40 replies to this topic

[Oriole85]

That's like saying, "The Orioles had the potential for anywhere from 65 to 95 wins."

I don't think that's quite fair. Even though I don't think this was an 8-win team with CJ Brown, I think you can have a larger percentage range in college football than baseball in terms of predictions since there's so many less games.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Wow. Hope he at least can come back next season.

This was a 3 or 4 win team with Brown. Maybe a 1 or 2 win team now. Watching Danny O'Brien play for Wisconsin now is going to be even more painful.

The Sun confirms:

http://www.baltimore...0,4797723.story

I'll take that bet. I still like MD to win at-least 5 games.

[Oriole85]

One can only hope. It was a dark day in MD Sports the days those guys got hired.

I don't think it was as bad as you are trying to make it seem. Many were happy to see Yow gone. I don't remember too much negativity with the KA pick. In terms of Edsall, he wasn't the "sexy" pick, but it was a decent selection. 2-10 made it a lot darker and accounted for all this Monday Morning Quarterbacking.

[Oriole85]

ESPN Terps' offense turns to true freshman QB

http://espn.go.com/b...rue-freshman-qb

[BSLMikeLowe]

I don't think it was as bad as you are trying to make it seem. Many were happy to see Yow gone. I don't remember too much negativity with the KA pick. In terms of Edsall, he wasn't the "sexy" pick, but it was a decent selection. 2-10 made it a lot darker and accounted for all this Monday Morning Quarterbacking.

I think Anderson might get a little more criticism than he deserves. While he was the guy who cut sports, the issues that made it necessary were set in motion by Yow, not him. He did bumble the hiring process of both football and basketball from a PR standpoint.....reneging on his pledge to bring Fridge back, his "good to great" quote, and the dalliance with Sean Miller among the examples. Turgeon was ultimately a good hire, but given UM's stature in hoops KA would have had to really try hard to pick a bad candidate. I'd like to know what really happened with Mike Leach, whether KA truly preferred Edsall or if he got pressure from elsewhere to back away. I think Edsall's ceiling will be about what Friedgen's was (after the three 10-win seasons), assuming Edsall survives the debacle that has been his transition.....some 8-9 win seasons sprinkled in with some losing seasons, and the same stale atmosphere from a fan perspective.

[BSLMikeLowe]

I'll take that bet. I still like MD to win at-least 5 games.

You're on! Just for bragging rights, 5 or more you win, 4 or less I win.

[Oriole85]

I think Anderson might get a little more criticism than he deserves. While he was the guy who cut sports, the issues that made it necessary were set in motion by Yow, not him. He did bumble the hiring process of both football and basketball from a PR standpoint.....reneging on his pledge to bring Fridge back, his "good to great" quote, and the dalliance with Sean Miller among the examples. Turgeon was ultimately a good hire, but given UM's stature in hoops KA would have had to really try hard to pick a bad candidate. I'd like to know what really happened with Mike Leach, whether KA truly preferred Edsall or if he got pressure from elsewhere to back away. I think Edsall's ceiling will be about what Friedgen's was (after the three 10-win seasons), assuming Edsall survives the debacle that has been his transition.....some 8-9 win seasons sprinkled in with some losing seasons, and the same stale atmosphere from a fan perspective.

I'm gonna defend KA here. Even though I disagree with the decision to can Fridge, I think you have to understand circumstances changed in this instance. I will assume Fridge was going to be brought back as the story goes but then Franklin got offered the Vandy coaching position. Didn't JF go to KA and say he would stay if they would honored the contract - Fridge, Yow, and he signed to making up the head coach by thefollowing year? And it was there that KA told him, he would be considered but couldn't guarantee it (Franklin leaves). So at that point, KA choice was either extend or fire Fridge and he chose the former.

Thus if Franklin wasn't offered the Vandy head coaching position, I can only assume Fridge would've had another year atleast depending on how last year would've gone and at that point, KA would've had to decide whether to go with Franklin, extend Fridge, or go in a different direction.

And in fairness to the head coach-in-waiting, that was more Yow retaining Franklin. KA had said he was against those type of deals, he inherited this situation.

I'll give him close to a free pass on the sports cuts, those were largely unavoidable and it was Yow who ran the deficit up, again something he inherited. He just had to be in the position to pull the plug.

My biggest criticism is the coaching hires. The Turgeon hiring, even though it was screwed up looks like it might pass the test because of how it ends up (results > process). The #1 job of an AD is having successful football and men's basketball programs, you could argue the latter is more important at MD. After all, if football and men's basketball are "suffering," all sports are no matter how many championships soccer, lacrosse, field hockey wins, they will never bring in the revenue that the "big" sports do.

[BSLMikeLowe]

I think KA's mistake was making the pledge to bring Friedgen back in the first place, when Fridge was obviously not the guy he wanted, as we later discovered. He should have known anything can happen when it comes to coaching changes, like Franklin being lured away. And I don't buy the whole argument that he had to say something during the season, or else....despite Friedgen's attempt to force the issue. Friedgen was under contract for 2011, so he wouldn't be a lame-duck for another year. And with Franklin under contract as the CIW, it's not like recruits didn't know what they'd be signing up for at the time. All KA needed to do when asked by the media is give the same old reply Yow always did.....something along the lines of "as with all our coaches, we will evaluate at the end of the season."

[JeremyStrain]

Pretty sure MD told both Fridge AND Franklin they were going a different direction before the Vandy job happened.

My big issue with KA has been that he picked Edsall even though I think he didn't deserve an ACC job yet because he was a disciplinarian. KA is also of this mindset.

