Van Valkenburg on Fridge

[frankpembleton]

Another fantastic article by KVV. A fitting tribute to a great coach....

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/thetoydepartment/2010/12/ralph_friedgen_and_a_remembran.html

I'm all for Leach, but I hope Ralph gets a great send-off at the Military Bowl and continues to be a presence at UMD. Great guy, great coach.

[brotherlo38]

Agreed. Either the Sun or the Post reported that MD floated adding Fridge to the Ring of Honor as a bargaining chip to get him to retire "gracefully". I think that's bull and he should be added no matter what. Hopefully they've offered him a position in the athletic department or maybe Plank has offered him a role in UA. This obviously has been messy but having Fridge return sooner rather than later will only help MD.

Ralph's rubbed some people the wrong way, but these next 10 days or so will determine how he's remembered in the short term. If he just says good things and doesn't say anything negative than I think everyone will be sad to see him go but happy for what he's done for the program. But if he starts to run his mouth....


Oh, and that photo of Fridge leaving pulls at my heart. :(

[Tony-OH]

I was just going to post this. A great piece by the Sun's best writer...

I'm for Friedgen being let go, but I respect what he's done and this piece did a nice job of putting it into perspective. He's a man who just lost his dream job, and although he's finanically secure for the rest of his life, I'm sure accepting that is not an easy thing to do for a guy who had a lot of pride.

Good luck coach. It may not of had the fairy tale ending you wanted, but you will still go down as a positive in the Terps football program.