OTC: Topeka’s Mark Turgeon Takes His Talents To Maryland

 

“Aggies: Thanks for a great 4 years. I was proud to represent Texas A&M University. It is truly a special and classy place.”
Mark Turgeon, in a message to the TAMU fan base after resigning to take the Maryland job, Twitter
GH: The college basketball coaching carousel got another hard tug when Gary Williams resigned from Maryland and Mark Turgeon bolted A&M to replace him. Will the Topeka kid be a success in the ACC? Read on.
“(Mark Turgeon) wasn’t (Maryland’s) first choice. They went through like five guys apparently.”
Todd Leabo, 810 AM
GH: Maryland looked at high-profile candidates before “settling” for Turgeon. This is not a hire that will cause season ticket sales to spike in Terp territory but one I think will prove to be successful. Not everyone agrees.
“If Maryland’s inability to land (Arizona’s) Sean Miller as its basketball coach can be analogized to an open layup that was blown over the rim, how best to describe the Terps’ decision to hire Mark Turgeon? One might say it’s like shooting at the other team’s goal. Pursuing Miller was the right idea but horribly executed.”
Mike DeCourcy, SportingNews.com
GH: DeCourcy must know some inside info on how Maryland went about courting and eventually blowing their shot at Sean Miller. He will be on 810’s Border Patrol Wednesday to discuss it.
 
“Hiring Turgeon away from Texas A&M was well executed by Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson, but he missed the target by a lot. It’s hard to find anyone to say a bad word about Turgeon, and it doesn’t feel so great right here, right now. …Is he the ideal fit for this job, though? Not even close.”
Mike DeCourcy, SportingNews.com
GH: Turgeon’s deliberate style of play may not play well to Terp fans who have watched the blurring speed of the athletic ACC. Coach Roy doesn’t teach defense, he teaches outscore the other guys and run them into the dust. Turgeon teaches defense and boring but winning basketball. Will the wins be enough to appease Terp fans?
 
“Given the high-profile names floated throughout this remarkably quick coaching search … you might be willing to forgive Maryland fans if they react to tonight’s news with a collective ‘Who?’ They shouldn’t. In the end, Anderson didn’t just move quickly. He didn’t just shoot for the splashy name. In landing Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon, Anderson did something vastly more important: He made a high-quality hire. … Still, there’s no other way to put it: Turgeon does not qualify as a sexy hire.”
Eamonn Brennan, writer, ESPN.com
GH: Turgeon is about as sexy as his surname and hometown of Topeka. He is a plugger. He outworks people. He isn’t sexy, he’s annoying. His teams annoy you to death.
“Just got off phone with Mark Turgeon: ‘It was a very tough decision. Probably my best team coming back. So hard to say goodbye to players.’”
Jeff Goodman, Fox, Twitter
GH: Most analyst have A&M in the preseason Top 20. Who gets to waltz into that job?
“I think (Tim Floyd) would take (the A&M job) in a heartbeat. If I’m Tim Floyd I might wait around because no one really cares (about basketball at A&M).”
Greg Gurley, 810 AM
GH: The name that keeps popping up in my head is Bruce Pearl. He has more baggage than Southwest but he is one guy who might be able to ignite a passion for hoops in College Station. I’d hire him today.
 
“I think that (success at Maryland) on his resume would be better than at Texas A&M. We’re talking about things that are so far out there, and I don’t see them happening.”
Greg Gurley, when asked by Soren Petro is having success at Maryland rather than A&M would improve Turgeon’s chances of eventually becoming the head coach at Kansas, 810 AM
GH: Kansas would prefer to hire Bill Self’s replacement from Maryland rather than a Big 12 school like A&M. But I’m with Gurley – none of this matters now or probably in the future.
 
