OT: Tommy Bowden Fired
by Ben Broman on Oct 13, 2008 1:07 PM EDT
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PrintThis news would be huge. Clemson, according to "sources" that Mark Schlabach at ESPN have talked to, just fired Tommy Bowden. Clemson started out 3-3 this year, including a loss to your Marlyand Terrapins. Dabo Swinney, the wide receivers coach, was named interim head coach. Bowden's never really been popular at Clemson, but I still didn't think they'd go out and fire him after a 3-3 start. I don't think his past record deserved it either; he's 72-45 overall, which is pretty good in college football.
This is why I think it's post-worthy. If Bowden, who's led Clemson to moderate success recently, gets fired for a mediocre start, why doesn't Maryland have the same standards? Friedgen, outside of the 9-4 year, really hasn't led the Terps to success the past few years, and yet there's still a lot alumni and various people around the program who defend him and want him to stay until he says he's gone. Now, I'm not saying this is grounds to fire Friedgen right now, or that he should be fired right now. In fact, I think firing a coach during the season is a terrible idea. I'm just saying that there's a precedent now. If the Terps don't impress the rest of the year, Debbie Yow should take a long, hard look at Fridge.
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Don't Fire the Fridge
I don’t think you can compare a 3-3 start at Clemson to the current situation at UMD straight up. Clemson is a pre season top 10 team that has 3 losses. They have a roster stocked with pre-season watch list players and experience, yet still can’t figure out how to win consistently. And Tommy Bowden has managed to turn “pulling a Clemson” into a pretty widely used/known/understood phenomenon. (You know, they beat the really good teams, they beat the really bad teams, but then lose to middling teams for no real reason cough cough Maryland Granted, Maryland’s inability to not play down to crappy opponent’s could gain traction as “pulling a Maryland”, so we could be getting there.
I’ll come out and say yes, I’m in the camp of “don’t fire the Fridge.” Maybe it’s because I was at UMD the year they went to the Orange Bowl, but I tend to think they he should stick around. Fridge has nowhere near as much talent on the field as Bowden, which 1. could be a serious problem or 2. could be a symptom of the fact that MD recruits MD and the surrounding states while Clemson recruits in the South. Bottom line, I think if the Fridge goes, Maryland goes from sometimes relevant to being mostly irrelevant.
Good points
Good points there. Based on this year, I don’t think he deserves to be fired. But look at the long-term, and it’s pretty disappointing. I’m just pointing out that there’s a precedent now, if the team underperforms the rest of the way.
Also, the “talent” issue is more of Fridge’s than anyone else’s. MD/DC/VA/PA really is pretty stocked. There’s consistently four and five star kids coming out of their every year.
And how irrelevant we’d be would be dependent on who we get as coach. Look at UNC – They’ve already turned around their program after, what, 2 years, under Butch Davis.
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