During his coaching career, Terrapin football coach Ralph Friedgen had become accustomed to winning.
A national championship at Georgia Tech and a Super Bowl appearance with the San Diego Chargers gave Friedgen a taste of trophies – something he brought to College Park when he surprised everyone, including himself, by winning at least 10 games each of his first three seasons.
But back-to-back 5-6 seasons have caused trying times for Friedgen, a relentless perfectionist who admitted that 18 straight winning seasons spoiled him.
It has also given him incentive to put in extra energy to turn the Terps around. Determined not to let the program slip into mediocrity, Friedgen has taken on the offensive coordinator job in hopes of getting his team back to a bowl game for the first time since the 2003 season.
“We’re at a stage right now where we need to get back to a bowl game and continue the momentum [from the winning seasons],” Friedgen said in his preseason press conference.
The pain of losing seasons has reminded fans of the Terp struggles from the mid-1980s until Friedgen’s success. And Friedgen has reflected on what made those teams successful.
“I had a bunch of kids here my first year who were just tired of losing. They would’ve done about anything I asked,” Friedgen said. “When you have that team-type thing going, and you have some talent, you really have a lot of potential to play very, very well.”
Friedgen called his first-year expectations of winning six games “embarrassing,” but the Terps’ difficult schedule this season makes 6-6 the magic benchmark yet again. Still, goals set by the coach who walks onto the field anticipating victory every time are loftier – even if they’re less concrete.
“[Friedgen’s] overall approach to the game has always been the same, and we’re gonna come out and be perfect or as close to perfect as we can get,” senior quarterback Sam Hollenbach said.
But last season, the Terps found themselves six points short of a bowl game. With the emptiness of an unfinished job, Friedgen hasn’t been in the business of stirring up expectations. He’s taken on a heftier workload to make it happen.
The February resignation of five-year offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe just a month and a half before spring practice left a gaping hole in the coaching staff, but it may be a blessing in disguise as it has allowed Friedgen to return to his specialty.
Friedgen, the man Sports Illustrated once dubbed an “offensive genius,” will now call the plays and be able to put his distinctive stamp on the offensive side of the ball more than ever during his tenure.
“He’s just kind of spicing it up a little bit; he’s not just adding salt and pepper. He’s got some Old Bay, got some paprika,” wide receivers coach Bryan Bossard said. “And we very seldom are running the same plays out of the same formation with the same personnel.”
Friedgen didn’t regret his workload. Instead, he said he needs to manage his time better among planning practices, watching film and dealing with the other aspects of coaching that most people don’t see – calls from players’ mothers and visits from alumni.
“Right now, it seems like I’m working 100 miles per hour 24 hours a day,” Friedgen said.
As for the on-field duty of calling the plays, that’s a wait-and-see situation.
“It’ll be interesting. I don’t think anybody really knows how it’s gonna be once we start game time,” Hollenbach said. “We’ll see what happens.”
But while Friedgen is the new offensive variable, the Terps will rely on seasoned players – starting at the top with the fifth-year senior quarterback. Hollenbach, who threw 13 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions last season, now enjoys comfort levels with the offense, the wide receivers and Friedgen.
And while Friedgen has often voiced concern over the wide receiver position, the Terps have a deep core at running back that includes last year’s workhorse Lance Ball, the return of Josh Allen from a severe ACL injury and the return of junior Keon Lattimore from right shoulder surgery.
While Friedgen burns himself out running the offense and studying film, new defensive coordinator Chris Cosh marshals the players on the other side of the ball. Senior cornerback Josh Wilson, for one, wants to atone for the 25 points per game the defense allowed last season.
“That hurt. It hurt me,” Wilson said. “It might have not been my fault, it might have been my fault, but it hurts me all the same. I could’ve done something; I should’ve done something to help the team win.”
The losing has hurt Friedgen, too. When asked if there’s extra pressure on him this year, Friedgen answered that there’s always pressure on him – even if a lot of it comes from within.
With the Terps on the bowl-season threshold two years in a row, offensive line coach Tom Brattan said Friedgen has always coached with a sense of urgency, but now that urgency is heightened.
Even with his and his team’s work, Friedgen admits that uncertainty seeps in.
“I don’t know how we’re going to do. I really don’t,” he said. “I think we’re ready to go; I really do. But you never know. It’s how we’re gonna react to a setback.”
Frustration and disappointment have been the emotions at the end of the last two seasons, but even as pressure mounts on Friedgen to just get back to a bowl game, he can’t envision failure, gazing only at the win column to begin the turnaround.
“I always set high goals. That’s why I’m such a jerk sometimes, ’cause I expect to win every time I go on the field,” he said. “That’s just the way I am. It’s the way I’m built. I don’t think about losing.”
Terps under Friedgen
After leading the Terps to three straight bowl games, Ralph Friedgen has missed out the past two years.
Year Record Bowl
’01 10-2 Orange – L 56-23
’02 11-3 Peach – W 30-3
’03 10-3 Gator – W 41-7
’04 5-6 None
’05 5-6 None
Contact reporter Stephen Whyno at whynodbk@gmail.com.