I think that's a pretty stupid way to decide who is going to run your team and then stand by as they run off and alienate half the team, while at the same time brushing off concerns from the boosters and alumni.

That's all.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Pretty sure MD told both Fridge AND Franklin they were going a different direction before the Vandy job happened.

Well, maybe if you count KA's cryptic message when he said he didn't care for the coach-in-waiting arrangements (which I totally agree, and you don't see that happening anymore). But when he publicly stated that Friedgen would return during what was a very successful season, I certainly didn't interpret that as going in a different direction.....unless you mean they were told privately.

[JeremyStrain]

Well, maybe if you count KA's cryptic message when he said he didn't care for the coach-in-waiting arrangements (which I totally agree, and you don't see that happening anymore). But when he publicly stated that Friedgen would return during what was a very successful season, I certainly didn't interpret that as going in a different direction.....unless you mean they were told privately.

Yeah it was a private thing. They were trying to get Ralph to leave on his own without firing him, and he was having none of it.

[Oriole85]

I think KA's mistake was making the pledge to bring Friedgen back in the first place, when Fridge was obviously not the guy he wanted, as we later discovered. He should have known anything can happen when it comes to coaching changes, like Franklin being lured away. And I don't buy the whole argument that he had to say something during the season, or else....despite Friedgen's attempt to force the issue. Friedgen was under contract for 2011, so he wouldn't be a lame-duck for another year. And with Franklin under contract as the CIW, it's not like recruits didn't know what they'd be signing up for at the time. All KA needed to do when asked by the media is give the same old reply Yow always did.....something along the lines of "as with all our coaches, we will evaluate at the end of the season."

I see your point and in HINDSIGHT, yes they shouldn't have announced it. Life changes and I think that's hard for people to accept sometimes.

I'm sure KA at the time thought that Franklin wasn't going anywhere. He wasn't exactly Vandy's first choice.

[Oriole85]

Pretty sure MD told both Fridge AND Franklin they were going a different direction before the Vandy job happened.

You got a link or anything to back that up?

[BSLMikeLowe]

Yeah it was a private thing. They were trying to get Ralph to leave on his own without firing him, and he was having none of it.

Then I'm guessing it was right around that time when Fridge doubled-down by publicly saying that he not only wanted to keep coaching beyond 2011, but that he deserved an extension from UM.

[JeremyStrain]

You got a link or anything to back that up?

I'm not message board noob. If I COULD say how I know that I would.

However...http://www.washingto...0122005589.html this link does back me up about the attempted forced retirement.

What it doesn't tell you is that Franklin gave MD every chance to match or retain him, and they declined, as KA wanted to bring in his own people.

[JeremyStrain]

Then I'm guessing it was right around that time when Fridge doubled-down by publicly saying that he not only wanted to keep coaching beyond 2011, but that he deserved an extension from UM.

Yep, Fridge played the game right back and said, nope, not only am I not leaving, you have to explain WHY you won't keep me.

[Oriole85]

I'm not message board noob. If I COULD say how I know that I would.

However...http://www.washingto...0122005589.html this link does back me up about the attempted forced retirement.

What it doesn't tell you is that Franklin gave MD every chance to match or retain him, and they declined, as KA wanted to bring in his own people.

I'm not buying that they would've dumped Fridge if JF hadn't gotten a head coaching offer, a month after KA said Fridge would be back, it's possible though. I think KA was content in bringing Fridge back if circumstances hadn't changed.

I do believe what you are saying about JF giving MD every shot it could to match Vandy's offer. And yes, I agree with what you are saying on Fridge's forced retirement, I think MD tried to do everything possible to avoid this PR nightmare for them and for Fridge to go away as quietly as possible (which didn't happen and I don't blame him).

[JeremyStrain]

I'm not buying that they would've dumped Fridge if JF hadn't gotten a head coaching offer, a month after KA said Fridge would be back, it's possible though. I think KA was content in bringing Fridge back if circumstances hadn't changed.

I do believe what you are saying about JF giving MD every shot it could to match Vandy's offer. And yes, I agree with what you are saying on Fridge's forced retirement, I think MD tried to do everything possible to avoid this PR nightmare for them and for Fridge to go away as quietly as possible (which didn't happen and I don't blame him).

Yeah just the whole situation didn't sit real well with me, nor others at (or no longer at) Maryland anymore.

[1970]

The comments he made about Friedgen staying notwithstanding, I had no problem with letting him go. It just isn't a good idea to have a lameduck college football coach. I have nothing against Ralph, I just feel it was time to make a change. I'm also not a Franklin fan so I was okay with not giving him the job.

In regards to Leach, I thought the story was that KA wanted him but the Board of Regents backed off after they starting getting a lot of complaints from the parents of the players. I've always wondered how many of those particular players ended up leaving anyway because they didn't like Edsall.

As for Edsall, I wasn't a fan of the hire. I definitely wasn't a fan last year, but I'm starting to come around. Locksley and the staff have done some really nice things in regards to recruiting. The offense has to be better this year - or at least should be more interesting to watch after that stupid system they ran last year. A friend of mine is from Pittsburgh, and has seen Hills play quite a bit. He thinks he's the real deal. Says we will be pleasantly surprised.

[glenn__davis]

Just a dagger to lose Brown. Frankly I suspected he would be hurt at some point in the season because of how he plays, but didn't think it would be before the season in a non-contact drill. I was looking forward to seeing what he could do with some more weapons and a competent OC.

Oh well. Have to hope Hills or Rowe can step up.