UMD Bob Wade

[Uncle Drew]

While watching the Maryland vs. Duke game last night I was reminded of a situation involving UMD that some of you may be aware of and some of you may not. Most of us remember the "heads will roll" mentality after Len Bias died and Lefty was sent packing. For those who don't remember, Maryland hired Dunbar high school coach Bob Wade to take over the program. Plenty of people questioned hiring a high school coach to take over the program of a major university in a major conference. However Dunbar, at least back in the day was a school where parents from across the nation sent their kids to get better at basketball and hopefully make a college team and the NBA. (Mt. Zion for example.)
The powers that be thought since Wade had lots of local ties in the Baltimore area and was black he could steer a lot of recruits to UMD they had been missing out on over the years. For what ever reason Bob Wade just couldn't get it done on the court and MD fielded some average teams at best. Many felt that after the shambles the program was in he wasn't given enough time to turn things around including Bob Wade. So followig a minor violation incident UMD let Bob Wade go. And while Gary Williams looks like a great and logical hire now, the African American community was not happy about a black man being fired and being replaced by a white guy, alum or not.
What a lot of people don't realize is how hard Bob Wade held his firing against UMD and apparently still does to this day. After his termination he helped coach AAU teams and had other "jobs" on the high school level helping players improve their basketbal skills. Over the years Bob Wade has done his best to steer any player he had access to AWAY from UMD. Think of the players who are from or played in Maryland / Baltimore over the past ten years. Rudy Gay, Carmello Anthony Melvin Scott and recently Donte Greene were all urged to attend any other school than UMD by Wade and they listened.
While it's probably best for Duke and the rest of the ACC UMD can't even recruit in their own backyard. (For quite a while any NC high school player would have never considered Duke or Wake until UNC and NCSU had passed on them.) I think it's ironic that College Park and UMD are viewed as "white establishment" in and around Baltimore, much the way Duke is viewed as "white elitist" in the Durham community. I for one am amazed Wade has held a grudge this long and continues to try and punish UMD to this day. If only Matt Dougherty had any pull in the high school ranks and would start to try and get back at his alma mater!

[wilko]

Can we send Bob a Duke t-shirt?

[Uncle Drew]

Can we send Bob a Duke t-shirt?

I think he already has one that says, SMEAR THE TURTLE! :D

[gw67]

Latta - Some parts that you left out. The President at Maryland at that time was a fellow named Slaughter. He interjected himself into the hiring of the next coach by consulting with Maryland favorite, John Thompson of Georgetown. Thompson recommended Wade who was a good friend of his. The fact that Wade had no college experience was irrelevant to Slaughter who later was also pushed out of his job. Wade seemed like a good guy but was not the choice of the AD, had very poor relations with alums who support the program and seemed to me to be over his head. He inherited some good players and his teams were OK. The infraction wasn't that big a deal but his lying about it was. Maryland threw him under the bus and he obviously resents it. Dixon and Booth are Baltimore kids and they are mending the fences with others. Ernie Graham now shows up at games and apparently is on good terms with the coaching staff.

gw67

[TheTrain]

Lying to the NCAA about providing transportation to Rudy Archer almost provided Maryland with the death penalty......as far as I am concerned, Bob Wade got off easy..he was a liar and a thug.....there was a lot that went unreported that went on in that program when he was there...on this board, I probably know better than anyone else as my father was the chief advertising sponsor of the program during that period....I knew all the players involved oh too well

As for kids from Baltimore not going to Maryland....much of that is old news

Their top recruit for next year is Sean Mosley from Baltimore St. Francis
Freshmen this year include Braxton Dupree from Baltimore Calvert Hall and Dino Gregory form Baltimore Mount St. Josephs

In fact of the last 8 players to commit to Maryland, 6 of the 8 are from the Baltimore Washington area

Also remember that Maryland competes with Georgetown for Baltimore / DC kids as well....they have lost several battles to the Hoyas recently including Chris Braswell, Henry Sims, Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, DeJuan Summers and Vernon Macklin

As for the Baltimore public school kids, most of them cannot be admitted to the University...while they may not be Duke for admissions, they aren't FSU either

And don't getme started on Jim Calhoun's recruitment of Rudy Gay.......Calhoun is right there with Tark and Sampson when it comes to ethics