I have been deeply invested in the university’s athletic success since the likes of Jermaine Lewis, Scott Milanovich, Exree Hipp and Rodney Elliot roamed their respective sidelines. I have actually attended games at Cole Field House and heard the band play “Rock and Roll, Part II.” And, I can recall numerous times over the years when our hot-headed fans thought they could solve all of our basketball and football related problems in one fell swoop. Fire the basketball coach! Fire the football coach! Run those bums out of town!
Two basketball seasons ago, the Terps became an embarrassment by losing their quarterfinals ACC tournament game to Boston College, not making the NCAA tournament and then getting beat by tiny Manhattan, at home, in the lowly NIT.
I felt this sort of performance was beneath us; my Terps owe me more than that. I was ready to grab Gary Williams by his sweat-drenched Armani threads and punt him out of the Comcast Center. I felt my personal time investment spent watching games, checking statistics and talking smack was all wasted by Williams’s inept coaching. It was time for him to go.
Similarly, the Terps’ football performance at Wake Forest a few weeks ago made me sick to my stomach. Had the option been available to me, I would have jumped into my radio and driven coach Ralph Friedgen off of the field using whatever type of heavy machinery it would take. Listening to Johnny Holiday describe our three-touchdown lead evaporate into an overtime loss was about all I could take.
But with time comes perspective.
During my time as a student here, I have been frequently frustrated by the Terps’ athletic performance. When I enrolled here, I thought the university was destined to return to the success of the early part of this decade with back-to-back Final Four appearances, major bowl games and general excitement surrounding College Park.
I took a little peek at some statistics to make me realize that these expectations are unfair.
Friedgen’s three predecessors, Joe Krivak, Mark Duffner and Ron Vanderlinden, combined for 55 wins, 98 losses and two ties, a .354 winning percentage. All of a sudden, the Fridge’s .647 winning percentage and four bowl berths seem pretty impressive in his seven seasons. Very impressive when you consider that the 14 combined seasons before Friedgen arrived, the Terps’ only bowl berth was to the 1990 Independence Bowl, which was played in Shreveport, La. We played Louisiana Tech to a 34-34 tie. That was the very best result of nearly a decade and a half of football.
Nobody talks about Gary Williams’s immediate predecessor as the university’s head basketball coach, Bob Wade. The name sounds like Voldemort to longtime fans. The memory of that coach’s recruiting violations and subsequent NCAA sanctions haunt our alumni even today. The NCAA sanctions were so severe that Terp basketball was not allowed to be shown on television for two years, making the team ineligible for the ACC tournament. Coach Williams overcame this to bring the Terps a national championship.
All of this information should help Terps fans put last week’s less-than-impressive victories over Hampton and Northeastern in context. In the long run, Saturday’s weak showing in Tallahassee is not that big of a deal – the Terps had never beaten FSU before Friedgen. In recent history, a 5-6 is actually above average. For at least a few more years, it is not time to talk about firing our coaches. Before they arrived, both teams were in severe trouble, and we should not take this for granted.
As of Sunday morning, our football and basketball coaches combine for a 438-230 record and have given us NFL and NBA first-round draft picks and ACC championships. They have earned some job security. Don’t get tunnel vision and look at individual games. Take the whole situation into account and be glad you didn’t have to watch sports here 18 years ago.
J.M. Fratangelo is a junior government and politics major. He can be reached at jtangelo@umd.edu.
