Pulse of Terp Nation: What Are Your Thoughts on Ralph Friedgen?
by Dave Tucker on Nov 2, 2010 11:13 PM EDT
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PrintAs we sit back and watch the results for the midterm elections, it's time to take a vote on something that many Terps fans are discussing - what are your feelings on head football coach Ralph Friedgen? A year ago today, Maryland Football was coming off of their bye week, had just dropped a close game to Duke, and was preparing for NC State. They had a miserable 2-6 record, with one of the wins admittedly coming against a good Clemson team, but the other coming against JMU and requiring overtime.
We didn't know it at the time, but Maryland would go on to lose the remainder of their games, finishing with a school record 10 losses. Many thought Ralph Friedgen's time as head coach of his alma mater was coming to a close. Many thought Friedgen had lost the coaching magic that saw him win 10+ games in his first three season, but struggle with a 35-38 record since. What had been a promising, growing fan base of support, including a growing number of season ticket holders, quickly lost interest, thinking Maryland football had reverted back to it's pre-Fridge form, where Maryland fans cared about only one sport: men's basketball.
More after the jump...
But for a variety of reasons, Ralph Friedgen was retained for the 2010 season. Many thought this Maryland team would be better than the previous year, but would struggle to get to the bowl-eligible threshold of six wins. One year later, Maryland sits at 6-2 (3-1 ACC), and finds themselves in an interesting position at the start of November - in contention for the ACC Atlantic Title. While their victories have come against some weaker teams, the Terps have taken care of business against those teams, including last week's demolishing of Wake Forest. Maryland has also dealt with making constant changes to their offensive line and making the decision to stick with redshirt freshman QB Danny O'Brien, who could end up being the ACC rookie of the year, even after Jamarr Robinson returned fully healthy.
What Maryland does in their last four games will go a long way in determining, ultimately, how people end of feeling about Fridge. But right now, as a bowl-eligible team, they control their own destiny with four games remaining. Heck, they could lose to either Miami or Virginia and still make the title game if they defeat FSU and NC State, plus either Miami or UVA. And Maryland plays both the FSU and NC State games at home.
Despite all of this, the fans haven't exactly been rushing to Byrd Stadium to watch this team. Last week, during homecoming weekend, only around 40,000 people showed up to watch Maryland dominate Wake (although part of that could have been the fact that the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was going on at the same time). Are people apathetic towards this team because they've only beaten lesser opponents and struggled against better competition (Clemson and WVU, although both of those games were on the road in hostile environments)? Are fans sending a message that, despite the success this season, they would like Fridge gone? Or is this just a product of a poor economy and coming off of a 2-10 season? I think a lot of it has to do with the economy; when you can't sell out season tickets to Comcast for men's basketball after a co-ACC championship season, clearly the economy is preventing people from spending money they'd normally spend in the past on things such as Maryland football and basketball.
If Maryland goes 2-2 or better in their last 4 games and finishes 8-4 or better on the season, Ralph Friedgen will not only be back next season, he could be back as the ACC Coach of the Year. And if that happens, Maryland might be looking at extending his contract and possibly buying out James Franklin in 2012. That's something we'll discuss in a few weeks, depending on how the team does down the stretch. For now, on this election Tuesday, we want to put the vote in the hands of Terp Nation - What do you think of the job Ralph Friedgen has done this season? Get a discussion going in the comments and be sure to vote in the poll below. Let your voice be heard!
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IMO...
one more win would lock down a winning season…win or lose the bowl game…I’d say a 7-6 season( .54%) is far better than 2-10(.17%) and that would allow to Ralph to stay until his contract expired, but there would be zero extensions in the future. Franklin’s future would be hinged on whether or not the team progresses in the 2011 season. Anything less than 8 wins is probably not going to bode well for him, considering it will be his 4th season back with a full cycle of recruits under him.
I think/hope that Don Brown has found himself a longterm home.
Now if we could just go recruit some badass O-linemen.
Friedgen has earned one more year, if he wants it
Before the Wake game, MD had not looked any better than last year. Of course, the difference in turnovers from last year to this year makes a big difference in your record. Instead of losing by single digits, you win by single digits. Also, (and this may sound obvious but think about it) winning makes you better. The MD team that play Wake Forest this past saturday is a different team than what I’d seen the first 7 games. This team is begiinning to believe in itself, and that is more important than their individual physical abilities. Its hard to change a mind set, but I believe this coaching staff has done it. Fridge being head coach, he deserves alot of the credit. Is Fridge a good recruiter? No. If I remember correctly, we had a good recruiter with Vanderlinden, but he wasn’t a very good game day coach. I have my good days and bad days on my opinion of Franklin, right now they are good. We just need to recruit better, and hopefully winning will help that.
Not feeling a Fridge extension, and I don't think he would, either
That might just be me, but something tells me Fridge wouldn’t be all that cheery on returning, either. I know he said, “Well, if we win the Orange Bowl I might want to come back,” but in all honesty that seemed like a backlash to the situation in general. He was like a kid being told what to do by his mom, so he had some backlash. I don’t think he actually wants to be coaching into his 70s, especially given his health concerns.
Besides, are we actually expecting to win the Orange Bowl?
