WHY FIRE DEBBIE YOW?

2006 NIT Fiasco
After a disappointing loss to Boston College in the 2006 ACC Tournament, the Maryland season was over. Or so Gary Williams thought. The team had worked hard for an NCAA Tournament appearance, not an NIT bid. The plan was to decline an NIT bid.

However, Debbie Yow had already agreed to host NIT games at Comcast Center. Each game reportedly brought in around $80,000, but this deal was contingent on Maryland participating in the NIT.

Williams, in the middle of a press conference announcing the basketball team's decision not to play in the postseason, left the room to field a call from NIT officials who informed him of the AD's arrangement. He returned to announce that Maryland would in fact play in the NIT. The Terps showed up flat in their first round matchup against the Manhattan Jaspers and lost.

Yow was able to milk money from the Men's team despite not complying with the team's wishes to end the season. This making money off the Men's team while not supporting them is a common theme for Yow.

Dave Neal Suspension

Shane Clark
Clark was the key piece to the Terps 2005 recruiting class that also included forward Dave Neal and JUCO guard Parrish Brown. He was a fifth year senior at Hargrave Military Academy. A 4* player on Scout.com, Clark was expected to have an immediate impact on the Terps team. Instead, Clark was denied admission just before the start of the school year. Originally, he was declared ineligible by the NCAA clearinghouse, but they quickly reversed their decision, and Clark was allowed to enroll at and play for Villanova that season. There have been rumblings that the necessary steps to ensure Clark's admission were not taken in part because of Debbie Yow and her feud with Gary Williams. This is the first public case of Yow penalizing a student-athlete to punish Williams. The Terps front court depth has been lacking without Clark, and the team has missed the NCAA tournament in 2 of the 3 years since he matriculated at Villanova.

Gus Gilchrist
Gus Gilchrist officially committed to Virginia Tech in the fall of his senior season when he signed a National Letter of Intent. However, by the spring of '07, Gilchrist had soured on the Hokies and asked for a release from his LOI following the Virginia Tech Massacre and was eventually granted his release. Despite the release, the ACC ruled that Gilchrist still needed to sit out an entire year - while sacrificing that year's eligibility - once he enrolled at Maryland. Since he didn't decide on Maryland until after the school year started, he did not enroll in the fall semester. Now, he has to sit out the Fall '08 semester before becoming eligible to play ball.

Of course, Gilchrist could have gone anywhere else in the country and played last year. Hell, Gilchrist could enter the NBA draft with no hitches, but he still won't be able to suit up for Maryland when the season starts next year.

So why is this on Yow? Well, what did she do to help his case? By all accounts, nothing. The UMD Athletic Department has not stepped up and presented a solid case for why Gilchrist should be allowed to participate in the first semester, despite the fact there is no good reason why he is ineligible. Throughout both the initial decision process and the subsequent appeal process, support from the AD has been lacking. Had Gilchrist been eligible last season, the Terps might have made the NCAA tournament. Without Gilchrist to start this season, the Terps frontcourt depth is paper thin and a big liability.

Bobby Maze
Maze, a junior college point guard, became enamored with the Terps in December, 2007 and quickly verballed to Gary Williams' team. For a team that had too many turnovers, another experienced ball handler would be an asset, especially if that ballhander had the speed Maze possesses.

Later in the spring, concerns over Maze's grades started to become an issue. News from the Athletic Department made it's way to the Terrapin Times website on Rivals.com that Maze would not get into Maryland. Terrapin Times head man Keith Cavanaugh works for the Athletic Department and is often given news from the AD, so he often gets it before his competitors. In this case, he got the news before Maze himself did. Despite Maze's appearance on Maryland's Scout.com message boards that showed his excitement and commitment just a few days earlier, Maze and Maryland would soon part ways, in part because of the way the news hit the web before Maze heard it.

Had the staff had the opportunity to talk to Maze about his situation before it went public, they may have been able to smooth things out and at least keep him as a backup option. Instead, Maze lost all interest in becoming a Terp and instead will enroll at the University of Tennessee in the fall.

Tyree Evans
Tyree Evans was granted a release from his LOI with Maryland. Evans, who requested the release earlier this week, cited the "publicity surrounding his recruitment." A few weeks ago, an article was published on SportsIllustrated.com that detailed Evans' troubled past. The article explained that Evans, whose most recent trouble with the law came in 2005, had been admitted to Maryland by a 4-1 vote by the Academic Committee of the University Athletics Council.

In the same article, dated May 5th, Yow explained that she was unaware that Evans spent a month in jail for that offense (a May 8th piece in The Sun says, "Yow told The Sun yesterday she didn't know Maryland was recruiting Evans.") By doing so, she not only poured gasoline on the fire, but she started the fire herself.

If you take Yow at face value and think she didn't actually know what was going on, it reflects poorly on the entire Athletic Department. Why would people feel the need to get things done behind peoples' backs? Why isn't there more communication on important decisions like "who will receive one of the 13 basketball scholarships?"

Or, if you look a little deeper, does it really make sense for Yow to not know what's going on? Of course not. However, what her comment does is cover her ass just in case this story breaks. She has no culpability if she didn't know, and now Gary Williams is the one that will receive the heat. Furthermore, she can continue to feed information about Evans' past to sources like SI.com or The Baltimore Sun without looking bad AND hurt Gary Williams/Maryland hoops.

Evans was an important recruit for Maryland this offseason. The Terps badly needed a shooter like Evans, who hit 44% from beyond the arc at Motlow State CC. He is also the #1 all-time scorer in Virginia AAA basketball, Viriginia's highest classification. Evans very likely could be the difference between another NIT appearance and an NCAA bid for the Terps.

By making a story during a normally quiet period, Yow helped nudge Evans out of Maryland's plans and hurt Williams' efforts to improve the team. Williams, with the pressure from the AD to succeed but without its support, may be nearing the end of his tenure as the University of Maryland's basketball coach.

Football Salaries

Rock and Roll Part II
Following the January 18, 2003 victory over Duke, the band was no longer allowed to play "Rock and Roll Part II." ESPN broadcast the game and the students' chanting of "Fuck you, J.J." (directed at J.J Redick) could be heard over the air. Duke fans, whose cheer sheets read "If you want to use profanity, go to Maryland," use the same "Hey! You suck! We're gonna beat the hell out of you!" lyrics when their band plays RNR part II, do not consider this cheer profane. Yow and the Athletic Department decided to ban the cheer from being played at football and basketball games because it is too profane. Now, the students perform an a capella version, but the gameday atmosphere has been weakened. For the most part, students and alumni seem to want to have their favorite cheer come back, but a vocal minority has Yow's ear on the issue and change does not seem to be coming.