Really, what else could the AD do? What quality coach would join a lame duck coach? Would you really want to reup Fridge for a multi-year thing? It's tough, but consider that Fridge has been average -at best - since the first 3 years - and those were with Locksley's recruits. Fridge - leave graciously and stay with the program. That is the right thing to do.

It makes sense to so this now, as opposed to this time next year, especially If James Franklin takes UMD guys to Vandy with him. It's sad, Fridge did a lot for UMD and I believe he loves that program, but Franklin leaving made it necessary to do this now or risk waiting 3-4 more years.

It makes sense to so this now, as opposed to this time next year, especially If James Franklin takes UMD guys to Vandy with him. It's sad, Fridge did a lot for UMD and I believe he loves that program, but Franklin leaving made it necessary to do this now or risk waiting 3-4 more years.

The only way this is bad is if you choose to accept mediocrity. MD should be a better football school than they have been and the guy, who did an ok job, wasn't going to get them there.

In perspective, Fridge did better than others but I'll say again that a school the size of MD in a football rich area should be a top 25 team year in and year out. Bowls don't mean anything...ECU is 6-6.

Pete,

Seems dumping the coach in waiting and the $1Million owed Franklin was the dominoe that sent Fridge well back in the Fridge.
Unfortunate after winning coach of the year in the ACC they dump him but actually I believe other factors were involved. Leach and Texas Tech were the second team to embrace Under Armor, it's President is the largest Alumni donor and the timing with Franklin and Leach's availability just made it come together.

7 Bowls in 10 years is pretting good, but his best year was with another coaches players and your right, he hasn't nor was he going to take UMD to the next level.

However, he was an alum who didn't deserve this ending!

The truth will set you free!

Pete - read your entire article waiting for your opinion on how they should have done it. Is there a "good" way? I can't think of one, especially when Fridge didn't want to go. Basically had to be done. Some people don't want to face reality. It's a cruel world.

I wholeheartedly agree with your article. This is an outrage and as a Terp alum and fan (and donor) I am furious at Kevin Anderson at his handling of this situation.

We'll hear a lot in the coming days about how much sense this move made from a business standpoint. We'll hear that having a "lame duck" coach next year would have hurt recruiting efforts, as well as staffing vacant coaching positions. We'll hear all about how ticket sales have been down and Debbie Yow's collection of luxury suites are not sold out. And we'll hear that with Friedgen's age he couldn't have been a long-term solution for Maryland. (What we won't hear as much about is how prominent booster Kevin Planck of UnderArmour drove this decision, as he continues trying to make Maryland into the east coast's answer to Nike's Oregon).

But this isn't what college sports are supposed to be about. You have a loyal Maryland alum who brought this program back from nothing, who has been successful in his ten years here and is coming off a solid year. You have a young team of players who played their butts off this year and look to be a force in the ACC over the next few years, who had no say in this and are now looking at a dramatic change in everything that worked so well for them this year.

At some level college sports shouldn't be about dollar signs, and it shouldn't be strictly about Ws and Ls. What we had in Friedgen was a coach we could be proud of, a coach who saw Maryland as his dream job, and a coach who gave us more wins and bowl games than we've had in a long, long time.

I lost a lot of respect for the University of Maryland and the leaders and decision-makers there through this ordeal. Anderson has lost any credibility he had before this mess, which was entirely of his own creation, and I am a lot less likely to go to Terps games from now on, regardless of what success Leach brings to College Park.