Friedgen sent out a winner in Military Bowl

WASHINGTON --- One more self-promotional link to another site this evening, since in a lot of ways it covers what needs to be said about Maryland's 51-20 rout of East Carolina in the Military Bowl.

That would be my Ralph Friedgen analysis for AOL FanHouse.

Ultimately, Friedgen went out as he came in --- with a win. He had 73 more of those sandwiched into his 125 games as Maryland's coach.

Only two men (Curley Byrd and Jerry Claiborne) had decade-long runs with the Terps. Only Byrd coached in more games.

Ultimately, Friedgen leaves Maryland's program in better shape than he found it. He wasn't perfect, but his program often operated under less-than-ideal conditions. The single best question of Friedgen's final press conference (and it wasn't asked by me) was to get him to assess just how good of a job Maryland is.

There will be time to do just that in the coming days, but his answer was candid and illuminating:

"I will tell you this: It's not an easy job," Friedgen said. "There's a lot of things that really have to change to help it reach its potential. To be honest with you, I don't know if the university is willing to do that. You kind of have to know that going in. I did, and I think that was a benefit to me. What I think happens to a lot of coaches who come to Maryland is they think it's like every other place and after their third year, they realize it isn't and then they're stuck. It's just tough to sustain. Just go back and look at the history."

One of the phrases Friedgen so often turned to in his early years at Maryland was "we're only scratching the surface of our potential." The great curiosity of the next few years will be determining whether Maryland finds someone who can drill a bit deeper into those possibilities --- or if it's even possible.

Overall, Friedgen fared well --- certainly better than most of the men who preceded him. It remains to be seen if his ouster simply serves as the inevitable end of a solid run, or an example of the best being the enemy of the better as it so often is in many things in sports and life in general.

Comments

[pines]

the powers that be continue to believe that md should be a football power. they are not. they won't be. and the admin may realize that when the first concussed player gets shoved in a locker.

[D1scourse]

Pines ---

It is very difficult to swim upstream against history and a century-long trend. It can happen, but rarely without at least one of the following: (a) Highly fertile nearby recruiting territory, (b) Patience and (c) Massive cheating.

Maryland has to choose its spots in the 757 and in Pennsylvania. Much of its fanbase isnt remotely patient when things go south. And no one is going to openly advocate running roughshod over NCAA rules.

Needless to say, few want to hear those things. It will be interesting to see if the next five years or so can put a dent in any of those paths to elite status.

[ckstevenson]

What do you think his "a lot of things have to change" quote means?

A number of people are pointing to amount of money spent on football at MD, and as a part of that coaches salaries.

You agree?

[D1scourse]

ckstevenson ---

There are things internally, such as assistants salaries, that need fixing. And Maryland needs some sort of legitimate indoor facility to work with.

But Ralph frequently found himself at odds with things on the academic side, be it an inability to get classes for certain majors at times that didnt conflict with afternoon practices or getting excused absences for Friday morning walkthroughs at Byrd before a flight.

That exists to some extent at most schools. The problem at Maryland is there is something of a Little Brother Complex on the academic side --- it wants to prove it belongs with the bigger and better kids so bad and genuinely believes it warrants such treatment despite a spotty history up until the last couple decades. Football gets hurt by that more than anyone in athletics, and that tension isnt going to go away anytime soon. Not saying the situation is good or bad or one side is right or wrong --- colleges, after all, are meant to be primarily academic institutions --- but the friction definitely exists.

[Mark]

No two institutions are identical. Certainly Maryland has unique diminsions that shaped its history in football.

However, the mantra of "good to great" must be realistically understood as a justification for generating as much cash flow as possible in a short period of time.

Maryland will not hire a better football coach than Ralph Friedgen.

This move to fire Ralph will not change the culture of football at Maryland, nor is it intended to do so.

What Maryland is hoping is to solve short term financial problems by exciting the fan base via a new coach with name recognition.

If a flashy hire is made soon, Anderson believes he can solve short term cash flow problems by selling luxury boxes and increasing season ticket sales.

The next football coach may only last 3 seasons at Maryland but Anderson is betting on the demonstrated quality of the present Terp team and the hype created by a new coach to make money for the department fast.

Anderson postured Ralph's termination as a long term "strategic business decision." Actually, I think the reverse is more accurate.

Anderson's move is only designed to meet short term financial goals.

This year's success and a young roster is evidence that Ralph has successfully brought his program back from lean years. Nevertheless, stadium expansion and a bad economy coincided with the Terps football rebound.

Anderson is not trying to change the culture at Maryland. He needs money fast. So, instead of taking the safe long term bet of extending a good coach, Anderson decided to gamble.

I would have kept Ralph.