This is not the way anyone wanted Ralph’s career to end at College Park. But the choice came down to a lame duck year, a new 4 or 5 year contract or 100% buyout of his remaining year. Ralph will receive $2 Million dollars for not coaching next year. To guess what could have happened is pure conjecture but perhaps the University tried to cut a deal and Ralph and his lawyers said no deal.Kevin Anderson was obviously unwilling to extend the contract.
Despite 1 million rumors to the contrary, no one has yet to be contacted or offerered the position. This much I will say the replacement better be someone high profile, someone we all know of, someone who can help sell tix, someone ingenious enough to take us back to where we were over 5 decades ago.
FREDDY FROM BOCA
i’ll take play comparable to ross’ good yrs at c.p.
· 11/12/2019
Dorothy Smith
As a former female athlete at the University of Maryland, my gut tells me something is not right with this deal. My question is how is the Athletic Department going to pay for all this? Ralph’s buy out and higher pay check for new coach that will want a bigger operating budget with less money coming in. I want to know what the AD’s plan is, not who the next football coach will be?
What programs will suffer, just for the rush of a new football coach? I am predicting that it will be the women’s sports as well as the non revenue sports, that doesn’t make me excited and wanting to give more money. Yes, I know I am the minority. Part of my pride in being part of Maryland’s athletic program was/is that most Terp sport teams are in the top half of the ACC. Some with limited vision would think that National Championships in women’s basketball, field hockey, soccer, lacrosse do not compare with a championship level football team. I would like for them to take a moment and reflect on what is filling the airways at this time. UCONN women’s basketball. Having watched an ACC school in my area take the approach of all for football and men’s basketball in turn not being able to fund as many sports programs because of the extra expense of working with extremely needy athletes which require constant supervision.
Since we now seem to be in the fill the seats era, I might need to take my football season ticket money and buy season tickets to the sports that will have their programs impacted the most.
Am I off base?
· 11/12/2019
Bruce
Dorothy
First, thanks for the comment. If you are a regular reader of my website and listener to my show, you know how much I support and enjoy women’s sports at Maryland. Probably because my daughters player lacrosse and field hockey at the D1 level , I have a greater appreciation then most. But no matter how we look at it the driving revenue sources at the College level are football and men’s basketball. Their financial success helps to allow all of the non revenue sports to exist. Ralph Friedgen is a great guy and did a tremendous job in turning around the program 10 years ago. But this year with a 8-4 record the stadium was not even close to being filled, the Terps games were on the computer as much as regular TV, and then the team was snubbed by the ACC and its Bowl affiliates. Add to this the Coach in waiting problem, and the result was our new Athletic Director felt a change had to be made. Please call in the show on Thursday night between 6 and 7 to express your opinions. Let me know if you can.
· 11/12/2019