I have no interest in college sports, at least not in football and basketball. Those kids are basically playing for free in what amounts to minor leagues for the professionals. Either they get picked up or many of them get discarded by the colleges once their playing days are over.

You really had me until that Yow comment. If you can't see how she deliberately handicaps football and basketball, putting them at a disadvantage compared to other Major D1 programs, then i'm not sure what to tell ya.

Everything else was great though! FEAR THE TURTLE!

I wish they would have spent that $250K on ANYTHING that would have actually made an impact on the performance of the teams in the athletic program.

Say what you will about athletics vs. academics, but athletics bring in the money to pay for that stuff and do also bring in qualified, well-rounded intelligent students. I turned down full scholarships at other schools to attend UMD who offered me a $1,500 consolation prize for one semester. Why? Because I entered in Fall 2002, after the basketball team's inspirational national championship and an incredible football season ending at the Orange Bowl. There was so much promise back then.

I'm a second generation Terp, and hope that the school will become a national power again, or at least an ACC one, in time for my kids to want go there, but right now, it's incredibly disappointing that I can't even catch my team losing games on TV.

Yow and Fridge have dropped the ball and the whole university and town are suffering. It's time for one of them to go.

You've got to love a response to an article on college sports that begins with "I have no interest in college sports", and then proceeds to give an opinion on it anyway!

I'm sorry,but, if Maryland expects to advance to ACC elite in football or basketball, then Yow must go.Example; who else would give million dollar contract to asst. coach for future head coach job when the team is playing so poorly and recruiting is so bad. Maryland can't even recruit in state.
YOW MUST GO???

"New Coke" already was taken?

Saw this "Unstoppable starts here" sign at the UVA game and thought Adidas was a new sponsor- then remembered their ad campaign is "Impossible is nothing" So the university spent $250,000 to come up with a knock-off of an Adidas ad campaign??? Money well spent

When counting national championships at UMD, notice how every Yow supporter neglects to mention the male/female breakdown of said championships during her tenure? Click here: http://www.umterps.com/genrel/md-national-championships.html

That 3 men's championshions, the rest womens. Would any jury of reasonable people detect bias here? Or just poor management? or both...........?

BUST

You really had me until that Yow comment. If you can't see how she deliberately handicaps football and basketball, putting them at a disadvantage compared to other Major D1 programs, then i'm not sure what to tell ya.Everything else was great though! FEAR THE TURTLE!Posted by: Ben Agus-Kleinman

HOW ABOUT EXPLAINING WHAT YOU ARE SAYING HERE!

I'm sorry,but, if Maryland expects to advance to ACC elite in football or basketball, then Yow must go.Example; who else would give million dollar contract to asst. coach for future head coach job when the team is playing so poorly and recruiting is so bad. Maryland can't even recruit in state.
YOW MUST GO??? Posted by: Watash

FLORIDA STATE HAS A 5 MILLION PROMISE TO JIMBO FISHER AN ASSISTANT TO BOBBY BOWDEN. AND MANY SCHOOLS ARE DOING THE SAME THING.

I became a Maryland fan watching Boomer Esiason almost 26 years ago. As a student and alum i've watched virtually every one of Maryland's athletic teams over the years. I"ve personally met and conversed with both Debbie Yow and her predecessor, Andy Geiger, who came to UM from Stanford, then the best athletic program in the nation. Debbie Yow is a first class, top notch athletic director who has vastly improved the overall quality of UM's athletic program, made numerous renovations to Byrd, built a new arena, new soccer facility, new field hockey/lacrosse facility. All of this done while not running a deficit, something none of her predecessors were able to do. Clearly, football and basketball are the drivers and both of them have underperformed over the past 6 years. That needs to change and she knows that. While I respect Friedgen, I do think its time for him to go. Getting rid of Yow however, would be a mistake.

Lastly, if claiming that she deliberately handicaps football and basketball needs to come up with specific data and examples of how that is. Debbie knows that football and basketball pay the freight, and her salary. Basic self interest would tell you that she has every reason to support and help these programs, not make it more difficult to compete.

mdr,

I guess you've never heard of title ix that mandates that the participants mirror the campus gender ratio? If you looked even a little bit below the surface you would see what Debbie Yow has done to first champion changes in title ix interpretation, though the WSF caused that effort to fail.

Debbie Yow then found a way to allow the underfunded men's sports to increase their level of support. One example of this is that this year's University of Maryland Wrestling team will be the best in the program's history.

CantonKate'

Sounds like you are too young to know how dismal the entire athletic department was before Debbie Yow's arrival: deeply in the red, underfunded programs, NCAA sanctions, and still suffering from the over reaction by the entire University to the death of Len Bias. :

Ben Agus-Kleinman,

How exactly does Debbie Yow handicap football and basketball? She doesn't set admission standards nor set the numbers of individual admissions that the University allows. Under her tenure there have been dramatic improvements in facilities while balancing the budget and maintaining a well-rounded and highly competitive athletic department.

"Unstoppable starts here" makes no sense even if one looks at it as a play on words. As to the Yow issue...in these days if one makes a criticism we are either gender biased or worse...so since I am NOT into PC..."Go with YOW...into mediocrity."

Terp75 -
How on earth is 18 national championships in her tenure called mediocrity? It's just not. I do not believe there is another school in the country - certainly there isn't in the ACC - that has had that kind of success.

Yes, football hasn't worked the way any of us want it to although we sure thought it was going in the right direction after 3 straight 10 win seasons. Now we know its not and if a change is needed its in the football program.

@Steve - I am too young, but my parents aren't. They attended UMD during those days, and I'm familiar with what campus life was like back then from talking to them and the many people I interact with that are UMD graduates.

Saying something is better than it was before doesn't mean that it's good or what it should be. I'm disappointed by the fall-off from a great time period just several years ago, especially because it's my money that's been invested since then.

Personally, I think that Yow has done a great job, but I think she's making a mistake by keeping Fridge around. I really love his outlook on team mentality and personal relationships, but he is not bringing in the right recruits nor winning games. His successes came with the prior coach's recruits and hasn't done squat since. I'm hoping Gary's going to pull off a good season this year, so I'll hold off on judging that, but as long as she keeps underperforming coaches around her stock will continue to decline.

Also, for the love of Testudo, can we PLEASE stop counting the Competitive Cheer National Championship when measuring success of the athletic program? Please?

15-years of direction, 18 national championships during the 'Years of Yow'. Big deal! Only one of those championships means anything (NCAA Men's Basketball in 2002). Both sports that matter to the University of Maryland ... football & men's basketball have suffered greatly under Yow. Sorry my school spirit is not going to shine after a field hockey or even women's basketball championship.