So much for the holiday news cycle slowdown. As the world watches, health reform and Copenhagen are coming apart at the seams. In the sports world, Chris Henry falls out of a truck and dies, the Redskins fire and hire a GM (we’ll see if it makes any difference), and cocktail waitresses at VIP lounges nationwide gird their loins as Mrs. Tiger plans her exit strategy from Windermere.
And now, the Terps corner of the world gets rocked as well. The Washington Times’ Patrick Stevens, who may now officially be THE must-read Maryland beat writer, has discovered that Maryland is pretty low on the assistant coach pay scale. They’re last among the ACC’s public schools, lower than George Mason, and lower than their own freaking women’s team. How does that happen, by the way? How? How does that happen? “Arithmetic error” is the only thing that comes to mind.
Springing into damage control mode (which I understand they practice for two hours each day), the athletic department noted that the salaries were low because of a university-wide salary freeze, and that, oh yeah, right when Patrick called they were just about to unveil this super-generous new bonus structure that they had totally been working on for, like, months.
As may be expected, some people are making a pretty big deal out of this. The athletic department is incompetent, the athletic department is run by a bunch of ex-KGB agents, this university runs a third-class operation, the Terps will never be competitive again, and so on. For many fans, the only holiday songs that will be music to their ears this holiday are Debbie Yow’s hoarse and desperate screams as a demonic Hellbird pecks apart her ocular globes.
Now I admit that Yow and the AD don’t exactly live in the bright light of day when it comes to their decision-making, and perhaps Debbie baby needs to loosen up. I really have no idea, though, how that differs from other athletic departments. Also, the athletic department’s body of work by and large is pretty good. They made the right decision by keeping Ralph Friedgen (and, by and large, hiring him in the first place). They managed recent budget shortfalls without eliminating sports or making momentous cuts. Maryland has perennially elite programs in field hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s (and arguably men’s) basketball, and wrestling. As of December 17, Maryland sits fifth among D-1 schools in the Sears Director’s Cup, which ranks schools based on the performance of all their teams combined.
So yeah, they did a bad job here, but I’m not gonna say the athletic department isn’t running a tight ship or doing a good job. They could stand to be a bit more accountable (to themselves, really), and could stand to cut out what seems to be a decent bit of internal backbiting and length-of-urination competition, particularly in relation to the men’s basketball team, but overall, I think we’re in decent hands. Good reporting by a good journalist will in this case lead to a real problem receiving a good fix. In my book, nothing more to it than that.
(Photo credit: Washington Post…or is it HELL?!?!)
Have you ever seen Debbie Yow, Satan, Eric Hayes, and Steve Blake in the same room? I think not.
Have you ever seen Debbie Yow and April Cruz + 30 years in the same room together? No sir.
Neglecting our only money making sport is surely a recipe for future success!
Scott,
I have now. That comment put a chill in the old spine.
Dymond,
Don’t worry, the luxury boxes are going to make-up for any revenue shortfalls accrued by our continued, robust support of Competitive Cheer and Swimming!
I’ve always wondered why many of UMD’s assistant coaches tend to look like college students.
There’s clearly a personality clash between Yow and Gary Williams. They need to have it out one day in a padded room, or at the least, not let their personal hangups get in the way of a reputable program. Easier said than done, of course. But by and large, Yow and the Md. A.D. do a great job.
Do you think that the fight would end in them making out?
Is that Debbie Yow? Color me inappropriately stereotyping, but ALL this time I seriously assumed she would be a harsh-looking asian lady with a killer blunt bob. Oops.
Do you think that haircut might be a product of, well, her sexual orientation? It seems like the kind of haircut that would attract attention from other females. Females of a certain persuasion. A certain persuasion that involves touching other females sexually. She is a former women’s basketball head coach. I’ll let you connect the dots on this one.