Williams Is USA Today Cover Story
11/2/2001 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 2, 2001
by Jill Lieber, USA Today
Read this story on the USA Today website
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- After waiting 23 years for his first Final Four appearance, then watching his Maryland Terrapins squander a 22-point lead and lose to Duke in the semifinals, Gary Williams should have wanted to rip out his heart on the Metrodome floor, cry an ocean of tears, then crawl into a cave.
He is one of college basketball's most notoriously intense coaches. He stalks the sideline like the Tasmanian Devil on amphetamines, with a sharp tongue and wide open sweat glands. By game's end, he looks as if he has showered in his clothes.
But last March 31, several hours after the biggest game of his career, he was crawling on a Minneapolis hotel room floor in his soaked designer suit, helping his then-16-month-old grandson David Scott play with miniature toy cars.
"Finally, at 1:30 a.m., I said, 'Dad, I've really got to put this kid to bed,' " said Williams' daughter, Kristin Scott, David's mother. "Looking back, David was great Duke therapy."
For the entire Gary Williams feature story, click here to view the USA Today website.
