Is the Fridge on his Final Legs?

Since we're doing mind exercises today, why not do one more?

We've heard the arguments from various camps about Maryland's head coach Ralph Friedgen. Some think it's time to recycle the Fridge and move him to another position in the athletic department, some want him to stay where he is, some want to kick him to the curb (and even some that want to send Franklin with him). But regardless of where you stand on whether you think the Fridge door is half open or closed, what do you think would have to happen before Ralph would be pushed out?

I have to honestly say that unless some crazy scandal came about, I don't see the Terps firing Ralph mid-season. Not when the Athletic department is sitting on 20+ empty suits inTyser Tower. And I don't think he should get fired mid-season. I feel last week's OT win against JMU and this week's loss to Middle-Tennessee State is very similar to Gary and the basketball team after they lost to Morgan State at home last year and after they got trouncing by Duke at Cameron. People were saying Gary's grace period had run out, he couldn't recruit, etc. What happened? The result was the team marching back to the NCAA tournament and Gary putting together a Top 10 recruiting class for 2010. I'm I saying the Fridge can do that? Who knows. I do know that this team, if they just cut out the crazy amount of turnovers, will be so much better. Take away three of the four turnovers in the Middle-Tennesse game, and we're probably not having this conversation right now. And mind you, most of our fumbles weren't balls that were stripped. They were simply dropped by our running backs. That is something that can be improved upon.

I've been extremely torn on how to feel about this team this year. Part of me was cringing and on pins and needles every time we had the ball on Saturday, worried we'd cough it up again. But if you take that away, give our defense a little more rest, and I think we'll be a decent football team. Not an ACC champion football team, but a team that can win between 6 and 8 games and go to a bowl. Now, I'm not saying that is acceptable either, but I'm not sold yet that this team is going to go winless in the ACC (although in the heat of my frustration and anger on Saturday I did tell multiple people that's what I thought). The point is, I think we'll know a lot around 7:00 P.M. on Saturday. Either the players ship up, start playing more fundamentally sound or they don't, which means they're not listening to Fridge's message anymore, don't have confidence in themselves, and that this could be a long season. But even if the Terps go winless the rest of the way, I doubt they'd fire Ralph mid-season. I think they'd let him gracefully retire at season's end. And honestly, he deserves that. You have to remember folks, although we haven't been as successful as we were in the first 3 years of the Friedgen era, we've mostly gone to a bowl game since Ralph has been here and we've been in contention for the ACC title late in the season. That is a far cry from over a decade of not even being .500 overall. And for that, I say Ralph has earned the right to stay in charge, at least through this season.

What do you think? Will the Fridge survive the season? Will the team turn it around? Is there anything that could happen that would get Ralph fired mid-season? Let us know what you think!