Reaction pours in after Harwood hiring
One day after MdVarsity.com broke the story that Dan Harwood, the enormously successful and well respected longtime Head Coach at Magruder High School will be taking over as the Head Coach at Good Counsel beginning with the 2005-2006 season, we went out to get reactions from some of the top local coaches who have coached against Dan Harwood and/or have a perspective on how quickly Harwood might build Good Counsel into a WCAC power:
GLENN FARELLO (Eleanor Roosevelt HS/Coached against Dan Harwood and Magruder HS in the Maryland 4A Championship Game in 2001):
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"Dan is a phenomenal coach and a great guy. He is very personable and very well liked and respected by his peers. We'll miss him in Maryland public school coaching. I have no doubt that he'll be very successful at Good Counsel. One of the things that I liked about Dan was that he not only won, his teams were always fun to watch- the way they moved the ball and shot the three-pointer. But he also gets his teams to play great defense and scrap and play hard. His teams were not always the most athletic, but they always play hard and play smart. It is interesting, with the Olympics going on now, you can see some similiarities between the Magruder teams and the best international teams in terms of how they play."
MIKE JONES (DeMatha/The WCAC powerhouse was upset by Magruder at last year's Morgan Wooten Hioliday Tournament at DeMatha):
"I think this is great for the WCAC. Getting a coach with Dan's reputation and ability is great for the league. He is going to make it a lot tougher for DeMatha and everyone else. Obviously, Dan can coach and it will be great to compete against him and his teams. He is a great guy, I'm very happy for Dan."
STEVE HOWES (Former Good Counsel player and assistant coach. Now the new Head Coach at Catholic University):
"As a former player and coach at Good Counsel, I'm excited that Dan is going to be leading the program. I'm confident he can restore the Falcon program to its glory days when it was a prominent program that so many of us worked hard to establish. Dan is a great person and a great coach and he has been very good to me as a young coach coming up. Hopefully he gets the basketball program back to where it was after it had been kind of neglected."
STEVE TURNER (Head Coach at WCAC power Gonzaga HS/former Montgomery County player at Blair HS):
"Dan is one of the best coaches in the area and he is going to put Good Counsel right up there where they were when they had players like Roger (Mason) and Chris (Monroe). Dan is someone that I have always looked up to and really respected as a person and as a coach. I think this is great for our league. I'll tell you what, I wish I could have played for a coach like Dan Harwood when I was a young kid coming up in high school."
DWAYNE BRYANT (Head Coach at Georgetown Prep/has built a very successful basketball program at a Montgomery County Catholic High
School):
"I'm glad for Dan. He is obviously one of the best high school coaches in the area, I think he is the best high schol coach in the area. It's great for Good Counsel to get a coach who is as good as Dan Harwood, not just from a coaching standpoint, but from a charactor standpoint. Good Counsel can only improve and get better with a coach like Dan."
KEITH ADAMS (Head Coach at Springbrook HS/has had a great Montgomery County 4A rivalry with Coach Harwood and Magruder):
"Dan leaving Magruder is a great loss for Montgomery County. Obviously, we are going to miss him at Magruder. I think Magruder will still be a good program, but I know we'll miss Dan's competitiveness. as a coach, you loved the challenge of going against him. For guys like Damon (Damon Pigrom of Blake HS) and myself, it was a great challenge coaching against a competitor like Harwood. I understand Dan's reasons for leaving, he'll get more time with the kids, more year-round access to his players. Hey, all of us coaches are competitors, the chance to coach in the WCAC is a great challenge, I don't blame Dan for going after that...he'll do a great job at Good Counsel. Dan could wind-up cornering the market on talent in Montgomery County. No one is going to out coach him, it will just be question of how soon he can get the players. The way that Dan is leaving Magruder works out for everyone, the seven months gives Magruder a chance to transition to a new coach. I still think Magruder will be good after he's gone. I got to say, as a fan, i think it will be fascinating watching Dan go to the WCAC. It is one of the best leagues in the country and he just made it better. I'm sorry to see Dan leaving the county, but I understand his reasons. he's a great guy and a great coach, I'm happy for him."
BILLY LANIER (Head Coach at Oxon Hill HS/one of Harwood's peers as one of the great coaches in Maryland 4A):
"This is a great loss to Maryland Public School basketball. Dan is one of the finest coaches in the state- public school or private school. I'm happy for Dan because I know that this is really something that he wanted to do and it has been in the works for a while. I know he's excited and looking forward to this challenge. The WCAC is a great conference and I can see Dan getting Good Counsel up there with DeMatha, Gonzaga, St. Johns, O'Connell...Dan can really coach, nobody is going to be out-coaching him and I think he'll get the kind of players that he wants. Like I said, I hate to see Dan leave the Maryland Public Schools, but I'm happy for him and I think he is really excited about this opportunity and challenge."
DAMON PIGROM (Head Coach at Blake HS/Montgomery County 4A Rival):
"I'm happy for Coach Harwood. I understand his thinking behind the move. Speaking for myself, someday I'd like to be in a position to coach in a situation where you can work with the kids all year round, spend more time working with your players. That is a big advantage for the private schools right now. I admit that I kind of envy the private school coaches in that regard. On the one hand, I'm happy for him, on the other hand, I'll miss coaching against him. Just like my players get psyched-up for playing Magruder, I got excited about competing against Dan. The Magruder games were always 'big time' games."
MIKE GLICK (Head Coach at Archbishop Spalding/grew up in the Aspen Hill area and followed Dan Harwood as a player at Robert Peary HS):
"I'm ecstatic for Dan. I think this is great for Dan, Good Counsel, and the whole WCAC. He is a great coach and a great person. I've followed him since he was a player at Peary HS and I was a kid in the fourth, fifth grade. I've always had the highest regard for him as a coach and as a person."
Jim Time:The respect and admiration that Coach Harwood's peers have for him is evident from the quotes above. It will be fascinating to watch him rebuild the Good Counsel Falcons into a WCAC power. Even though the Magruder Colonels lost all five starters from last year's regional final team, don't be surprised if Coach Harwood doesn't close out his Montgomery County public school career with one last great season up in Derwood, Maryland.
