If you haven’t already, please go ahead and stop refreshing rivals.com. Show’s over, folks.

It’s been pretty much known for a while that Lance Stephenson would not be coming to College Park. But ever since a surprise visit to Comcast in January by the uber recruit, Terps fans couldn’t seem to quit the Coney Island product.

Formerly the last major recruit left unsigned, it now appears Stephenson’s odyssey has finally come to a merciful end in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Stephenson will be a Bearcat. For the Terps, this is not a bad thing.
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Athletics announced its second coaching move in two days with the hiring of Baylor’s assistant director of tennis, Kyle Spencer

Spencer, 33, was named the ITA National Assistant Coach of the Year last month and was an All-American doubles player at USC (1995-1998).

From the press release:

“Coach Spencer is a terrific fit for Maryland,” director of athletics Deborah A. Yow said. “He has been an integral part of a nationally-recognized program and we believe he will elevate our program to the same status over time.”

“I would like to thank Debbie Yow and her staff for this fantastic opportunity,” Spencer said. “I’m very excited to get the program moving forward. Not only does Maryland play in one of the top leagues in the country, but it also has a wonderful academic reputation. The facilities are first-class which should help in recruiting the top talent in the Maryland area.”

Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akrautdbk@gmail.com.

I had initially thought about including this news in my Sunday links, but decided it was actually worth a full post upon further review.

For those who follow ACC basketball (as I hope you all do if you read this blog), you probably already know that former Duke guard Elliot Williams announced he would be leaving Durham because of family medical reasons. He has already picked a new school and, as many predicted, that school is Memphis. Williams is a huge get for new coach Josh Pastner, but that is not what I want to focus on.

As you may remember last season, Williams, a freshman, began the season out of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s rotation, but eventually replaced now-departed Greg Paulus as the starting point guard and performed admirably.

After registering a DNP on February 15 against Boston College, Williams averaged 7.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game, all while being asked to bring the ball up and guard the opponent’s best perimeter player. Most pundits thought he would build on his stellar finish to the freshman campaign and take over the starting point guard job for the Blue Devils full time, but now he is gone.

How does that affect the Terrapin men’s basketball team? Read on to find out.

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On Saturday I wrote that the Terrapin baseball program was set to hire Vanderbilt assistant Erik Bakich as their new head coach, and now, it’s been confirmed.

Bakich becomes the sixth head coach in the history of the program, and inherits a team that finished 27-27, 10-21 ACC in the 2009 season. But Athletic Director Debbie Yow and Assistant AD/Baseball Supervisor Dan Trump are hoping that Bakich’s recruiting success with the Commodores translates similarly to the ACC.

Here is what Bakich had to see in the release:

“I am eager to attack the recruiting trail and start building a winning baseball tradition at Maryland. There are numerous parallels between Maryland and the Vanderbilt of seven years ago. Much like Vanderbilt, our first goal will be reaching the ACC Tournament and eventually becoming a perennial College World Series contender. From a recruiting standpoint, we will be relentless in securing our borders around the state of Maryland and Northern Virginia, as well as tapping into the deep recruiting resources of the Northeast and Pennsylvania. I look forward to establishing a relationship with the current high school baseball coaches throughout the state of Maryland, former Maryland players, alumni and all the Terps fans across the nation.”

That should be music to Yow and Trump’s ears.

The next question will be what Bakich plans to do with assistant coaches Jim Farr and Blaine Brown, both of whom are left over from the Terry Rupp era. Farr expressed interest in the head coaching position and was considered as a candidate for most of the two-month search period.

Bakich will undoubtedly work hard to secure next year’s recruiting class, but it will also be interesting to see what he does with the remainder of this year’s class. Farr mentioned that there were still some recruits on the fence he was hoping to convince to come to campus next year.

So, although a major question surrounding the program has now been answered, there is still plenty of work left to do before next February.

Michael Lemaire was The Diamondback’s 2009 Terrapin baseball beat writer. He can be reached at lemairedbk@gmail.com

It’s almost July, so there’s enough preseason college football conjecture out there to draw some way-too-early 2009 conclusions. As previously reported on Terrapin Trail, the initial verdict on this year’s Terps is not so hot — across the board.

Let’s run down six 2009 Terps’ preseason national/conference rankings:

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Ok so I am not sitting by the fire (shhh) but that doesn’t mean that I can’t provide our loyal readers with a plethora of Terp-related links to digest on this slow Sunday.

- Camille Powell at The Washington Post gives Terrapin women’s basketball fans a better look at newest commitment, Laurin Mincy. Mincy’s high school coach even compares her to former Terp star Marissa Coleman. Needless to say those are some big shoes to fill.

- In recent weeks I have been trying to get a hold of Terp outfielder A.J. Casario to see whether he would leave school to sign with the White Sox. Well he did, signing with the White Sox on June 23rd. Now he is playing for the White Sox…of Bristol, Va., but is off to slow start.

