Maryland men's basketball head coach Buzz Williams on year two, Pharrel Payne's return, arrival of DJ Wagner

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Head coach Buzz Williams joined the BTN set during Big Ten Media Day on Thursday afternoon with the 2026-27 regular season less than one month away. Williams talks about what he’s learned, the return of Pharrel Payne, arrival of DJ Wagner and more:

On learning from year one

“So much strategic change, and what we want to do operationally, what we want to do on the floor, off the floor. As difficult as it was, there's been so much. Even before playing the next time in year two, we've all learned so much, and the staff, the administration, all of the adaptations and adjustments has been really good.”

On the lessons

“At some point you're always going to go through it. And it forces you to diagnose every single category, not just of your coaching, not just of your teaching, but all parts. And so, from a reset standpoint, from a systematic standpoint, from a workflow standpoint, it makes you think of every single part and how can you make it better. And the energy that has come from that, because of the staff's willingness to learn from it, we've just had extreme ownership. And every day we're learning from the systems that we've changed with the new team that we have. They're unaware of what happened, except for the four returning players, and three of those four guys really didn't play much for a variety of reasons. So every day has been so great in regards to what we're learning because we're improving on those systems. And it's October the 8th, so it's been great.”

On the return of Pharrel Payne

“He's one of the better human beings I've ever had a chance to coach. His person, his spirit, and his ability to lead, even when he wasn't playing, has been transformative in his life. And just the example that he is and what the era of college athletics has become, his loyalty to come with us to Maryland, his loyalty to stay relative to his value to our program and what he's going to bring to us this season, just will always have a special place in my heart for who [Pharrel Payne] is.”

On Andre Mills’ development

“Some of the things that he did for us were incredibly good, but also somewhat inefficient. But it was because we were asking him to do something that he really wasn't quite prepared for. And in defense of Dre and his family, we were asking him to be something different than what we anticipated he was going to have to be. He was a redshirt freshman the year before, and now we're asking him on many nights. Maybe you can get a drink of water if you don't need one, or even if you do need one, you still may not sub out. And because we don't have anybody else all the time that can score, for him to do what he did and play with the competitive spirit that he played with, I think that long term that experience will end up being beneficial to him for his career.”

On what the new additions add to the roster, what traits were prioritized

“Six experienced guys came with us, four high school players, and then we signed one junior college player. So we have 11 new players. And as all of this was unfolding, our staff was remarkable in developing a system, knowing that we were going to need to sign another team, and the first thing, coaches, I want to be around them. That was an intangible metric that we had to find ways through research. Who are these young men that are going to join us? Because I think whether you win, whether you lose – not the outcome, but the process of what it is every single day. The character of the people matter the most. And our staff was perfect in their evaluation and the research they had on those 11 guys. Excited every day to see them. I think, for the most part, they may say that about our staff as well. And so that allows the rate of growth to be even more expedited because we enjoy being around one another.”

On the 25th anniversary of the ‘02 national championship team

“I haven't yet mentioned it to our team, but we will make sure that they understand the historical perspective of all of that. In our time there, whatever it's been, 17 months, Coach [Gary] Williams has been the absolute best. Not just the team that you're referencing, but any player that played for Coach, the best players, the ones that kept playing, the ones whose career ended at Maryland. I think that's part of what has made Maryland so good for so long is the support. And Coach Williams has just been phenomenal for someone that I can learn from, not only as a coach but also specific to Maryland.”

On new Maryland PG DJ Wagner

“I only knew about [DJ Wagner] from our time prior to here because he was either at Kentucky or Arkansas. I really didn't know a lot about his past. And then when it happened in the portal, he and his mom and brother were on campus for ten hours. He has the most infectious spirit of any person I've ever coached. But all of the recruiting, he was this, he was that. Honestly, I was unaware of it, and that's why I don't call him DJ anymore. He has a new name. This is a new start for him. This is a new chapter in his life. Things that I should have known about, things that he has been through, good or bad – this is a brand new opportunity for him and I anticipate he'll have the best year he's had.”

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