Depending on which newspaper you read, it’s a foregone conclusion Ralph Friedgen will be fired Sunday as the University of Maryland football coach (Washington Post); or, while the university wants to fire Friedgen, that could be unlikely (Baltimore Sun), because in a time when state employees are being laid off and furloughed, it would take a $4.5 million buyout for Maryland to eat Friedgen’s contract, and perhaps a $1 million buyout for the contract of head-coach-in-waiting James Franklin, if the university deems Franklin to be part of the problem as well.
Oh, and he’s part of the problem, there can be no denying that — not James Franklin himself and personally, but the idea of James Franklin, head coach in waiting. Make no mistake that Franklin, having been brought in by athletic director Debbie Yow to be the Maryland head football coach by the 2012 season, or else be owed $1 million, has been one more major bone of contention between Yow and Friedgen, for whom, by most accounts, a rich and genuine dislike for one another is life.
Friedgen was forced on Yow from the beginning after her hire of Ron Vanderlinden as the head coach didn’t work; and since Friedgen’s run of 31-8, an ACC title, an Orange Bowl berth, three 10-win seasons and victories in two other bowls in his first three years at Maryland (2001-03), it’s been 35-37, three smaller bowl games, four out of six losing seasons, and possibly three days away from the first 10-loss season in the history of the school.
If not for the economic times being what they are, it would be spot-on that Friedgen’s final game will be Saturday. Of course, if not for the economic times being what they are, Maryland’s season-ticket base might not be down as much as it is, and perhaps more of those luxury suites around Byrd Stadium that Maryland just had to build, would have been sold.
Frankly, Maryland sold more suites than I ever believed it would (long-term leases for 41 of the 64 were signed before the season), but there are two reasons why they didn’t sell more: Maryland botched the alcohol policy for those suites from the beginning. After sales got off to a decent start, by the time Maryland got it through its head that the presence of alcohol has to be an option if luxury suites are to be sold to businesses, the economy really went sour. The second, and most important, reason (season tickets included), of course, is Maryland is going to finish this season either 3-9 or 2-10 and already has its fourth losing season in the last six in hand.
That is Ralph Friedgen's, because Ralph Friedgen is the head coach, and if Ralph supporters still champion the three 10-win seasons in his first three seasons, they must also be realistic about what four of his final six seasons have been.
Maryland was generously predicted to go 5-7 by most experts prior to this season, with James Madison, Middle Tennessee State, Wake Forest, Virginia, Duke and N.C. State being the core group of most likely victims. Out of that group of six, Maryland beat just one, James Madison, and was somehow able to add Clemson to the total. Not even in retrospect, however, can this be viewed as a surprising development since in the 2009 Maryland spring football prospectus, of the 96 players listed on the Maryland roster, just 14 of them are seniors. Not only is that inexcusable, it’s the head coach’s responsibility.
So Ralph deserves the responsibility, but should he be fired? Or should he be given one more season, if for no other reason than to try to ease the economic burden for at least one more year? It’s not as though Franklin has to be anywhere by 2012 anyway, and he is universally rated to be a top-25 recruiter with an incoming top-25 class still pretty much intact despite this season and despite the uncertainty that has become the Maryland head football coaching position.
Despite Yow using Franklin to essentially tell Ralph she wanted him gone after 2011, Friedgen and Franklin like each other very much, and both men absolutely love the kids on this current team and believe they can become a good team as soon as next year.
Ralph very well could be gone by Saturday night. I think, particularly in light of monies owed, all he has done for this university warrants at least one more season. This isn’t Notre Dame, not that Notre Dame football means much anymore; this is Maryland, entitled Maryland alumni, boosters and fans.
One more season of Ralph Friedgen (.595 winning percentage) as the Maryland head football coach is not going to be the end of the 118-year dynasty that has been Maryland football of the .531 winning percentage. In fact, at least one more season of Ralph Friedgen coaching this team — these kids — might, for the second time in 10 seasons, make Maryland football start to matter again.
Ralph’s detractors like to say he won with Vanderlinden’s players. Give him one more chance to win with his.
Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.
Mike Burke - Sports
Unseemly as it is, there can still can be a happy ending
- Mike Burke - Sports
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Somewhere over the rainbow starts here
During a break in the program Sunday night, former Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Bob Robertson sat at a table backstage sharing some stories from the day when he played some of the finest defensive first base and hit some of the longest home runs in the major leagues in helping the Bucs to the 1971 world championship.
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Ronnie Cage’s life was deeds, not words
It was right they observed a moment of silence at the Allegany-Fort Hill basketball game. And I hope they observed a moment of silence at all of the games this week — boys and girls, men’s and women’s — in all the area gyms — Maryland and West Virginia.
That’s because Ronnie Cage worked them all. And before that he played them all. -
No plus-one would have come out of this Orange
Having never been what one would call a big West Virginia fan, I nevertheless find myself entertained by Mountaineers head football coach Dana Holgorsen whenever I take in a WVU game.
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Daumie No. 51
It’s difficult and it’s unsettling — something we’re not ready to come to terms with, really — when we lose Larger than Life.
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At Fort Hill, they’re all in it together
They still decorate their homes and neighborhoods with red and white streamers and signs. They hang football helmets with jersey numbers on telephone poles and trees, and they leave them there until it’s pretty much time to decorate for Christmas.
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Let’s keep lips zipped and just go about our business
The worst part about snow, other than shoveling it, of course, is being surrounded by all the moaning and groaning about how much it’s going to snow before a flake even touches earth and then having to put up with the same moaning and groaning once it begins to snow.
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There are no queens on the sports page
Some high school football seasons it is easier to tell when big things have happened and when big things are ahead by some of the phone calls and letters we receive here in the Times-News sports department. There just seems to be more of a chippiness some years than in others, and this year has been one of those years.
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K.C. latest Laffey Tour over America destination
As of now it appears Aaron Laffey will be wearing royal blue again — Kansas City Royals blue, that is — as the Royals acquired the former Allegany High School left-hander from the New York Yankees in a waivers claim on Tuesday.
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In America ...
Of course you remember where you were when you heard.
What you really remember is how you felt when you realized it wasn’t just a bad pilot or an airplane malfunction when you saw the second plane go into the second tower.
Until the day we are no longer here, the realization that we had just been attacked — somehow, by somebody — will stay with us and move us. -
Keyser, Fort Hill clash tonight
Fort Hill and Keyser, both coming off lopsided season-opening victories, will square off at Greenway Avenue Stadium, while Frankfort entertains Grafton in the Falcons’ home opener in two of seven high school football games featuring nine area teams taking place tonight.
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