Maryland Basketball: Examining the pros and cons of hiring Juan Dixon

If you pride yourself on keeping up with all news surrounding Big Ten basketball, you should know that Mark Turgeon is no longer the head men’s basketball coach at the University of Maryland. According to a statement released by Maryland Basketball on December 3rd, 2021, Mark Turgeon and the Terrapins agreed to part ways “after a series of conversations” between Turgeon and Damon Evans (the Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics at Maryland).

For the time being, Danny Manning will assume head coaching responsibilities, but there are several coaches around the country who will be competing for the job at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season. To be completely honest, I was in total shock when I first heard that Turgeon was moving on from Maryland after 11 seasons with the program, but after giving it some thought, I realized that his resignation came at the perfect time.

The fact that Maryland had five wins when Turgeon exited the program was amazing, considering that the Terrapins easily could have been 3-5 heading into their December 5th contest against Northwestern. If Hofstra and Richmond had finished off Maryland when they had the chance to, the Terrapins would’ve had a sub-.500 record going into their Big Ten opener. Instead, the Mark Turgeon-led Terrapins escaped with two narrow victories, but their unimpressive performances convinced the Associated Press that they were unworthy of a top 25 ranking moving forward.

The Terrapins are 1-1 under Danny Manning this season, but I don’t think that he’s the long-term answer for the program. According to Stadium basketball analyst, Jeff Goodman, Juan Dixon is a coach that has emerged as a candidate for the head coaching position, but do I think he has the ability to take over Maryland’s program right now? Well, you will find out the answer to that question once I finish examining the pros and cons of hiring the Maryland alum in this article.