Maryland Terrapins football under Jim Tatum
From 1947 to 1955, Jim Tatum served as the head coach of the Maryland Terrapins football team, which represented the University of Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college football. Maryland hired Tatum to replace Clark Shaughnessy after the 1946 season. Tatum had created both success and controversy during his one season as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners football team. During his nine-year tenure, Tatum became one of the most successful head football coaches in Maryland history, and the Terrapins compiled two national championships, three conference championships, and five bowl game appearances. His teams compiled a 73–15–4 record without a single losing season, and as of the end of 2016, he has the highest winning percentage of any Maryland football coach who coached at least seven games. In 1954, the University of Maryland appointed a new president, Dr. Wilson Elkins, who chose to de-emphasize football. Following the 1955 season, Tatum took a pay cut to coach at his alma mater, North Carolina, and he died four years later.
Maryland Terrapins men's basketball
The Maryland Terrapins announced Maryland alumnus Gary Williams as its next head coach on June 13, 1989. The basketball program and the Maryland athletic program as a whole were still reeling from the aftershock of the 1986 death of Maryland basketball star Len Bias and struggles under coach Bob Wade, a former high school coach from Baltimore. Williams was coming off a successful stint at Ohio State featuring one NCAA tournament appearance and two NIT appearances in three seasons. Williams played for Maryland as the starting point guard under coach Bud Millikan. He was a member of the 1966 Charlotte Invitational Tournament championship team and the 1965 Sugar Bowl Tournament championship team. He set a Maryland record for field goal percentage, going 8-for-8 from the field in an ACC game against South Carolina in 1966. (35 years later a Williams pupil, Lonny Baxter, would break that record, hitting all ten of his field goal attempts.) Williams was the Maryland team captain in 1967. He graduated in 1968 with a B.S. in Marketing.