Fridge's Excuse

[Todd-O]

I'm not quite sure what to make of Coach Friedgen's frequently used excuse following a loss. He claims that he didn't do a good enough job "getting through" to the players. Of course that's not always a direct quote... but if you follow the team, you know what I'm talking about.

I'm just curious to know if anyone else reads this and puts the paper down equally confussed.

My confussion really stems from the fact that, at this level of play, the difference between a win or a loss for a good team doesn't come down to how well a coach psyches his players up. It's just not the case. If willing yourself to win was that big a deal week in and week out, then go hire Anthony Robbins to be the coach.

Look... the bottom line is this. You either have the horses or you don't. OR you either had a good game plan or you didn't.

I'm not really sure where it lies for the Terps. On defense, I think their game planning is embarassing... the players, IMO, out play their skill. Kudos to the players.

On offense, I often feel like the game planning goes from mediocre to good... and players play well but not always great.

But none of this really has to do with pre-game rah-rah speeches. And if the fate of the team is most heavily reliant on getting players "UP" for a game... rather than game planning... then Ralph has much bigger problems than I thought.

The Terps go waxed by an opponent yesterday that was down... UVA has talent... this was probably a case of UVA "clicking" and MD being a bit over-hyped.

But, please, Ralph... save the "I didn't get the message through to the kids speech..." it's....[yawn]... getting..... [uh-ummmmm] OLD.

[OregonBird]

This team has a lot of things that concern me.

The offense is pretty vanilla. They've got a 1st round draft pick at WR and they can't figure out how to get him the ball. I watched Missouri last night and they do all sorts of creative things to get their "gamebreaker" the ball. Also, the line is overrated and the QB is a backup on a Top 20 team (at best).

The defense....well, I'm not even going to comment because Terps fans know how bad it is. There is talent there but Cosh continues to get outcoached.

I'm concerned about the Fridge. I think the game has passed him by. I don't care if the other team outplays you, if the adjustments you make don't work, you have the wrong game plan, etc....don't EVER say "we must not be getting through to the guys.." etc. That's BS! That means you're not getting guys ready to play. If it were one time, I'd say no big deal but this has become a pattern.

[jerryterp]

He's got tp go. The defence has been terrible all year. It seems like we always want to rely on the 2nd half comeback. Was there no blitzing yesterday???

[Mackus]

I like that he doesn't throw the kids under the bus and puts the blame for poor efforts on his shoulders.

I hate that we constantly are having issues with effort against inferior opponents. That's gotta change, its completely unacceptable.

If your argument is that the team got beat because UVA is talented and Marlyand just "didn't have the horses" then I disagree completely. I don't think you could actually be more wrong. We didn't show up yesterday. The talent difference between the two teams is vast, Maryland just put down an epic clunker of an effort.

[Dracula]

I'm not surprised. Fridge is pathetic.

As I've said all season, MD does this type of bs every year. Our 2 decent wins didn't change my mind one bit about Fridge. I don't know why anyone is surprised about Fridge laying an absolute egg against one of the worst teams in D1. I saw this coming a mile away.

I started the Fire Fridge thread after the MTSU game and many said it was "reactionary"...please...

If by "reactionary" you mean reactionary to the past 4-5 years of horrible coaching than yes it was reactionary. This same pattern is repeated every year and will repeat every year until Fridge is finally gone. I won't miss him.

I love MD, but in a wierd way, I hope they get their doors blown off the rest of year so that Yow might grow the balls to fire Fridge.

[accinfo]

I am sometimes a little surprised at the reactions to Maryland football losses. What are everyone's expectations for Maryland football? I consider them much different then basketball. I expect Maryland football to win more games then they lose and go to some low level bowl in most years. On an occasion they may do better and maybe worse but for the most part that is what I expect. They are 4-2 and headed to me right in that direction. They could win 7 to 9 games. I just don't ever see Maryland football being anything more. They are never going to compete year after a year with the Oklahoma's, Florida's. etc for National Championships. They just don't get enough good local or national players to play on that field. It isn't Fridge either because no coach in 40 years has been able to do that. My whole point is that Fridge has pretty much fullfilled those expectations. He is the only coach to do so since they loss Bobby Ross 20 years ago. In between they pretty much underachieved. I am not sure what coach they are ever going to get that is going to do much better.

