Maryland football head coach Ralph Friedgen is meeting with Athletic Director Debbie Yow right now to discuss his future with the program.  Most of you know that Coach Friedgen took over a terrible Maryland football program in 2001 and resurrected it to respectability.  When Friedgen became head coach the Terps had not made a bowl game since 1990, and he promptly brought them to the Orange Bowl in his first year.

Friedgen is now nine years into being head coach of his Alma mater, and his record stands at 66-46.  After a few hot years of winning and building a national reputation as a Top 20 team with a punishing defense, the Terps have cooled down considerably.  Last year, the Terps finished 8-5 and struggled to get selected for a bowl game.  This year was arguably the worst year in the history of the program, with the team finishing 2-10.

The front office faces a decision on whether or not to buy out Friedgen’s contract, which would cost $4M for the next two years.  Economically, it would be very hard to justify the buyout.  It’s unlikely that the program would recover the money it would cost to let him go.  I argue that it would also be a mistake from a programmatic standpoint.  I am generally the last person to make injuries an excuse for losing, but this season was an especially tough year on the injury front, with the Terps losing the better part of their defense and many of their offensive starters to injuries.  Inexperience on the offensive line also plagued the team.  I think that time off during the off-season would help Maryland heal these problems.  Ralph has given this program more success over the last nine years than it had seen in decades, and as a successful head coach and alumnus I believe he deserves a chance to finish out his contract.

Defensively, the Terps took a big turn for the worse under new coordinator Don Brown this year.  In 2008, the Terps gave up 22.5 pts/gm.  This year, that number increased to 31.5 pts/gm allowed.  That is an astounding 42% increase in points allowed year-over-year.  The Terps only managed to hold opponents under 30 pts three times this year.  The team gave-up 396 yds/gm this year on defense, which was a 12% increase over last year.  Brown’s super blitzing style often left the secondary in single coverage, and the Terps got burned for big plays over and over.  The team also seemed gassed at the end of games, and didn’t have the energy to close out teams they should have beaten.

The blame for Maryland’s poor defensive play this year has to go on Brown.  He was the major change on that side of the ball, and his results this year were untenable.  I believe that Yow has take action to show the alumni and boosters that she is serious about results.  Firing Friedgen doesn’t make financial sense, and I do not believe it would make tactical sense, either.  If something has to be done, I believe Yow should fire Brown and keep Friedgen.