- Ralph Friedgen and the Terps football team landed another commitment a little more than a week ago in the form of TE/DE Nerman Delic of Dalton, Ga. Well the Baltimore Sun’s Matt Bracken caught up with Delic, turns out the 220-pounder has a real good story.

- Paul Myerberg, of the The New York Times college blog, The Quad, doesn’t like the Terp football team’s chances as much as the guys at Rivals did. It’s a lot of reading but it’s well done and in-depth. As usual with Terp previews, the offensive line question marks get beat to death.

- The Under-Armour All-American Lacrosse Classic was last night and, as usual, Inside Lacrosse magazine live-blogged both the girls and the guys game. It can be a slow read but there is a lot of good analysis interspersed throughout.

Well that’s all I got for this edition of the fireside links, I will try to make this a regular Sunday feature, so check back again next week for more of me…oh yeah, and links.

lemairedbk@gmail.com

On May 29, former Terrapin baseball head coach Terry Rupp submitted his resignation letter to Athletic Director Debbie Yow. Now, the Athletic Department is set to announce his replacement exactly two months later.

Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance/Baseball Supervisor Dan Trump confirmed today the Terps will have a new head coach on Monday, but declined to say who. But, earlier in the afternoon a department official said the new hire would be Vanderbilt University assistant coach Erik Bakich.

According to his bio on the Vanderbilt baseball website, Bakich just completed his seventh season as an assistant with the Commodores under head coach Tim Corbin. In addition to serving as the team’s outfield coach, Bakich oversees the team’s recruiting and is widely regarded as one of the nation’s premier recruiters.

Bakich has done most of his recruiting deeper in the South (although the Commodores roster features players from everywhere from California to Maine), he does have experience in the ACC.

He was a volunteer coach for Clemson in 2002 before leaving with Corbin, who was a assistant with the Tigers from 1994-202, to move to Nashville.

Stay tuned for more next week and make sure to check next Thursday’s edition of the Diamondback for the full story.

UPDATE: So I thought I was breaking this news but apparently Kendall Rogers, the college baseball editor for Rivals, actually beat me to it. I give credit where credit is due. Here is another link with opinion and information on the hire.

lemairedbk@gmail.com

…That’s right. We’ve got eyes everywhere. Last night in D.C., Lawson had a draft watch party (I think that’s what you call it) He was one of what seemed like a dozen point guards picked by Minnesota, but was later traded to Denver.

Anyway, former Diamondback staffer Jason Koebler – on very special assignment for his internship with Washingtonian Magazine – was in attendance and generous enough to give us these tidbits about Gist and Steve Francis, who made appearances.

You’ll recall that Gist was selected by the Spurs in last year’s draft before heading to play pro ball in Europe. San Antonio still holds his draft rights.

Clinton, Md., native and hated Tarheel point guard Ty Lawson went No. 18 in Thursday’s NBA draft, and Lawson threw a VIP party at D.C.’s Park on 14^th nightclub to celebrate the occasion. His guests included former Terp standouts James Gist and Steve Francis, oh, and I was there too.

Francis flew in from Houston specifically for the event according to Jeff Fried, who represents both Lawson and Francis. Stevie Franchise showed up well after Lawson was selected, and the two posed for some pictures while Francis offered Ty some fashion tips (“You need to buy yourself some Gucci”) and some words of encouragement.

Gist, drafted last year by the San Antonio Spurs No. 57 overall, has played basketball with Lawson since the two were in elementary school. Last year the Terp didn’t make the Spurs roster and played with Pallacanestro Biella in the Italian professional leagues. But Gist said this year he’s determined to have a reunion with his longtime friend.

“Sunday I’m going down to San Antonio to start working out,” he said. “Hopefully I get to play against Ty again. I’m going to play for the Spurs this year.”

Gist said he likes the way the Terps’ program is going, after making the NCAA tournament last season. “I always follow those guys and I always support them. They have something to build off of last year,” he said.

He also took a shot at No. 10 pick Brandon Jennings, who played for Lottomatica Roma after deciding to forego college. “I don’t ever like to say anything bad about anyone and I wish him the best of luck,” Gist said. “But we did beat them in the playoffs last year.” Let’s see if Gist is in the league next year for a rematch.

Some summer news has crawled out from the Terrapin soccer offices…

Count Potomac (Md.) Churchill forward Kevin Dansky as the 10th – yes, 10th – addition to Sasho Cirovski’s top-rated recruiting class for the class of 2009. Collegesoccernews.com ranks the group of incoming Terps as a five-star class, and Dansky is no scrub himself. The late addition scored 26 goals this season for Churchill en route to honors as the Gazette’s Player of the Year for the Washington Metropolitan area. I watched him play Alex Lee and Magruder in a losing effort during last year’s epic 4A West Final, and he’s certainly a talented player with a nose for the goal.

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