Basketball is a different story. The ACC is still and will always be the premier basketball conference. There is more talent within 200 miles of the Maryland campus to fill several great teams. And you only need to get 4 or 5 of them to be really good. Maryland basketball has the greatest facilities in to offer recruits. Etc, Etc.

I think if people are disapointed in football season wait a couple of months because things in basketball are going to get worse.

[Mackus]

I'm not disappointed in the season overall. I'm just incredibly disappointed by the piss-poor performances against MTSU and UVA. The UVA game was probably the worst performance since Fridge got here. I can't ever remember a team that was favored by two touchdowns getting shutout and losing by over 30.

Every positive from the Cal and Clemson games have been canceled out by the negatives from the MTSU and UVA games. Basically, we've wasted those great wins by losing to terrible teams that we had no business losing to.

[OregonBird]

[QUOTE=accinfo;1493811]I am sometimes a little surprised at the reactions to Maryland football losses. What are everyone's expectations for Maryland football? I consider them much different then basketball. I expect Maryland football to win more games then they lose and go to some low level bowl in most years. On an occasion they may do better and maybe worse but for the most part that is what I expect. They are 4-2 and headed to me right in that direction. They could win 7 to 9 games. I just don't ever see Maryland football being anything more. They are never going to compete year after a year with the Oklahoma's, Florida's. etc for National Championships. They just don't get enough good local or national players to play on that field. It isn't Fridge either because no coach in 40 years has been able to do that. My whole point is that Fridge has pretty much fullfilled those expectations. He is the only coach to do so since they loss Bobby Ross 20 years ago. In between they pretty much underachieved. I am not sure what coach they are ever going to get that is going to do much better.

[QUOTE]

I understand what you are saying.

2004- 5-6
2005- 5-6
2006- 9-4 (Champs bowl win)
2007- 6-7 (Emerald bowl loss)
2008- TBD

This team has had one winning record since 2003 and in that year, several of the wins could have been losses as 5 of them were by a combined margin of 11 points. Assuming a normal year where a few go for you and a few go against you, the team could have been 4-8 or 5-7 in the regular season. This is a very important year IMO.

There are several guys who could do better. I'll name one: Mike Locksley. He has ties to the program, is an assistant now at Illinois so I'm sure he'd love to be a headcoach, and he is one of the top recruiters in the nation. Would he return to MD? Not sure but you'd have to think he'd want to be a head guy somewhere. He's a great recruiter, his offense is innovative and will sell seats which is what you need when you've just completed a stadium expansion project.

There are other guys out there and a good search committee would find them. For example, Paul Johnson, somehow Gtech snagged him from Navy. He's a great coach and he'll make Georgia Tech formidable nevermind what you think of his offense. Would Lane Kiffin want to return to the college game? What about some of the top assistants at big time programs? These guys are out there and its the search committee's job to use their channels to identify the next coach.

Personally I'd go after Locksley. He's a great recruiter and he'd stop some of the top guys from going to Penn State and Illinois every year. I realize you can't get them all but if you can keep maybe just 2 impact players from going to Illinois, Penn State, WVU every year, that's significant over 3-4 years. Imagine this team with an Aurelious Benn, Vontae Davis, etc. If the man can get kids to Champaign, IL, an ugly campus in the middle of nowhere with bad facilities and no tradition, he could certainly attract talent to College Park.

[Todd-O]

No way does Debbie Yow have the guts to fire Ralph.

We'd have to have back-to-back 2 win seasons for that to happen.

[accinfo]

There is nothing you said I can really disagree with either. Especially the part about Paul Johnson. I am not sure what makes a good football coach or not except if you win at a school like Navy where there really is a huge gap in talent levels then you are good. Just like Spurrier won at Duke where few did before or since.

