Debbie Yow Goes on Mike Wise's Radio Show, Plays Coy

Oh, that wily ol' Yowster. Maryland's AD went on Washington Post writer (and inexplicable radio host) Mike Wise's radio show today, and didn't really answer many of his pressing questions, the most striking of which was below. (h/t Steinberg)

Wise: "Could you guarantee on our program Coach Friedgen's job after this season."

Yow: [Three-second pause] "What I can pretty much guarantee is I probably won't be back on this show."

OK, that was preceded by a pretty long session of awkward questions that Wise should've known he had no shot of getting straight answers about, but still - ouch.

A few other things that I found moderately interesting:

On her relationship with Gary Williams: "I don't know how you see it from outside. I think Gary's a terrific coach. I love my coaches. I extended his contract seven times. He's doing pretty well now, making a couple of million a year. I think those things speak louder than anything else. And I hired Ralph, and I'm proud of him and want this to work, and I'm glad I hired him. I think he did an awesome job, especially the first three years, and we're gonna try to get back on track here this weekend."

On James Franklin's HCIW deal: "Well first of all, that's a small bonus. You've got to compare it to the Florida State commitment of $5 million. It's 20 percent of what theirs is. I think I did a pretty good job in the negotiation. The second thing is, it wasn't a me, it was an us. James was gonna go to the NFL, and I said to Coach Friedgen, 'Just tell me, do you or do you not want him to stay? I'm up for it if you want him to stay.' And he said, 'I need him to stay, he's valuable to me, he's important.' And I said, 'Good, let's go do it then.' And we did. And how do I feel about it? We're just playing along here. I don't evaluate stuff in the middle of seasons. I see the big picture and the long-term picture. And there come times when you do that, but this is not that. It just isn't."

On whether she's satisfied with the direction of the football program: "I'll tell you what I tell everybody, because this is the way it really is. I'm not an AD who talks about those kind of things generally during the year. We've got 27 sports, and at the end of every season, we sit down and we talk. And I've always done that with Coach Friedgen. I do the same thing with Coach Williams or with Brenda or with anyone. And we're in the season, and of course we'd like to win more. I don't think you're gonna see Ralph or me, either one of us, say yeah we're satisfied. Of course we're not. So far the season has been a disappointment, but the season's not over. Remember, I was a coach first, before I was an administrator, so I know the most important thing right now is the next game. And we've got to keep our focus on that game, and if we do, we'll have a shot at it."

On keeping poor in-state recruiting: "I think that's a question for the head coach, not the athletic director."

Now I'm in the mood for some vanilla ice cream. Anyone else?

No real answers there - that's the standard party line of supporting coaches, making evaluative decisions after the season. That's not surprising, but that's exactly what should've happened. Keep that kind of stuff in house. If she went all Kathy Worthington on Ralph, I'd have some issues.