The University of Maryland fell to 1-3 today, as they lost to Rutgers 34-13.

If losing to Middle Tennessee State for the second-consecutive season was pathetic, the response today from the Terps today, was just sad.

On the first-offensive play of the game, Senior QB Chris Turner threw a pick that was returned for a TD. Immediately down 7-0, the Terps responded to take a 13-10 half-time lead.

In the 3rd Quarter, Turner fumbled in the end-zone, and Rutgers recovered for a touchdown.

Now down 17-13, Running Back Da’Rel Scott fumbled, and Rutgers was able to kick a FG to go up 20-13. Down 1 touch-down with the game (and for all intents their season) on-the-line, MD was unable to convert a 4th down in Rutgers territory with under 6mts left.

Suffering that deflation, the entire team seemed to let-up, and Rutgers scored two-late TD’s on long runs.

In all, MD had 5 turnovers on the day, which killed any chance of a victory. When the Terps were not coughing the ball up today, their skill looked superior to the Scarlet Knights. Through 3 Quarters, Rutgers only had 130 yards of offense.

Losing today was just horribly deflating, made all the worse by having your Senior QB charged with 4 turnovers of his own.

You now have to wonder if program change is in the immediate forecast for the University of Maryland. Honestly, the Athletic Department started this line of talk themselves, by naming the Offensive Coordinator James Franklin as the Head Coach in waiting.

By making that announcement, the ramification is that everyone associated with the program immediately begins thinking of the future.

Needing OT to beat James Madison and losing to Middle Tennessee State two years in a row, is not acceptable. On the other-hand, if the Terps had responded with a win today, I could (and would) argue it is adversity that could be overcome. The team not being able to respond to that adversity today, is an indication that change is needed.

As I said last-week, wins and losses ultimately fall on the shoulders of the man in charge. If you are a fan of Maryland, you should be a fan of Friedgen. It bears repeating, that prior to his hire, Maryland had been to 1 bowl game in the 15 previous seasons. Since he was hired, the Terps had been to 6 bowl-games, and won 4. He helped improve the facilities, attendance, and fund-raising.

While people like to state that he was only able to compete with Ron Vanderlinden’s recruits, the truth is Friedgen’s recent recruiting has been better than advertised.

Here are the Terps annual recruiting-rankings according to Rivals.com, during the past-five years:

Maryland
2009: 28th
2008: 38th
2007: 35th
2006: 29th
2005: 16th

= Average class ranking of 29th.

If you think that is an unacceptable average-ranking, I believe you have expectations that are out of scale with reality for this program.

The HS talent of Maryland, and D.C. continues to improve, but this is not Western PA, or Ohio; let alone Georgia, Florida, Texas, or California.

The Terps are in a region that regularly competes against West Virginia, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers for D1 talent.

The Terps will continue to get their share of talent, but those other schools will continue to poach MD targets as-well.

I do not question the talent that is coming into College Park – I question the production, and progression of the talent that has been brought-in. This falls on the Coaching staff.

Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow has a couple of ‘Chicken and Egg,’ arguments that she is going to have to weigh-out. The University has not sold all of the suites in the newly renovated Tyser Tower. As an Athletic Department, there is discussion if there will have to be a cut in some of the Athletic programs offered.

Even if Yow believed a Coaching change was in-order, is the Athletic Department financially sound enough to pay Friedgen to not Coach? If a change was made to Head Coach in waiting James Franklin, are Corporations going to line-up to buy the remaining suites? Are you going to gain additional season-ticket sales, with the promotion of Franklin? The offense is struggling. Does promoting the man in charge of the offense due anything to improve the morale of the fan-base?

If you wanted to look elsewhere from Franklin, does the Athletic Department have the ability to pay Franklin the $1M owed to him, pay Friedgen for not coaching, and sign another HC with any existing pedigree?

Perhaps you have to look at this from the other-side. The revenue from football is huge for the Department as a whole. If Football falls further into mediocrity, how does that hurt everything going-forward?

If the University of Maryland asked Coach Friedgen to step-down, and decided that Coach Franklin was not the man to inherit the program; I can only think of one name that could truly elevate the Terps to a new-level.

That man, is former Ravens Head Coach Brian Billick.

Billick is not an offensive genius, but he has all the tools to be a dominating college coach.

He is exceptional with dealing with the media, and I believe he would be a superior recruiter.
I can picture him going into the homes of recruits, and flashing his Super Bowl ring. Reminding those recruits of his 85-67 career record in the NFL, and how he has what it takes to prepare players for that next-level.

Billick is a master-motivator, whose teams always played hard. While stories get old at the professional-level, in college the players always change, and the stories stay fresh.

To me, Billick’s best Coaching job game with his youngest-team, two years after the Super Bowl, when he found a way to make that group competitive.

Billick has a lot of ties to local business, which could help with fund-raising.

After being fired by the Ravens, Billick has made the decision to continue living in Maryland, saying he loves it here. He has an existing relationship with Gary Williams, and him and Ravens owner (and major Terp contributor) Steve Biscotti have stayed friendly as well.

Biscotti obviously will not decide the next Maryland Head Coach, but his $$$ might let him give his opinion.

I guess the only problem with the scenario I have concocted, is that Billick told me directly he does not see himself stepping back to the College game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzxOjH78mV0

You can see Billick’s response to my question at around the 3 minute-mark of the above YouTube link.

I had limited time that night, but I think there is a further argument that could be made to him.

“Coach Billick, it has been said that you want to coach again. This is your 2nd-year out of the league, and there have not been numerous suitors banging down your doors. You could come to Maryland, and continue to live in your house. You would not make as much as you did in the NFL, but you would make more than you do combined working with the NFL Network, and Fox Sports. The other benefit is that you would not being working as obscene a schedule as you did at the professional-level. You wrote the book Competitive Leadership, which is certainly applicable to business; but also to young-men who need to be developed.”

Maybe you make that argument to Billick, and he turns you down. I still think it would be a worth-while discussion to have.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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