It is hard to figure a team that wins outright at Clemson and then gets smashed at UVA. Point spreads are really only relevant if you gamble but very few are off by 46 like that one. Predicting what this team is going to do the rest of the season is for smarter people then me.




I understand what you are saying.

2004- 5-6
2005- 5-6
2006- 9-4 (Champs bowl win)
2007- 6-7 (Emerald bowl loss)
2008- TBD

This team has had one winning record since 2003 and in that year, several of the wins could have been losses as 5 of them were by a combined margin of 11 points. Assuming a normal year where a few go for you and a few go against you, the team could have been 4-8 or 5-7 in the regular season. This is a very important year IMO.

There are several guys who could do better. I'll name one: Mike Locksley. He has ties to the program, is an assistant now at Illinois so I'm sure he'd love to be a headcoach, and he is one of the top recruiters in the nation. Would he return to MD? Not sure but you'd have to think he'd want to be a head guy somewhere. He's a great recruiter, his offense is innovative and will sell seats which is what you need when you've just completed a stadium expansion project.

There are other guys out there and a good search committee would find them. For example, Paul Johnson, somehow Gtech snagged him from Navy. He's a great coach and he'll make Georgia Tech formidable nevermind what you think of his offense. Would Lane Kiffin want to return to the college game? What about some of the top assistants at big time programs? These guys are out there and its the search committee's job to use their channels to identify the next coach.

Personally I'd go after Locksley. He's a great recruiter and he'd stop some of the top guys from going to Penn State and Illinois every year. I realize you can't get them all but if you can keep maybe just 2 impact players from going to Illinois, Penn State, WVU every year, that's significant over 3-4 years. Imagine this team with an Aurelious Benn, Vontae Davis, etc. If the man can get kids to Champaign, IL, an ugly campus in the middle of nowhere with bad facilities and no tradition, he could certainly attract talent to College Park.

[Dracula]

No way does Debbie Yow have the guts to fire Ralph.

We'd have to have back-to-back 2 win seasons for that to happen.

Well Yow needs to be fired too, but I guess that's a whole nother discussion.

[Mackus]

Fridge hasn't done a marvelous job since his first 3 years, however, I still think there is a lot more room for the program to go down than there is for it to go up, so firing him would be a pretty risky move.

I don't think the program can ever be in the super upper echelon of college football programs, but I do think we should be a team that is consistently a top-20 team and a couple times a decade a team that is a legit top-5 or so team.

[MurphDogg]

Fridge hasn't done a marvelous job since his first 3 years, however, I still think there is a lot more room for the program to go down than there is for it to go up, so firing him would be a pretty risky move.

I don't think the program can ever be in the super upper echelon of college football programs, but I do think we should be a team that is consistently a top-20 team and a couple times a decade a team that is a legit top-5 or so team.

That is a pretty lofty goal. That would require them to be in the ACC title hunt every year, year in and year out. I don't think you can consistently be in the top 20 and not be considered an elite program.

[Baltimore Chop]

Fridge hasn't done a marvelous job since his first 3 years, however, I still think there is a lot more room for the program to go down than there is for it to go up, so firing him would be a pretty risky move.


:agree:

This is dead on accurate. Anyone else remember the Joe Krivak/Mark Duffner/Ron Vanderlinden years? You know, year after year after year after year of losing seasons? I don't know about you guys, but I sure as heck don't want to return to that dreck.

Canning Fridge certainly exposes us to that risk. If you want a point of reference, consider Syracuse when they inexplicably dumped Paul Pasqualoni (who made the postseason every year) for Greg Robinson. That program went from the "embarrassment" of making minor bowl games to the embarrassment of only being able to win one or two games a season.

Fridge gets us to the postseason. Regardless of what bowl you make, getting to the postseason is a positive. Obviously you want to be in the bigger bowl games, but the vast, vast, vast majority of teams don't sniff those anyway.

If you want to talk about firing someone, talk about firing Cosh. He has not impressed me at all as a D Coordinator. He needs to mix more blitzes into his defense, and he needs to get his defense trained to stop the screen passes/underneath stuff that goes for big yards. He has not impressed me at all as a D Coordinator.

