From Sports By Brooks:
Also, the University of Maryland is meeting with reps of Ralph Friedgen to discuss a possible buyout of his contract.
First off, the validity of this: SbB isn't the AP, but there are worse sources. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this was true. Of course, that doesn't mean it's happened, and SbB isn't an overly valid source.
That said, this could be big news. If Friedgen goes, it wouldn't surprise me if James Franklin left as well. While the likelihood is that Franklin takes the job next year, remember that his HCIW deal wasn't a vote of confidence, but a carrot to dangle to keep him from leaving, as well as an effort to keep recruiting up. Now that neither recruiting nor offense is working, I'm sure the people that made that deal are having trouble coming up with a good reason to keep him.
That's a lot of money gone at one time, if it's lump sum, but I doubt that would be the case. Ralph's career is winding down, and he might want a steady income source over the next, say, five years. That's too lawyer-y for me, but it's a possibility. Maryland could still grab a few very good candidates on the cheap, even if they had to fire both at once (Mike London, anyone?).
Of course, Frank's "buyout" is our speculation, not even a rumor, so please take that at face value.
We don't want to go into too much analysis right now on something that's just a rumor, but keep in mind that this very well could be on the horizon.