For the second time this offseason, an SEC institution is looking for a new head coach after Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams was announced as the new head coach of the Maryland Terrapins on Tuesday.

Williams followed Texas’ Rodney Terry in creating an opening after Terry was fired by UT after a lackluster season that ended in the NCAA Tournament First Four.

The decision came as a surprise to many as several SEC coaches, including Oklahoma’s Porter Moser or Ole Miss’ Chris Beard, seemed at risk of being poached by bigger jobs, but Williams entered the offseason off most team’s radars.

This changed however, when Villanova opted to fire Head Coach Kyle Neptune, who disappointingly missed the NCAA Tournament once again, failing to fill the shoes left by legendary coach Jay Wright.

Nova poached Kevin Willard from Maryland in controversial fashion as Willard’s Terrapins were in the midst of an NCAA Tournament push of their own. The Terps went down in the Sweet Sixteen to No. 1 Florida, which recently clinched a Final Four bid.

With Maryland forced to scramble amidst a lack of high-priority coaching targets, Williams, who reportedly expressed interest, seemed like a safe pick.

Williams, a native of Texas, came to Texas A&M from the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) after coaching the Virginia Tech Hokies for five seasons.

After a rough first season in 2014-15, Williams led the Hokies to the NIT and then three straight NCAA Tournaments, making the Sweet Sixteen in 2019 with a 26-9 record. This season landed him the job in College Station back in his home state at an institutions he’d once been an assistant at. Williams was an assistant from 2004-06 with Head Coach Billy Gillispie before the latter’s brief tenure at Kentucky.

Taking over the Aggies, a program that had never been past the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen, Williams had a rough start to his tenure with poor seasons in 2020 and 2021, but, similar to his tenure at Virginia Tech, things picked up after an NIT appearance. This time, in 2022, Williams led the Aggies to be runners-up of the tournament.

Since then, Texas A&M has never missed the NCAA Tournament, sneaking in during the 2024 season thanks to an SEC Tournament win over Kentucky.

Despite that, the Aggies, under Williams, never made it past the second round of the big dance, falling to Michigan this past season.

While Williams’ job was never in doubt, Aggies fans began to grow restless as he was never able to get over the hump in College Station. As such, Williams opted to return to where he found the most success and accepted the Maryland job.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the deal at Maryland is for six years.

There is not a set replacement in mind for Texas A&M at this time.