[ccbird]

:agree:

This is dead on accurate. Anyone else remember the Joe Krivak/Mark Duffner/Ron Vanderlinden years? You know, year after year after year after year of losing seasons? I don't know about you guys, but I sure as heck don't want to return to that dreck.
Canning Fridge certainly exposes us to that risk. If you want a point of reference, consider Syracuse when they inexplicably dumped Paul Pasqualoni (who made the postseason every year) for Greg Robinson. That program went from the "embarrassment" of making minor bowl games to the embarrassment of only being able to win one or two games a season.

Fridge gets us to the postseason. Regardless of what bowl you make, getting to the postseason is a positive. Obviously you want to be in the bigger bowl games, but the vast, vast, vast majority of teams don't sniff those anyway.

If you want to talk about firing someone, talk about firing Cosh. He has not impressed me at all as a D Coordinator. He needs to mix more blitzes into his defense, and he needs to get his defense trained to stop the screen passes/underneath stuff that goes for big yards. He has not impressed me at all as a D Coordinator.


This is true. As frustrating as it's been to watch this team basically be stuck in neutral the last 5 years it's still far better than anything we did in the '90s. There was actually talk at one time of moving down to 1-AA for football because we were never even close to being competitive.

[OregonBird]

This is true. As frustrating as it's been to watch this team basically be stuck in neutral the last 5 years it's still far better than anything we did in the '90s. There was actually talk at one time of moving down to 1-AA for football because we were never even close to being competitive.

A valid point.

However, back in the Krivak/Duffner/Vanderlinden eras there was far less talent in the Metro areas. Back then you'd find maybe a dozen D-1 football prospects but now there are 3x that if not more, with probably a dozen guys going to elite programs. Add NoVA, Tidewater peninsula VA, South/Central Jersey, Southern PA, and there's plenty of talent to recruit. I understand that some kids want to leave home to play out of state (heck, I did too) but it bothers me that Fridge can't keep just one or two more kids per year in state.

I also think the UMD has improved its "Brand Equity" since those times. It is one of the Top public universities in the US and the schools of business and engineering get even more notoriety. Add to that the luster of national championships in other sports as well as improving facilities and Maryland should be a much easier "sell" than in those years.

Given the reasons above, I'm not satisfied with what Fridge has done since the Gator Bowl. Here is what I do expect:
1. Bowl Games 4 out of 5 years; winning records before and after the bowl
2. Top 25 ranking in most years (4 out of 5)
3. Compete for conference title maybe every 3 years; other than Miami and FSU with their recruiting base and tradition, who should be consistently beating the Terps?
4. Beat the teams they are supposed to beat...soundly (MTSU, EMU)
5. Be competitive in each game, particularly conference games, even steal a few conference games from time to time.

I expect a rolling, two year average of 8-4. I don't think this is unrealistic or unreasonable.

[Danielos38]

If the man can get kids to Champaign, IL, an ugly campus in the middle of nowhere with bad facilities and no tradition, he could certainly attract talent to College Park.

Wow. I know this is totally off topic, but Illinois is a pretty campus, (just as pretty as MD) and the basketball stadium and facilities aren't horrible. Even thought its exact location is the middle of nowhere, its within a few hours on high speed roads of Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St. Louis. I hope you've been there before you slam it like that.

[Dracula]

A valid point.

However, back in the Krivak/Duffner/Vanderlinden eras there was far less talent in the Metro areas. Back then you'd find maybe a dozen D-1 football prospects but now there are 3x that if not more, with probably a dozen guys going to elite programs. Add NoVA, Tidewater peninsula VA, South/Central Jersey, Southern PA, and there's plenty of talent to recruit. I understand that some kids want to leave home to play out of state (heck, I did too) but it bothers me that Fridge can't keep just one or two more kids per year in state.

I also think the UMD has improved its "Brand Equity" since those times. It is one of the Top public universities in the US and the schools of business and engineering get even more notoriety. Add to that the luster of national championships in other sports as well as improving facilities and Maryland should be a much easier "sell" than in those years.

