A Statistical Look at Ralph Friedgen's Coordinators
by Ben Broman on Nov 17, 2009 5:30 PM EST
in Football
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PrintIt's not uncommon for us to get emails asking us questions, our opinions, or making various points (if you ever want to do any of those things, our email is at the bottom of the page on the envelopes [testudotimes AT gmail dot com (boo spammers)]). What is uncommon is when someone makes a point and backs it up with a wealth of information and data to support it.
But that's just what a certain Stephen did when he emailed us with a point about Maryland's assistant coaches. He thought that the quality of Maryland's coordinators had been lacking since the departures of Charlie Taaffe and Gary Blackney, and that, as an extension, Ralph Friedgen's decision-making when it comes to personnel had been lacking. Steve compared the rankings across coordinators over the years, and the evidence speaks for itself.
If that's a bit difficult to comprehend, just look at it for a second, and you should understand. Orange is for recruiting coordinators, red for coordinator stints. The number inside is the average during that person's term, whether that's recruiting rankings (via Scout), total offense, or total defense.
I threw together some graphs as a supplement to his already awesome research (lower the better, of course):
It may not say much we don't already know, but it affirms one thing: that when it comes to personnel decisions, Ralph (or whoever's making these decisions) isn't the best. We all know how dependent a HC is on his coordinators, and since Blackney and Taaffe's departures, they just haven't been there.
Interestingly enough, both Blackney and Taaffe are coaching again, for the ringmaster of the group, Ralph's good friend George O'Leary. As for the recruiting coordinator, well, Solazzo is basically Ralph's protege - he played under the Fridge at the Citadel and coached under him for most of his career.
The one good thing I saw in it: the best ranking in the recruiting coordinator job came from James Franklin, who should soon be the head man.
I thought this was a very interesting take on things, so I decided to see what people think of it. Any opinions?
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Ralph's staff decisions
Ralph began as HC by hiring Taaffe, Blackney, Sollazzo, and retaining Locksley and Franklin from Vanderlinden’s staff…all first rate decisions. He made Franklin the RC in In 2002…another good decision. Then, in 2005, Franklin,Taaffe, and Blackney left after 5 years with Ralph. Their contracts must have run out. This is where the program takes a hit. Ralph could not retain any of them, so he had to make important hires or staff promotions quickly. He made Sollazzo RC and hired Cosh…both questionable decisions. He also became OC for two years. Then, in ‘07, he didn’t hire a new OC, buy out Cosh, or hire a new RC.
How he did so well for first five years and then not so well since ’05 is really difficult to understand.
Recruits
What really stands out to me is how well Ralph did with Vanderlinden’s kids. 3 straight 10 wins or better seasons is amazing. Does the legendary “Stephen” have the recruiting ranks for the Vanderlinden era? I don’t remember those classes being heralded by any stretch.
Two more things I think this graph put into perspective for me:
1) Assuming I’m reading the graph correctly: Fridge’s first two classes went 5-6 as seniors even though according to the graph they were ranked 26th. That’s not very good.
2) As awful as this season has been; Fridge has been fairly consistent at putting a competitive team out there since 2001. Even the two seasons the Terps missed bowl-eligibility before this season its only been by one game. In contrast, I think before Fridge arrived the Terps hadn’t been to a bowl since 1992.
Hopefully Fridge and his staff have learned the valuable lesson, that you win football games with offensive and defensive line play so that’s where you should recruit.
Vanderlinden
No service goes back that far. I still think it’s pretty clear he recruited better than Ralph, or at least had better luck with recruits/developing recruits.
Personnel judgement
Look at Ralph’s treatment of players who ‘practice well’ versus those who produce when given the chance. He stayed too long with Joel Statham and Jordan Steffey while publicly damning Sam Hollenbach and Chris Turner with faint praise.
He was too busy to talk to Steve Slaton, but not Josh Portis.
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