Ralph Friedgen Post-Clemson: Football's Not an "Amusement Trip"
by Ben Broman on Oct 16, 2010 7:38 PM EDT
in Football
Email
PrintI was going to stick these in the MM, but that upon further review, it seems worthy of its own piece. Ralph Friedgen was, should we say, upset after Maryland fell to Clemson earlier today. Like, angry sound-bite upset.
"I think sometimes our guys think we're on an amusement trip or something," Friedgen said. "We're on a business trip to win football games."
Yikes. This rings eerily similar to the whole "he lost control of the players" theme from last year. Not a good sign.
(Funnily enough, this stands in stark contrast to Dabo Swinney's halftime interview with Mike Hogewood, which was essentially "Have fun, because games are fun and football is a game so football = game = fun. So I'm just going to tell them to come back out and play a fun game and have fun.")
He went into further detail about his complaints elsewhere.
"To go out and not play our best is frustrating. Very frustrating," Friedgen said. "It's us that are causing the mistakes - things we can control. Until we can not do that, we're going to always be mediocre-at best."
That's an obvious understatement, but the tone seems pretty rough. Friedgen's not a happy guy. He also was more than a little peeved about the play of Torrey Smith, who was battling injury the past two weeks and practiced little.
"This new wave, everybody just gets them well for the game, plugs him in and he's going to play - bull," Friedgen said. "It ain't gonna happen. I had a policy in the past that if you don't practice by Thursday you don't play. Right now, they don't practice Thursday, they aren't playing. You've got to get at least something [in practice]. [Torrey Smith] lined up wrong one time. I didn't think he was sharp catching the ball. Torrey is a great player. But you still got to practice. I guess I am old school."
Out of everything I've seen so far, this is the only quote I have a problem with. He changed his practice, but that "I guess I am old school" quote at the end seems to be transferring blame, maybe to Torrey himself.
It's painfully obvious that Smith is playing hobbled, and it's made more clear when he comes up limp every other play he's in. But calling him out in the media - keep in mind, this is Maryland's best player - just seems like a bad idea to me.
I'm sure more angry quotes will come out in the coming hours; those will be in the MM.
7 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I think the fridge...
…is just simply starting to feel the heat. I think he knows quite well what the near future has in store for him. Regardless, it’s a classless way to go out…Torrey doesn’t deserve that.
I want to hate Fridge for saying this
because i love torrey smith, but Torrey gave up on the team today. like someone said in the game thread, when he makes a big catch hes jumping up and down, otherwise he acts hurt. but that aside, if you just watch how torrey played today he did not play up to his full potential. I am not putting all the blame on torrey for this loss, clearly he is our best player. but i dont think fridge is wrong here, he has a right to be mad/upset. i would love Mike Leach here as much as anybody but when Fridge is right, hes right. if you dont practice by thursday you dont play in the game, no exceptions. smart decision to put his foot down. lastly, i agree its not smart to call out your best player, but when your best player dogs it, it is better to call him out than to let him keep dogging it. hopefully Torrey will try to prove the Fridge wrong now. thank you, good night
who says it isnt ok to call out your best player?
Should Fridge just bully his walk ons and scrubs in order to get his message across? If you want to make it clear that the team is not living up to his expectations, you call out the best players and make it clear to the whole team that it is on EVERYONE to stand up and improve.
by Lucky Horseshoe on Oct 17, 2010 2:03 PM EDT reply actions
why are terps rudderless?
Good teams play smashmouth football, and the big boys on the line dictate the action. Why can’t Fridge let the run (first 22:24) dictate the pass? Better yet, why can’t he get more out of his players, a la Gary? If your O-line is self destructing coach ‘em up! If your d-line, backers and d-backs are gassed, rotate ’em!. If the special teams can’t sustain a block on the opposing team’s gunners to turn Logan loose in space, bench ‘em! On the subject of Logan, he’s got the best moves on the field of anyone on the team, why can’t he be involved in the offense more…at least as a decoy? Fridge has veteran (3 yrs +) players in the program that he doesn’t use: Logan, Drummond, Davidson, Law, Hampton, Lee-Odai that he doesn’t use…could that be more an indictment of the coaching they receive as opposed to their ability? Or is this an excuse waiting for a chance to be used, hmmm???
There Can Be Only One!
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Testudo Times
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
