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

*In a new fanpost series, we compare Pat Chambers' 3-year progress and roster moves to his biggest competitors in the Big Ten. He'll need to beat the Big Ten's newest coaches in the race to the upper half of the league to join the likes of Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan. Past comparisons have included Tim Miles, John Groce, and Fran McCaffery. Today, we focus on Big Ten newcomer Mark Turgeon at Maryland.

It's hardly fair to compare the basketball programs of Penn State and one of the Big Ten's newest additions, Maryland. The Terrapins had been a staple of March Madness during Gary Williams' reign, while Penn State has never made the NCAA tournament in two consecutive years since 1955. Taking over a prestigious program versus building something from scratch is clearly an apples-to-oranges comparison.

But there was one similarity both coaches shared when they started at their respective programs. They were both hired very late in the typical coaching cycle back in 2011. Gary Williams didn't announce his retirement until May 6th, while Ed DeChellis didn't leave for Navy until May 23rd. Neither coach had an opportunity to recruit much of anything for their first season.

Maryland Penn State
When Hired Start of Season When Hired Start of Season
1 S. Mosley - SR S. Mosley - SR C, Woodyard - SR C. Woodyard - SR
2 B. Weijs - SR B. Weijs - SR T. Frazier - JR T. Frazier - JR
3 S. Padgett - JR S. Padgett - JR B. Oliver - JR B. Oliver - JR
4 P. Howard - SO P. Howard - SO J. Marshall - SO J. Marshall - SO
5 T. Stoglin - SO T. Stoglin - SO S. Borovnjak - SO S. Borovnjak - SO
6 M. Parker - SO M. Parker - SO J. Staten - SO D.J. Newbill - SO
7 H. Palsson - SO A. Pankey - FR T. Bowman - SO M. Glover - SO
8 A. Pankey - FR N. Faust - FR M. Glover - SO* J. Graham - FR
9 N. Faust - FR A. Len - FR J. Graham - FR T. Lewis - FR
10 S. Gibbs - FR
T. Lewis - FR* P. Ackerman - FR
11 M. Breunig - FR P. Ackerman - FR* P. Alexis - FR
12 P. Alexis - FR* R. Travis - FR
13
R. Travis - FR*

Legend Williams Player Turgeon Player DeChellis Player Chambers Player
Left Program

Turgeon landed a big coup with international big man Alex Len a few short months before his first team hit the floor, but he still only had nine scholarship players. The Terps' had already lost four starters from the previous year, including big man Jordan Williams.

It got worse early as Len had actually been suspended by the NCAA for the first ten games of the '11-'12 season, and sophomore point guard Pe'Shon Howard suffered both a broken foot and an ACL tear during the year. Still, the first year coach led Maryland to a winning season (17-15, 6-10), arguably his most impressive year in College Park to date.

Things were quickly looking up for Maryland as Turgeon was able to sign a respectable 5-man recruiting class to add to a promising returning core. But things didn't quite work out that way...

Maryland Penn State
Year 1 Year 2 Year 1 Year 2
1 S. Mosley - SR S. Padgett - SR C. Woodyard - SR T. Frazier - SR
2 B. Weijs - SR L. Aronholt - SR T. Frazier - JR J. Marshall - JR
3 S. Padgett - JR P. Howard - JR B. Oliver - JR S. Borovnjak - JR
4 P. Howard - SO E. Smotrycz - JR J. Marshall - SO DJ Newbill - SO
5 T. Stoglin - SO D. Wells - SO S. Borovnjak - SO J. Graham - SO
6 M. Parker - SO N. Faust - SO D.J. Newbill - SO P. Ackerman - SO
7 A. Pankey - FR A. Len - SO M. Glover - SO R. Travis - SO
8 N. Faust - FR S. Allen - FR J. Graham - FR J. Johnson - SO
9 A. Len - FR S. Cleare - FR T. Lewis - FR A. Maduegbunam - FR
10 J. Layman - FR P. Ackerman - FR B. Taylor - FR
11 C. Mitchell - FR P. Alexis - FR D. Jack - FR
12 *S. Cassell Jr - FR R. Travis - FR
13

Legend Williams Player Turgeon Player DeChellis Player Chambers Player

(*Sam Cassell Jr. was expected to join Maryland for the '12-'13 season and had actually enrolled that summer, but the NCAA deemed him academically ineligible for the season, and he dropped down to the JuCo ranks to become eligible)

Turgeon was doing a solid job early holding onto Williams' leftovers, but at the end of April 2012, his program suffered a major setback. Rising juniors Terrell Stoglin and Mychal Parker were both suspended from the school for a year, causing both to leave the program. Stoglin had averaged 21.6 PPG in the ACC the previous season. Shortly after this announcement, sophomore forward Ashton Pankey also decided to leave the program and transfer back home.

