Last Thursday, I witnessed another college football game where the mercy rule should have been in place to prevent a straight up schoolyard beatdown from getting even worse. It was clear after only five minutes of play that the West Virginia Mountaineers were by far superior to the Terps. This game was symbolic for many reasons because it showed how far Maryland football has fallen.
To the dedicated fan who stands throughout every game, this was not supposed to happen. These are our beloved Terps, who are led by a coach whose resume speaks for itself: 2001 National Coach of the Year, 2001 Bowl Championship Series Orange Bowl appearance, 1 Peach Bowl win, 1 Gator Bowl win and the mentorship of multiple NFL players. How did it get this bad? Were we even good in the first place?
It seems now that Maryland, like many teams before it, can be placed into the sporting category known as “lightning in a bottle.” This is rarely seen in college football because traditional programs are so dominant it is almost impossible for marginally good teams to become overly successful. But with a system like the BCS in place, the level of success needed to receive a big payoff has been reduced to only winning one’s conference. So in 2001, Fridge’s mission was clear: Be better than normal ACC foes, while praying for Florida State to stumble. Subsequently, by beating a conference filled with basketball schools, Maryland was able to reach the Orange Bowl without ever having to win a “big one.”
Let’s face it, the “big one” has forever escaped the grasps of Ralph Friedgen. Sure, we beat Tennessee in the Peach Bowl and there was that one win against Florida State in 2004, but Fridge has also lost to FSU five other times. There were also losses to Notre Dame in 2002, WVU in this year and last. And let’s not forget our past two outings against Virginia Tech. Some in the Athletics Department might want you to believe that rushing the field against Virginia and Georgia Tech is good enough to cement the title of a big game, but really, who are we kidding?
In the midst of losing, something in the Fridge’s response seemed spoiled. In the face of adversity, instead of rising to the occasion, he started to blame others – namely the fans. According to Fridge, the same fans who were cheering during every home game were helping the other teams through chants and wild banter. Was he for real? I cannot recall a situation where a coach with less experience and with fewer accomplishments singles out students as the reason for his losses. Then again, I don’t remember a five-year coach in the most non-individualistic of sports ever decide to start shooting commercials in an national advertising campaign. Not even Pete Carroll, University of Southern California coach and winner of two of the last three national championships, would be caught selling clothing.
What Carroll would be doing in his free time is calling every one of his recruits and, when he’s not on the phone with them, he would have been watching them work out. That is how you build and maintain a program for future success. In contrast, Fridge’s method of recruiting seems to be doing none of the above and then blaming the recruits when things go sour. How many times last year did I hear during Penn State’s raid of Maryland’s recruits, “these kids should honor their verbal commitments?” Everyone in college football knows that verbal commitments don’t mean anything until you actually have the name on the dotted line. Speaking of the dotted line, Steve Slaton, the WVU running back who destroyed us, committed to Maryland … until Fridge rejected him. Did he not witness this guy play in person? Anyone with two eyes could see this guy’s natural speed.
Maryland and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic is one of the most promising spots for football talent in the country, and it’s a shame we can’t even get players out of Laurel High. And if fans think Penn State and Slaton are bad personnel memories, just wait until teams like Miami start to reload with players from the Baltimore area.
If you’re wondering what my solution is, I believe there is only one answer – change. Friedgen has led Maryland back from the bottom of the barrel to becoming a competitive football team, and for that he should be thanked immensely. But, after two losing seasons and a less-than-stellar future, maybe it’s just time to admit that our Fridge is broken.
Reginald Renwick is a senior mechanical engineering major. He can be reached at reggier@umd.edu.