“Mark Turgeon is a great hire for Maryland. Played against him in college and he’s an outstanding coach. Turgeon will win in College Park.”
Jay Bilas, Twitter
GH: Turgeon also played against Bill Self. I always think of Turgeon being younger than his 46 years.
“A&M has no coach and Billy Gillespie kicked a door and broke a toe. You don’t think he’d rather be at A&M than Texas Tech?”
Soren Petro, 810 AM
GH: I don’t think A&M would double dip on Billy G. even if he was still available. I do think Gillespie jumped too soon at the TT job. He could have been wearing Missouri black & gold if he would have waited a week or two.
“What I can tell you about James Franklin is that he is the nicest most polite young man you will ever meet in your life. If he gets sacked, he might congratulate the guy who sacked him. Hopefully not but he’s that nice.”
Eric Blumberg, of Columbia KOMU TV, on Mizzou’s leading candidate for the starting QB job, 810 AM
GH: I think back to some of the sacks Nebraska’s Blackshirts have laid on MU quarterbacks the past few years and I don’t think Franklin would have any trouble losing some of his niceness after one of those hits.
“Having Gabbert leave could prove to be good for James Franklin and Missouri.”
Steven St. John, 810 AM
GH: This defines Gary Pinkel’s QB and offensive leader now rather than in August. Franklin has the deepest and most-talented corps of receivers returning in the Pinkel era. The offensive line should also be the best under Pinkel. Nebraska is gone. The Tiger fans are very eager for this football season to begin.
“If we disregard Kyle Davies they’ll be 29 teams standing in line for him. Trust me on that.”
Dayton Moore, on the weakest starter in the Royals less-than-impressive starting rotation, 810 AM
GH: Davies gets the start tonight in the Royals’ series opener at Yankees Stadium. It is a pitching matchup nightmare for the Royals where they will face the Yankees’ Freddy Garcia. I would much prefer to see that line forming for Davies and Danny Duffy wearing a KC cap.
“If the Royals released Kyle Davies today, some other team would pick him up. I think they would (make him a starter).”
Mark Carman, 610 AM
GH: Hopefully the Twins.
“When I came up nobody had ever heard of me. I was scared to death. I don’t think (Eric Hosmer) was scared at all. I think he was excited.”
George Brett, in an interview with Bob Fescoe, 610 Sports
GH: I didn’t get this quote from Brett verbatim since I was jogging at the time. But it’s close. It is obvious that Brett thinks Hosmer is the real deal.
“If an opponent has an injury, you exploit it.”
Mike Golic, saying the Celtics’ Rajon Rondo’s injured left elbow is fair game for the Miami Heat players to bump and go after, ESPN Radio
GH: Greenie disagreed with Golic in that he thought it unsportsmanlike to intentionally go after a competitor’s injury in an effort to make it worse. I always tried to use an opponent’s injury to my favor –  no matter the sport. On game day it is about winning. Nice is for the postgame handshakes.
“Clones, if you’re not getting the show; call and email your affiliate and let them know you feel about it. Hit it hard.”
Jim Rome, Twitter
GH: Rome’s tweets of late smell of desperation. Is his repetitive shtick starting to wear off? Or maybe his clones have found gainful employment in the improving economy? Whatever the reason, Jim Rome appears to be burning…and not in a good way.
GregHall24@yahoo.com and Twitter / greghall24
http://www.mb-kc.com/
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11 Responses to OTC: Topeka’s Mark Turgeon Takes His Talents To Maryland

  1. Gavin says:

    Bruce Pearl? I doubt it.
    I get the allure of Bruce Pearl, but A&M can’t do that right now. The NCAA hasn’t ruled on his case. There is a very reasonable possibility that he will be given a show cause order and hiring him now would be a disaster if the NCAA hammers him. They gave a show cause order to Kelvin Sampson and he was “only” illegally texting recruits. Pearl committed the cardinal sin of lying to the NCAA. They almost HAVE to hammer him, hard, to discourage anyone else from ever doing anything like that. I predict that they’re going to make an example of Pearl and, if I’m right, A&M hiring him would be worse than hiring Dave Bliss; at least Bliss’ show cause order has expired (I think).

  2. The Independent Rage says:

    James Franklin
    Seeing as that Eric Blumberg is the source for Franklin being a nice guy, does that mean that Franklin is actually a lout? Can we get Bernie Miklasz (sp) to weigh in on the issue, please?

  3. Lee says:

    Jim Rome
    anyone remember when Rome left 810 for 610? Kietzman was crying and calling Rome an ingrate since 810 was one of the early stations to put him on the air. KK wanted his listeners to e-mail Rome and complain to the corporation that controls the Rome show. Within a year or so, the ratings for Rome’s replacement matched Romes and soon surpassed it. I rarely listened to Rome back then and never now. It must be very satisfying to Petro whenever Rome’s ratings go down.

  4. bschloz says:

    Terps make a Great Hire
    I’ve always been a Turgeon fan. Loved watching him play the game..so smart and tough.
    His resume is stellar…I think he avg. like 24 wins @ FOOTBALL U.
    Now he gets to go to Maryland arguably one of the top 20 Basketball jobs on the planet.
    Wait until they turn that little gym rat Turgeon loose in Baltimore,Washington DC, Philly…with bankroll.
    I think there was another guy from Topeka that did pretty well in ACC .