Given the reasons above, I'm not satisfied with what Fridge has done since the Gator Bowl. Here is what I do expect:
1. Bowl Games 4 out of 5 years; winning records before and after the bowl
2. Top 25 ranking in most years (4 out of 5)
3. Compete for conference title maybe every 3 years; other than Miami and FSU with their recruiting base and tradition, who should be consistently beating the Terps?
4. Beat the teams they are supposed to beat...soundly (MTSU, EMU)
5. Be competitive in each game, particularly conference games, even steal a few conference games from time to time.

I expect a rolling, two year average of 8-4. I don't think this is unrealistic or unreasonable.


Totally agree with this. Why are we settling for Fridge mediocrity? We don't have to anymore.

What's the point in saying "Well at least Fridge isn't as bad as the other guys".

Who cares about the past. We should be striving to be a consistent top 25 team, we have all the necessary resources to do so today. Settling for Fridge and his mediocrity is so boring. MD football has a lot of potential.

I don't expect us to be a powerhouse every year, but OBird's expectations are attainable and that is what we should be striving to be, let's at least TRY to get better.

We are surrounded by solid talent, let's get it here and develop it. No excuse not to.

[OregonBird]

Wow. I know this is totally off topic, but Illinois is a pretty campus, (just as pretty as MD) and the basketball stadium and facilities aren't horrible. Even thought its exact location is the middle of nowhere, its within a few hours on high speed roads of Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St. Louis. I hope you've been there before you slam it like that.

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I've been on a lot of campuses b/c of travel and playing baseball in college and I wouldn't put Illinois in the top 1/2 of the ones I've been. Since I live in Oregon I might be a bit spoiled by U of O as well. That's my opinion.

I think you get my point. The Fridge has a lot of selling points for UMD therefore I think he's underachieving.

[Danielos38]

Point taken.

[Baltimore Chop]

To those of you who want to fire Fridge after he started the season a "mere" 4-2...

Just wondering -- who do you want to replace him with? Give me a short list of coaches who you think would do better and explain why.

[OregonBird]

To those of you who want to fire Fridge after he started the season a "mere" 4-2...

Just wondering -- who do you want to replace him with? Give me a short list of coaches who you think would do better and explain why.

I'm not one calling for his ouster just yet. If the Terps miss going bowling this year which implies a losing record, then yes I want him gone. I still want Cosh gone though. I'm guessing the Terps do just enough this year to go to a lesser bowl and Fridge will save his job for another two years.

I'll play along with this game though, I'll name three guys I wouldn't mind checking out.
1. Mike Locksley- he's one of the top recruiters in the nation and he's a good, developing OC. He's young and can relate to this generation so I think guys would play hard for him all the time. He has ties to the MD program and would probably want a head job somewhere.
2. Bobby Johnson- the guy is winning at Vanderbilt, enough said. He'll be highly sought after following this season and I'm guessing he'll get a top gig somewhere so I doubt he'd be a possibility.
3. Brian Kelly (Cincinnati HC)- he's building a solid program and his offense is very exciting which is needed to sell the expanded Byrd stadium. His name will get mentioned for some top jobs in a year or two.

[Birds of B'more]

I'm not one calling for his ouster just yet. If the Terps miss going bowling this year which implies a losing record, then yes I want him gone. I still want Cosh gone though. I'm guessing the Terps do just enough this year to go to a lesser bowl and Fridge will save his job for another two years.

I'll play along with this game though, I'll name three guys I wouldn't mind checking out.
1. Mike Locksley- he's one of the top recruiters in the nation and he's a good, developing OC. He's young and can relate to this generation so I think guys would play hard for him all the time. He has ties to the MD program and would probably want a head job somewhere.
2. Bobby Johnson- the guy is winning at Vanderbilt, enough said. He'll be highly sought after following this season and I'm guessing he'll get a top gig somewhere so I doubt he'd be a possibility.
3. Brian Kelly (Cincinnati HC)- he's building a solid program and his offense is very exciting which is needed to sell the expanded Byrd stadium. His name will get mentioned for some top jobs in a year or two.

