05/22/2009
Maryland will announce Vanderbilt assistant Erik Bakich as its new head coach, sources confirmed on Saturday.
Bakich's announcement as the new coach for the Terrapins could come as early as Monday. Sources close to the situation revealed on Saturday that Bakich and Maryland officials were close to nailing down final details of a contract. The deal, as of Sunday, is done.
"We will miss his energy and tenaciousness at Vanderbilt. That combination is what made him so successful at Vanderbilt. He will carry that to Maryland,Ó Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. ÒHe has a belief that he can accomplish anything and the kids always seemed to love him. He just has an infectious personality. That's why I picked him up to join our coaching staff when he was 24."
Bakich's addition to the Maryland program is a good one. He spent seven seasons at Vanderbilt, where he helped coach Tim Corbin orchestrate highly ranked recruiting classes on a consistent basis. Bakich also is known as a very hard-nosed coach that expects maximum effort from his players.
He had previous coaching stints at Clemson and East Carolina. Bakich was a volunteer coach at Clemson and a strength and conditioning coach at ECU.