If Fridge comes back this year, Franklin returns with him. Their futures are inextricably tied. We’ll make the Frank decision when we come to it, but he has an uphill battle.
And for the record, I definitely voted option B. Eight wins – assuming the bowl isn’t against a crappy MAC team – means we had to beat UVA and someone legit. That would give us a grand total of…one legit win this year. But eight wins is eight wins, and there’s no hating on that. There’s no way we would’ve had that last year, so something, somewhere, changed.
The coaching staff managed to uncover a gem at QB, that is what happened. The irony is that they did not even think he was good enough to start over J-Robb and it took injury for him to get the job.
Yes they have had success but their are still deep and fundamental flaws in this staff in regards to indentifying and properly utilizing talent.
When you're rich you don't write checks - Randy Moss
by s.r.genovese on Nov 3, 2010 12:07 AM EDT up reply actions
this season remind me a lot of 2008
somehow we managed to control our own destiny into the last couple weeks of the season only to get blown out and finish with a mediocre record. i feel like this is only gonna make it hurt more. obviously id love to be proven wrong but ive been let down before
Is there an un-rec button?
Why in the world would a clean school like ours need to go get a dirty coach like him?
"No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." - H.L. Mencken
by TerroristFistJab on Nov 3, 2010 9:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Maryland Is Never Going To Be An Elite
Or even semi-elite football program. Best case scenario they can average around 8 wins a year with the occasional great year and win the ACC. The DMV is just not that football crazy; yeah there is a decent amount of talent here, but most of the top recruits are going to want to go places like Ohio State, Florida, Oklahoma, Nebraska, USC, etc- football schools. Duke, Kentucky, and North Carolina are not recruiting hotbeds for basketball, but the recruits go there because historically theyre basketball schools, and people there are crazy about college bball. Without that kind of history, you can’t be an elite college football team. Yeah, theres the occasional Oregon or Texas Tech who can storm onto the scene and be “elite” for a few years, but the mainstays at the top of the BCS polls are always “football schools”
Have you been there?
Just curious, to all the posters thus far – how many games have you attended in person this year? Not a condemnation, I’m just wondering. Tickets are easy to score for under $20 off stubhub. I’ve seen Morgan State, Duke and Wake thus far and am attending NCS after Thanksgiving.
I've been to two thus far
I was at Morgan State and Duke. After the Navy win, I felt like there was a little buzz surrounding the team and then after we lost to WVA, the air went out of the balloon and hasn’t been back since. I’ll be curious to see how many people attend the FSU and NC State games…
over the years a lot of games have slipped away
because of poor QB play and coaching. with the amount of talent the terps are putting in the NFL they should have more ACC wins than they have had. but this 6-2 start is a bit of a mirage.
I absolutely love Danny O’brien but that’s because we’ve been starved for quality QB play since McBrien. and the coaching staff is a big reason for that 5 year lapse. if the Champs sports bowl is the new high standard then lets make a coaching change.
Well considering the previous high standard...
was for the Terps to be sitting at home, I’ll take this for sure. Maryland is in a tough spot as far as recruiting locally (which we even see with the much more highly respected Basketball program), which impairs our ability to have realistic hopes of a title game, but I do think that we should demand more – but I don’t want it to be at the expense of the considerable reputation our athletic department has developed.
"No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." - H.L. Mencken
by TerroristFistJab on Nov 3, 2010 9:48 AM EDT up reply actions
Just saying
15 years prior to Ralph = 1 bowl appearance.
Ralph has taken them to 6 bowls in 9 years…and now a 7th…and an ACC Championship.
Yes, he absolutely deserves to finish his contract. That student section is full pretty much every week. (I remember times during Vanderlinden when you could see most of the ‘M’ in the endzone seats because no one came to claim FREE tickets).
To me, there’s no question that Ralph should be allowed to finish his contract…my question is whether Franklin is the right replacement. I hope so.
He had 3 straight awesome seasons with somebody else’s recruits. Since he’s had his own recruits, he has been mediocre at best. Hate to say it, but i think he’s just not cut out to be a good recruiter and head coach. he should be a lifetime OC somewhere, but it’s clear he doesn’t have the “it” factor to connect with recruits who have any opportunity to go anywhere but Maryland. he never unexpectedly steals anyone from anywhere.
a life: it's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come -Lester Freamon
but then again, MD football sucked for a long time before Ralph, so consistently being slightly better than mediocre is an improvement; all i’m saying is he doesn’t appear able to take it to the next level of surprising the national scene every few years like a WVU or Mizzou or Michigan St., programs that i feel are on similar footing in terms of money and recruiting base.
a life: it's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come -Lester Freamon
by eastcoastatlas on Nov 3, 2010 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions
You Named 3
But how many schools similar to MD’s money and recruiting base would be considered worse than us? I think alot more than 3. I’m all for have a better coach. Just not sure who that would be. Duffner and Vanderlinden had decent resumes, but neither panned out.
WVU, Mizzou, or Michigan State
Have a strong feeling that Maryland’s academic requirements are more stringent than those 3 schools. Also , I have been to the Duke and Wake Forest games and one thing that was very noticeable was the shockingly low amount of fans from those two schools that traveled to College Park. That also can atribute to the Terps low attendance figures.
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