Being a guy who attends Ducks games, I'm surprised you left Chip Kelly off the list. He also coaches a high-octane offense, has east coast ties (New Hampshire and coached 1 year @ Johns Hopkins) and will likely be a hot commodity this offseason. Or did you purposely omit him in hopes that he'll stay in Eugene? ;)

[OregonBird]

Being a guy who attends Ducks games, I'm surprised you left Chip Kelly off the list. He also coaches a high-octane offense, has east coast ties (New Hampshire and coached 1 year @ Johns Hopkins) and will likely be a hot commodity this offseason. Or did you purposely omit him in hopes that he'll stay in Eugene? ;)

Ah yes, Chip Kelly. Not sure he's ready for head coaching job but the offense sure would sell a lot of tickets.

There are plenty of talented coaches out there who should get a look.

But, as I said in my previous post, Terps go to something like the Tire Bowl and Fridge will be safe.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Phllip Fulmer??

You mean a great coach for his alma mater who had a great start followed by a few up-and-down seasons causing the fans with extreme expectations to call for his head?

[Dr. FLK]

You mean a great coach for his alma mater who had a great start followed by a few up-and-down seasons causing the fans with extreme expectations to call for his head?

The man is 100 games over .500 in his career. I certainly hope you aren't comparing him to the Fridge.

[BaltimoreTerp]

The man is 100 games over .500 in his career. I certainly hope you aren't comparing him to the Fridge.

Only in the sense that I figured the first responder wouldn't have a sense of humor :D

Of course, I figured it would be Tony :laughlol:

[Tony-OH]

I'm not calling for Friedgen's head but I wouldn't be upset if they let him go. The Terps are a border line top 25 in most seasons that Friedgen has been here so I'm not sure you can ask for more. I'm glad he gave up play calling duties but the new guy is not very creative. My major concern with Friedgen is the same as my main gripe about Gary, and that's his recruiting, especially a QB is not very good.

I don't understand how he can not find at least a decent QB to build around. I'd like to see a QB that comes in and is starting at least as a sophomore so we know we have three years with a guy. Turner is a backup a best, Steffy is a great kid who should do nothing but hold a clipboard, and from everything I've heard, Portis wouldn't know a weak side blitz from a zone coverage.

For the most part, I've come to accept that the Terps football team will never be a powerhouse (unlike Basketball where I expect them to be a powerhouse). As long as they are competitve and in bowl consideration each year, I think that's ok. Would I like to see a program that could compete on a BCS level once in awhile, sure, but it may be a bridge too far.

[OregonBird]

As I said a few posts above, Fridge will save his job this year and the program will be mired in mediocrity for a few more years. We'll hear the same excuses, players are young, "I can't reach these guys", need time to get the right players to fit the system, etc.

I still think this program should be in the Top 25 in most years and compete for the conference title every 3 years. No one in our division or the conference is really a football powerhouse anymore. With all the talent within driving distance of the school, not getting the players shouldn't be an excuse. Therefore its about the coaching.

I predict the Terps win 1 of the next 3 and go to a lesser bowl, thus causing many to consider the season a "success." With this team you never know what's going to happen. They could lose or win the next three.

[Todd-O]

As I said a few posts above, Fridge will save his job this year and the program will be mired in mediocrity for a few more years. We'll hear the same excuses, players are young, "I can't reach these guys", need time to get the right players to fit the system, etc.

I still think this program should be in the Top 25 in most years and compete for the conference title every 3 years. No one in our division or the conference is really a football powerhouse anymore. With all the talent within driving distance of the school, not getting the players shouldn't be an excuse. Therefore its about the coaching.

I predict the Terps win 1 of the next 3 and go to a lesser bowl, thus causing many to consider the season a "success." With this team you never know what's going to happen. They could lose or win the next three.

Yeah... what was up with Fridge saying he couldn't communicate because of a generational thing? You're the coach, Ralph... your JOB is to figure out how to reach people and get them trained, motivated, and able to perform.

Good grief.

[AgentOrange]

Fear the Turtle!



That is all.