fridge 31-8 and 3 top 20 finishes his first 3 yrs. 35-37 from 2004 to present. zero top 25 finishes. about 32-33,000 season tickets sold in 2003 about 22,000 now and the number of tickets sold has decreased for 5 consecutive yrs. if fridge is back next yr tickets sales will probably drop again. how many season tickets above 22,000 would be bought if someone like brian billick is named head coach. take that number times $40.00 a ticket times 7 home games. do the same for how many individual game tickets might be sold over this yr’s average crowd which i would guess is around 46,000 and that’s a shot in the dark guess. now look at what is needed to buyout ralph and franklin and look at the potential increase in revenue if someone like billick is signed.. money wise do you think it makes sense to fire ralph and franklin?

I’ll start off by saying that I like Ralph and believe the team will have a winning season next year. I also agree that a successful former NFL HC like Brian Billick could have a bigger positive impact on the program. That said, I don’t think that is a key issue in the retain/don’t retain Ralph decision. I think CP politics are going to determine whether Ralph stays or goes. I also think that if Ralph goes James will become HC.

University faculty do not like the salaries that FB and BB coaches demand. Generally speaking, I think the better the academic institution, the greater the dislike. When we played Cal this year, I took the opportunity to read some of the Cal student and faculty postings on their sites questioning whether the university should even have a football team. One Cal administrator tried to inject some reality. He responded by saying that, like it or not, football homecoming is the campfire around which alumni gather and alumni support is essential to a great state university. So, knowing that cutbacks are being made at CP because of the economy, are there any circumstances under which the Athletic Department could buy out Ralph without creating a backlash? The only one might be having boosters come up with all of the money needed. Given the amount required, I don’t think that is likely. Having boosters then come up with money required to hire a Billick and a new staff is even more unlikely.

With the support of Dr. Mote, Debbie Yow did a good job of getting the money to hire Ralph and his staff. I think the AD also did a good job over the next few years in providing the money and support Ralph needed to build a winning program. It paid off. I think beginning about three years ago the Terrapin Club had enough revenue to pay for all sports scholarships. However, AD Yow used that success to push the non-revenue sports and she had the political support to do it. We now have sports we cannot afford much less the money for a new coaching staff and highly competitive football program.