Damon Evans pulls no punches in apparent response to Kevin Willard's travel and schedule "excuses"
"...So, there's some really, really good things, but we've got to take care of – if you want to be a great team and you want to solidify yourself in the NCAA brackets, you got to win on the road..."
In Maryland athletics, all eyes are on the men's basketball team as they hope to notch their first road win of the season.
The Terps (14-5, 4-4 Big Ten), who have lost their first four games on the road by a combined 17 points, are in Champaign
to take on No. 17 Illinois on Thursday night. Not only are they in search of their first road win since Feb. 25, 2024 (a 17-point win at Rutgers), they are looking to
add to a lacking resume that has
bracket experts questioning their place in the field of 68.
Maryland has just one Quadrant One win as of Thursday morning, though it just entered the top tier by a thread; Ohio State has since moved to No. 30 in the NET after winning at Purdue. While the Terps have a few games that will fluctuate between the first and second quadrants, they can leave no doubt with a road win over Illinois on Thursday.
Coach Kevin Willard has spoken often about how hard it is to win away from home.
"I've said this for as long as I've been a coach, sometimes your schedule will dictate how you play. And you cannot let your schedule affect how you get better and what your goal is overall. And we've had a definitely, a tough go. Nebraska's had a tough go. Northwestern played Sunday at noon against
Michigan State, we played Monday night at 9 and had to travel. And people say well, that's not that big of a deal, what's the difference? That gives a team a whole -- one team is coming off a bye week and has a whole, another day of rest and preparation,"
Willard said last week.
"Fans don't care about it, your administration doesn't care about it, Twitter doesn't care about it, Facebook, I don't care what it is. They don't give a shit. So, the biggest thing is just getting them to understand it, because I'm just another spoiled guy that's just bitching and moaning about the schedule. And I'm OK with that."
But Maryland athletic director Damon Evans seemed to be delivering a message to his coach during an interview with
"Vinny & Haynie" on 105.7 The Fan for his weekly spot Wednesday.
What Evans said about that, how deep the Big Ten is, why Maryland needs to start believing it can make the College Football Playoff and more:
ON THE EXCUSES OF THE WEST-TO-EAST AND EAST-TO-WEST COAST TRAVEL
"I don't believe in excuses. You have a schedule. We all know what the schedule is. And flying from the West Coast to the East Coast, we've had sports that have been doing that for years. This is not the first time that these things have happened. I'm not going to say that there's some things that you don't have to adjust to and adapt to. You're flying out there on a charter plane, four-to-five hours, you land, you get yourself together. So, you make the necessary adjustments. Making up excuses, we all knew what we were getting to in when we expanded this conference, and so I'm just not an excuse guy.
I'm not going to make up excuses. I'm not going to use travel as a reason why we're not winning. I'm not going to use the way that the schedule set up as a reason that we're not winning. There are a lot of factors that contribute when a team doesn't win, and sometimes we want to pick out the things – and I'm talking about people collectively – just want to focus on certain things … I got to focus on, if it's me, how do we get better? How do we figure the situation out that is before us, and prepare ourselves in the right manner to do so?"
MORE ON WINNING ON THE ROAD
"I hear all the stuff about how hard it is to win on the road. I get that, but you got to win on the road. We all play on the road. Every team in this conference plays the same number of road games, and so at the end of the day, we have got to win on the road. And I think once we get over the hump, then that builds some confidence and will give us momentum. We go into Illinois, and I don't want to go say that – we all know it's going to be a tough place to play, we all know they're a tough team – but I want to be able to say so are we, and that we got to be able to go in there and take care of business. We did it last year, so I believe we can do it again."
ON HIS IMPRESSION OF THE TEAM 19 GAMES IN, GETTING OVER THE HUMP ON THE ROAD
"Well, I've seen some really good things from this team. When you take a look at what
Ja'Kobi Gillespie has been able to do, he's been a great addition for us.
Rodney Rice has been a great addition as well as
Selton Miguel, and JuJu has played well and our freshman DQ is playing extremely well. There's sometimes where we falter some. You like to see them play well all at the same time because if that happens and that happens on a consistent basis, this will be a tough, tough, tough team to deal with. So, there's some really, really good things, but we've got to take care of – if you want to be a great team and you want to solidify yourself in the NCAA brackets, you got to win on the road.
ON HOW DEEP THE BIG TEN IS
"Yeah, there is no layup when it comes to the schedule here. I think there's a lot of parity within our league. I think you see a league like the SEC, which is a phenomenal league in basketball. But when you take a look at us from top to bottom, there just doesn't seem to be those games that you point to and say, 'OK, that's an easy win.' I want to give an example. Minnesota beat Michigan. You just stated that Ohio State beat Purdue. USC goes into Illinois and beats Illinois. So, these things are not easy to overcome, and we've got to figure it out so and we've got to navigate this conference knowing how it is. And when you look at the road wins and losses, that's where teams will separate themselves in the Big Ten."
ON HOW HE WOULD ASSESS THE OFFSEASON FOR THE FOOTBALL TEAM
"Well, I like the efforts that we've made in the portal. I think that Locks and his staff have done some good things. But at the end of the day, you guys, you don't actually know until they get here. I mean, I've seen teams that have gone out and spent a lot of money in the portal that have not done very well. I've seen teams that have gone out and got really, really talented kids and have not performed well. And then on the other side, I've seen some teams go out and have great portal success. It's still about getting the right pieces and making sure that those pieces fit and work together. You got to have the strategy. You're going to have the talent, but if those pieces don't fit – and I remember Nick Saban saying on College Gameday, you can go out and spend money, but he said something to the fact of, 'You better get the right people.' So, what I read, things sound good. What I hear, what I see, things sound good. But the proof will be in the pudding when they get here on the campus and play together and how they fit."
ON OHIO STATE WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP, INDIANA IN THE 12-TEAM FIELD BRINGING HOPE TO MARYLAND
"Well, first I want to congratulate Ohio State on the national championship. It's good to have a Big Ten member win the national championship. Back-to-back years for the Big Ten and making sure that we stake our claim in this ever-evolving world of intercollegiate athletics, especially with a sport like football. I'm trying to get to away – it's great to see what an institution like Indiana was able to accomplish. A lot of people put us in that same level of an Indiana.
CONT. ON THE 12-TEAM PLAYOFF
"So, I got to get away from the hope, and we have to start believing that we can make it to a 12-team playoff. It provides a lot more opportunity to get there than a four-team format does. So, it starts with believing. It starts with putting together the right strategy and having that supporting structure to carry out that strategy. And so, I do like the opportunities that are ahead of us. But half the battle is believing that you can get it done, and we got to focus on believing we can do it and that we belong."
