Only one difference, actually. In retrospect, I would definitely put Ohio St. ahead of Georgetown. I've edited my original list to reflect this.
In a ranking of the most prestigious college basketball programs since 1984-1985 (which would include the entire Gary Williams era, his entire predecessor, and the end of the Driesell era), ESPN placed Maryland 28th. Sounds about right. Since this list is 3 years old, and the 3 years since consisted of 2 second-round losses and missing the postseason altogether, I doubt they would be higher now. (
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3501739)
Most of the things that people are trumpeting in Maryland's favor are potential-based items. Having a bevy of local talent doesn't mean anything if you can't capitalize on it. Georgetown, Syracuse, Pitt, and Villanova all do a better job in their local area than does Maryland. By this logic, schools like USC, Miami, Florida St., TCU, etc. would all be elite jobs.
Likewise, having an arena and fervent fan base does indeed make a job more attractive than it otherwise would be, and it does help keep the salary competitive, but those things don't matter if you can't win enough. New Mexico has a great arena and a rabid fan base - does anyone consider New Mexico a Top 15 job?
Lastly, offering a Top 15 salary does not make a job Top 15. Tubby gets paid a Top 15 salary (or at least close, I'm not 100% sure). Does anyone want to make the argument that Minnesota is a Top 15 job, or anything close to it?
Maryland has a lot of advantages, but they haven't translated into a consistently upper-tier program. They went to a Final Four and won a title the following year, but they haven't really done much outside of that two-year run. Failing to make it out of the first round most years (and not even making the Tournament many years) does not make you a Top 15 program. Pretty much every BCS conference program has the potential to be Top 15 with the right coach, but potential doesn't make it so.
When true Top 15 jobs come open, they hire a sitting BCS, NBA, or elite mid-major coach who is wildly in demand. Often, these are head coaches from other Top 15 programs. Take a look at this list of Top 15 hires within the last 15 years:
UCLA - Ben Howland (Pitt)
Kansas - Bill Self (Illinois)
UNC - Roy Williams (Kansas)
Kentucky - John Calipari (Memphis)
Indiana - Tom Crean (Marquette)
Texas - Rick Barnes (Clemson)
Arizona - Sean Miller (Xavier)
Louisville - Rick Pitino (Celtics)
Ohio St. - Thad Matta (Xavier)
The exceptions are Pitt and Florida, who I would argue were not Top 15 jobs when their incumbents took over, and have been made into Top 15 jobs by said coaches. The ones that haven't hired in the last 15 years (Duke, UConn, Syracuse, and Michigan St.) are all coached by current or future HOFers.
How about we make this the decider? If Maryland hires a sitting BCS/NBA/elite mid-major head coach who is highly in demand, I will admit that I'm wrong and we can all hold hands and call it a Top 15 job. Instead, when they hire a random assistant or mid-major coach that the average college basketball fan has ever heard of, you Top 15ers must come back and admit that I and my cohorts were right the whole time. Sound like a deal?