  5. bschloz says:

    Terps make a Great Hire
    I’ve always been a Turgeon fan. Loved watching him play the game..so smart and tough.
    His resume is stellar…I think he avg. like 24 wins @ FOOTBALL U.
    Now he gets to go to Maryland arguably one of the top 20 Basketball jobs on the planet.
    Wait until they turn that little gym rat Turgeon loose in Baltimore,Washington DC, Philly…with bankroll.
    I think there was another guy from Topeka that did pretty well in ACC .

  6. chuck says:

    Rome is a soporific drone.
    It is torture listening to him.

    We used to get Colin Cowherd on the radio here, can’t remember where. During the NFL season, I record “The Herd”.

    The guy is funny, seriously funny, imo.

  7. smartman says:

    Baby-Baby-Baby
    Turgeon and Rex Walters are my two all time favorite white KU players. Good move for him! All he has to do is WIN and he’s a hero. I don’t think the east coast ballers are gonna wanna get within an Escalade of his style of play so it’s gonna be a tough row to hoe. Ain’t gonna be no White Shadow happy ending to this story.

    He’ll coach at KU when Motley Crue makes Justin Bieber their new lead singer.

    It’s good to dream. I wish him well but I think he’s walkin’ into a freakin’ nightmare.

  8. John says:

    Rome is done.
    Haven’t tuned into Rome’s show since the “Tour Stop.”

    To me, Rome is a product of the ’90s. He was sports talk’s shock jock. He was cool and funny in the days when it was cool and funny for Howard Stern to throw balony at a woman’s ass.

    Those days are gone.

    Personally, I always thought he was lazy. Have a guest on a show once an hour everyday for 10 min. Ask generic questions. Have callers make long rambling speeches and repeat five days a week.

    Shock Jocks are a thing of the past and I’m sure Rome’s rating reflect that.

  9. smartman says:

    Hee Haw
    Where or where is Jimmy tonite. I just watched Hosmer strike out at home. Ol Mo Rivera served him some heaters he swung at the last one and oops he was gone.

  10. Guy Who Says What Others Think says:

    As usual, Hall dead wrong about anything concerning MU
    “Franklin has the deepest and most-talented corps of receivers returning in the Pinkel era.” Are you completely fucking retarded Hall? MU’s returning receiving corps isn’t even on the same PLANET as the corps of receivers for the 2007 season. Martin Rucker, Chase Coffman, Danario Alexander, & Jeremy Maclin. All 4 of those guys at least had a cup of coffee in the NFL. Come on Hall. I’d ask you to stick to something you know (NU football history) but no one gives a shit about that around here anymore.

  11. Mike says:

    The nature of talk has evolved.
    I think the nature of radio talk has evolved to the point where I think the single-host, single-voice model of sports show is now completely outdated.
    Look at some of the top or rising to the top of talk shows locally and nationally.

    The Dan Patrick Show is a really fun listen. DP gets his ‘Dan-ette’s’ involved, so it feels more like an ensemble cast than it does a single-voice show.

    Locally, The Border Patrol and The Program do a good job of making it feel like an ensemble effort is put into these shows…the same goes for KK’s BTL.
    I don’t know enough about 610’s lineup, but to me, they seem to gravitate toward the single-voice show, with the exception of Bob in the morning, since he appears to have a couple of folks to play off of.
    Rome’s schtick of ‘More of me, none of you’ could be to blame for an increasingly passive audience interest, especially from the casual listeners who wouldn’t consider themselves ‘clones’.

    I know I’ve tuned him out. Maybe it’s because I’ve grown, but his show hasn’t grown with me.

    And ESPN Radio has their own set of issues. Cowherd’s show model is of the single-voice. It’s working right now, to a degree. I wouldn’t say he’s ‘hilarious’ though. Sometimes I think he’s incredibly disingenuous and not totally honest with some of his viewpoints, sometimes just to create shock value. Mike and Mike, to me, seems forced and contrived at times, which bores me. And they don’t get their support cast involved, either, in an on-air contributor sense. ESPN has created this antiseptic brand of sportstalk which lacks any edginess whatsoever. And it seems that they have incredibly long commercial breaks. Unnecessarily long. I listen to the DP show a lot, and they don’t seem to have as long of downtime, which I like. That, and the show sounds more organic, with a bit of tawdriness mixed in. Which is something that I like in the local shows too.

    It’s not a science, really. If you look at the ensemble model of radio, you can trace the success of the ensemble model of radio in the modern era back to Howard Stern. And no, this isn’t a crank post. More shows on-air with a cast who sounds like they’re having fun, cracking wise, and being honest with themselves and their audience has a better chance of getting my ear than a pompous single-voice show.

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