By Emily R. Condon

The Turgeonites: a University of Maryland tradition, according to The Pride. The group that has dressed up at basketball games to resemble Head Coach Mark Turgeon since 2011 is coming to a crossroads after Turgeon’s departure from UMD athletics.

“As far as our future goes? Our fans will have to wait and see,” said Zach Arter, a senior economics major who leads the group. “The Turgeonites have only one message: we’re not leaving.”

On Dec. 3, it was announced by Maryland Athletics that they and Mark Turgon had “mutually agreed to part ways”. 

Sitting behind his bench, the “Turgeonites” that dressed to resemble Turgeon danced along with the dance and cheerleading teams and had unique chants. Now, with Turgeon’s resignation from the program, the group is left to determine their future course of continuing or ending a Maryland tradition.

The group was initially founded in 2011 when Turgeon started coaching the men’s basketball team. Members of the Catholic Student Center, an organization on campus that Turgeon has been an involved donor for, decided to cheer on the basketball team while thanking Turgon for his support.

Josh Fatzinger, a class of 2014 kinesiology major and current full time campus missionary at the CSC, was one of the first members of the Turgeonites. His friends Jamie Morris and Cory Frontin, also class of 2014, were what he called “the masterminds” of the idea and invited him to join.

“He had big shoes to fill: Gary Williams. So we were hoping to welcome him and encourage the rest of the study body to do the same,” Fatzinger said.

For Fatzinger, the beginning and possible ending of the Turgeonites is coming full circle. One of the members in the beginning of this year was Dom Fatzinger, senior government and politics major, and Josh’s younger brother. Josh Fatzinger’s two year old son, JJ, would also dress up in a suit with the Turgeonites.

“It’s almost a perfect and poetic closure to a great tradition,” Fatzinger said. Then he joked, “I told Dom he has to transfer out now that Turgeon is leaving.”

For the current members, seniors Stephen McNierney, Konrad Shire, Connor Dinallo, John Woolfley, Arter and Fatzinger and juniors Austin Antico and Nic Bradley, this news has been upsetting.

Arter said he was “upset but not surprised. It was no secret that Turgeon was losing the support of his fans these past few seasons due to our lackluster performance.”

The  Dec. 5 game versus Northwestern kicked off with the group making an appearance in the suits they normally wore. With a special twist, they arrived in black ties and dark sunglasses to symbolize what Arter called “a funeral and our sorrows from the news.” 

With the announcement of Danny Manning being named the interim head coach, McNierney, an aerospace engineering major, joked about “the rise of the manningnites” in the ‘CatholicTerps on Campus’ GroupMe. 

“I don’t know if we’re actually going to keep that name but will probably work on a rebrand over break,” he said.