For the third time in five years, Maryland coach John Tillman was left empty-handed and a little hollow on the inside, too.
The Terps' 10-5 loss to Denver in the NCAA Division I tournament final on Memorial Day at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia marked the third time during Tillman's tenure that they had fallen short of capturing a long-awaited national title that has eluded them since 1975. And as he had done after setbacks to Virginia in 2011 and Loyola Maryland in 2012, Tillman spent considerable time in the aftermath wondering what he and his staff could have done differently for their players.
"I think as coaches, you're always going to reflect back on any situation and self-assess, 'What did I do? What could I have done better? What are the things we feel we can build on?'" Tillman said. "So I think you're critically assessing the team's performance and your own performance and trying to figure out ways to get better and look for the things you did positively and try to build on that. I think if you're a person that's really competitive, you're constantly trying to nitpick and figure out how you can improve."
Tillman admitted that it took him some time to decompress after the loss to the Pioneers, who were the top-ranked team in the preseason.
"I think the hardest thing after the championship is, you realize that the journey is over and that's hard in itself because you realize there's no more time with the guys," he said. "There's some finality there, and that's really sad because you get used to the ins and outs and you're spending so much time together and you get into a routine and then all of a sudden, you realize that it's over. After that, there's the emotional side of it.
"There's only one team that's going to be happy at the very end. Everybody else – regardless of how far you go – there are sad faces and there is disappointment, and as a coach, you have to manage that. So you take a few days to let the emotion subside. There are the seniors who realize that they won't be putting on the jerseys again and you realize that there won't be any games or practices. So I think it takes a few days to get past that.
"You meet with the players and say goodbye, and you also talk about what some of the guys need to do in the offseason and what some guys can do to put themselves in a better position to play and help the team get better. It's a very fast two or three days, but I think once everybody leaves by Friday, you start to think about different recruiting events and camps and where we needed to go and what we need to do."