Mark Turgeon isn't oblivious. The Maryland basketball coach knows there's a vocal and sizable segment of fans online who are critical of him and his team, regardless of its 16-4 record.
"Number one, social network or whatever, it's crazy-ville. I don't pay attention. I know when I'm out in public, 98 percent of the people appreciate what I'm doing. They don't get on and read all the negative stuff. And they see the positives of 16-4 and ranked and all that kind of stuff," Turgeon said Wednesday on The Kevin Sheehan Show. "That's just the way the world is today. It's unfair. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like the people who get on and talk about our players. I don't read it about myself, but it's BS. And it puts too much pressure on our guys.
"What I go through, it's part of [the job]. I don't like people talking about me in a certain way. I don't read, but I hear about it. I think I'm an excellent coach. I think I do a good job. I think I'm a good person. I think I'm a really good coach for young people today. I think I've adapted with the times and I think that's what important. Am I the greatest coach of all time? Absolutely not, I understand that. I'm a good self-evaluator."
Building confidence has been a consistent theme in Turgeon's comments this season. That's partially because of online criticism, he said."It's something that I never thought about when I got into coaching, that I'd have to deal with, with my young people. But we talked about it after practice yesterday but we're doing some stuff with our team with confidence building ... It's a never ending deal," he said. "My whole deal, and you've been watching my press conferences, since Christmas [is] because of social network and people just slamming guys all the time, my No. 1 job is just building confidence with my players. And making sure they play with confidence. And it never stops."
Turgeon said his real-life interactions with fans are far different than what some of them write online.
"Our building's been full. We didn't have students for three games and our building was 90 percent full, so I know people are in love with this team and with what we're doing. My son had surgery, I was at a hospital and people are walking out of all these offices to come say hello to me, so people appreciate what we're doing."
Sheehan pointed out that the Maryland fan base is different than most Big Ten fan bases because it has the personality of a professional sports market, as opposed to the more rah-rah college vibes of most of the conference's other schools."And you know, you look around Kevin, there's not many teams in big cities that are ranked in the top 25. So we're doing something right here. It's a grind," Turgeon said.
"I've got a great relationship with God. It keeps me even keel. It helps me stay positive with myself and with my team and stay confident. We're not gonna win every game. We're gonna try to win every game. We're not gonna play great every game. But I tell you what, we're fighting like crazy, man. We let one get away at Wisconsin. 'World's coming to and end. Coach Turgeon's the worst coach ever,'" he said.
Maryland (16-4 overall, 6-3 Big Ten) climbed as high as No. 3 in the AP Poll earlier this season before losing four out of seven games. Now ranked 15th, Turgeon's squad has won three in a row heading into tonight's game against No. 18 Iowa (preview).
"You know the one thing about this team we were probably a little overrated to start. You don't want to say that [at the time] and you want to just keep plugging away, and we've had some changes on the team. We've changed completely the way we're playing and the way we thought we were gonna play," he said. "You know, you go through all kinds of stuff and with that said, we're playing the eighth toughest schedule in the country so far and we're 16-4. So I'm realistic. I don't go crazy when we lose I don't go crazy when we win. I'm happy when we win, I'm down when we lose but I don't overreact. if I did overreact we wouldn't be 16-4.
"So it is what it is. It's a great league. We beat Indiana and it's like, 'Oh my God, when are we gonna win our next one?' The schedule's so difficult. So I feel like I have a few guys playing better, playing with great confidence. And then I was working a couple guys yesterday, you know, meetings before practice, meetings after practice, during practice there's a couple guys on our team that I think aren't playing to their capability who I think can really help us.
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"But my thing is just stay the course. Our league is terrific. Just win as many games as we can. get us playing the right way. I love the way we're playing right now," he said.
"I'm really proud of this team and what we're doing right now and how they've responded to two ugly losses."
Turgeon also revealed a new anecdote about Jalen Smith's verbal fight with Indiana fans after Maryland's one-point win Sunday at Assembly Hall.
"The building was just livid. You know that building's a special building and maybe there were some classless people talking to our players. We had a number of players yelling at that corner section down there. Not only Jalen," he said. "I thought I got it under control and then CBS Sports asks me and Stix to do an interview. And then he starts stomping on the court, the flag, and I was like OK, this has got to stop. And I looked at the CBSS guys and they said just get out of here."
But he'll happily trade that minor indiscretion for the All-American level basketball Smith has been playing.
"So he lost his mind, but no, it's great to see Jalen playing at the level. You know earlier this year I was like, 'This is my NBA guy? What's going on here? I'm not doing a good job with him. I've got to build confidence with this kid. I've got to get him playing the way he's capable.'
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"Even the last play on offense [at Indiana], when he got bumped, he would've fell down three weeks ago and they would've called traveling on him . Instead he has balance, he bounces the ball with his left and he goes up eight inches above the rim and lays it down against a really good athlete in [Justin] Smith. So, you know, that's just confidence that's great to see. Wiggs, his confidence is coming back. Anthony's been terrific all year. Eric Ayala, you can see him coming slowly but surely, he's starting to get back to the old Eric Ayala."
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