However, Turgeon bounced back from these losses by landing Michigan transfer Evan Smotrycz, Xavier transfer Dez Wells and graduate-transfer Logan Aronhalt from the University of Albany. Smotrycz unfortunately had to sit for a year, but they got a break when the NCAA cleared Wells to play immediately after being falsely accused of sex allegations while at Xavier.

Maryland went 25-13 after a run to the NIT semi-finals in 2013. Progress was being made little-by-little, although Turgeon's first recruited player decided to jump to the NBA after just two seasons. Center Alex Len was selected 5th overall in the NBA draft and left a huge hole in Maryland's lineup in 2014.

With Len's departure, Maryland had a disappointing 17-14 campaign in Turgeon's 3rd year. Not only did they struggle to replace Len in the middle, they were lost at point guard early after sophomore Seth Allen broke his foot. Wells and top-50 freshman Roddy Peters were forced into the role, while the Terps struggled through a 8-5 non-conference start with home losses to Oregon State and Boston University.

They did finish with their best conference record under Turgeon in the ACC at 9-9, but their only notable win came at home versus Virginia. They went just 1-7 against the six teams that finished ahead of them in the standings (UVA, Duke, Syracuse, Pitt, UNC, Clemson). With only playing Duke, UNC, and Syracuse once on the schedule, many hoped for a stronger finish from Maryland. Instead, they ended up missing the postseason for the third time in four seasons.

Maryland Penn State
2014-2015 2014-2015
1 E. Smotrycz - SR D.J. Newbill - SR
2 D. Wells - SR J. Johnson - SR
3 J. Graham - SR R. Travis - SR
4 R. Pack - SR B. Taylor - JR
5 J. Layman - JR D. Jack - JR
6 R. Carter - JR D. Foster - JR
7 D. Dodd - SO J. Dickerson - JR
8 R. Trimble - FR G. Thorpe - SO
9 T. Reed - FR P. Banks - FR
10 D. Wiley - FR J. Moore - FR
11 J. Nickens - FR S. Garner - FR
12 M. Cekovsky - FR I. Washington - FR
13
Legend Old Coach New Coach

Maryland will have its deepest roster in 2015 in terms of available scholarship players since Turgeon took the helm. It will actually be the coach's first time with more than 10 scholarship players. That might surprise you after hearing about the transfer train out of College Park this past spring.

While Turgeon has suffered normal attrition from the coaching change, you can't totally excuse the loss of five of his own players this past year. Seth Allen, Shaq Cleare, Charles Mitchell, Nick Faust and Roddy Peters all decided it was in their best interest to leave Turgeon's program, although in Mitchell's case, his departure was to tend to his sick grandmother.

Pat Chambers Category Mark Turgeon
14 Recruited Players 19
9 Four-Year Recruits 13
1 Junior College Recruits 0
3 Collegiate Transfers 4
1 Graduate Transfers 2
2 Departed Recruits 7
7 Departed Inherited Players
(left before exhausting eligibility)
5
5 Retained Inherited Players
(stayed/staying through graduation)
3
0 Top 100 Recruits 8
3 2015 Commitments 0

Those five transfers means six of Turgeon's first eight 4-year recruits have left the program with two or more years of eligibility remaining. Losing Nick Faust is hard to fathom as well, considering the coach re-recruited him to Maryland after Williams left and played under the new coach for three full seasons before leaving.

All is not lost for Turgeon, as he does add the nation's #9 recruiting class, according to ESPN. He also returns three double-digit scorers in Wells, Smotrycz and Jake Layman. But if he was able to keep his rising core to add into this mix, then we'd be talking about a Maryland team ready to contend in its first year in the Big Ten. That's probably no longer the case.

It's hard to project where Maryland goes from here. Obviously Turgeon is starting to feel the heat after his most recent roster developments and no NCAA appearances in three years. How much more patient will the fan base and the administration be? He only returns 53% of his minutes and 57% of his scoring from last year's team and will be heavily reliant upon freshman to contribute and/or start in key roles this season.

The recruiting results have been impressive so far, but what good are they if the players don't stick around? And while Turgeon was off to a fast start on the recruiting trail, the loss of assistant coaches Dalonte Hill and Scott Spinelli appear to be having an impact as the Terps are still scoreless with their 2015 class (sidenote: both PSU and Minnesota have top-100 commitments from DMV players).

Does Turgeon need to make the NCAAs this year to stay at Maryland? It's possible. Can Penn State compete with Maryland in the Big Ten standings next year? Also possible. Maryland will have the better individual talent compared to PSU, but with so much turnover year after year, the Terrapins need to prove they can win quickly in the Big Ten, or it will open the door for other middling programs to ascend up the conference's ranks.

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