Maryland’s first-year athletic director Kevin Anderson said today that everyone will know where the Maryland football program is going by early next week.

I hope he’s got his Garmin handy, because Lord knows I can’t figure out where he’s going with this.

Earlier today, head-coach-in-waiting James Franklin officially became the new head coach at Vanderbilt, foregoing the $1 million he would’ve been owed had he not been named head coach of the Terps by January 1, 2012.

But then it got a little crazy.

Now reports say Maryland has asked head coach Ralph Friedgen to retire and accept a buyout payment. Fine thanks for a coach who just won ACC Coach of the Year, dontcha think?

And with Franklin en route to Vandy, who would replace him? Survey says Mike Leach, though he says Maryland hasn’t yet reached out (and y’all know Leach says what’s what).

I don’t think Leach would be a bad fit at Maryland. He’s entertaining as all get-out and I’d love to see how his offensive style would play out at Maryland, with ACC Rookie of the Year Danny O’Brien at quarterback.

But I don’t like the timing. I don’t like it one bit.

If Maryland wanted to get rid of Friedgen, why not last year after the Terps went 2-10? (Because that would mean Franklin would be next up and they didn’t want that either.)

If Anderson wasn’t too keen on former AD Debbie Yow giving Fridge+Franklin one more year to get things back on track, why, then, one month ago, did he say Friedgen would be back in 2011? Why did he wait until after the Terps finished third in the ACC, and Friedgen was named Coach of the Year, to hint that he’s about to pull the plug? Did he think Friedgen wouldn’t be able to recruit or keep the momentum going without Franklin backing him up?

Or was this Kevin Anderson’s master plan from the beginning?

Let’s say Anderson came into the job with a strong dislike of the coach-in-waiting idea. Let’s say he also thinks Fridge and his staff should’ve been canned after last year. Maybe he thinks this year was a fluke, that Fridge is past his prime, and that Franklin’s no better. But he doesn’t want to have to write that big fat $1 million check to an OC he didn’t want in the first place. So maybe, when he said Friedgen would be back next season, he didn’t mean it. (Sure seems that way at this point.) Maybe he said it so when Franklin got the inevitable calls after this up year, he’d weigh his options and decide he’d better go while he’s wanted. And then after Franklin was gone - even as soon as the day of - he’d oust old Ralphie, too. That means Maryland can be done with both of them, without having to pay Franklin his due. Talk about an masterminded plot.

I really hope it doesn’t work.

I’m not going to suggest that Friedgen is the long-term solution at Maryland. I’m not going to argue that hiring Leach would be a bad choice (other options, yeah, I’ll argue against them). But I really, really, really abhor the idea of forcing Ralph Friedgen to retire at this stage of the game. I didn’t like it when Florida State forced Bobby Bowden out after last season. I thought Tennessee could’ve handled Phil Fulmer’s dismissal a little better (that’s really worked out well for them, hasn’t it?) And I do not like the reports that make it sound as if Friedgen will be out after next season.

I especially don’t like the reports coming after Anderson announced Friedgen would be back in 2011. Don’t announce it if it’s not true. Bottom line.

Ralph Friedgen was allegedly sick and could not be reached for comment. You know what? I’d be pretty sick about this if I was him, too. I think it’s a shame that Maryland can’t appreciate the coaching job he and his staff pulled off this year.

Is he on the ropes because he didn’t get the Terps in a better bowl? Because that’s not really his fault. He helped them get to third in the conference; bowl politics - and the lack of Maryland fan support in the form of butts in seats - dropped them to a lower bowl. So don’t put that on him. Maryland better not dare use that as any part of their sure-to-be-lame-and-inadequate excuse.

Ralph Friedgen just led the Terps in an incredible turnaround season. He won ACC Coach of the Year for it. I firmly believe that deserves a lot more respect than Maryland and Kevin Anderson have shown him.

Starring Maryland Athletics Director Kevin Anderson

Congratulations, Mr. Anderson. Brilliant performance. Your announcement on November 18, declaring that soon-to-be-former Head Coach Ralph Friedgen would continue to coach in 2011, was incredibly realistic. Seriously. I totally bought it. To find out that really wasn’t what you had in mind all along, that it was just an act, blows my mind. It was a truly inspired performance. You could give the Terps’ special teams guys a lesson on trick plays. But I guess it’s a little easier to pull off such Oscar-worthy performances when you have Kevin Plank’s Under Armour money backing you up, huh?

You just fired the ACC Coach of the Year, who coached the ACC Rookie of the Year. The team went from 2-10 in 2009 to 8-4 in 2010….and you want “to go in a different direction?” What direction might that be, exactly? Because I’m not entirely sure I want to follow. 

I hate to say it, but you’re pushing me way closer to missing Debbie Yow than I’m entirely comfortable with. Do you see what you’re doing to me, Maryland?? At least Yow was tactful enough to keep the standard “We won’t make any decisions until after the season” line in her back pocket.

The Terps can hire Mike Leach, and he can be successful (he better be successful), and it’s not going to make me any happier about the way this went down. It’s complete and utter b.s. and it’s extremely disappointing. It’s not going to make me any more likely to support Maryland athletics. It might make a little more likely to buy a bowl ticket, just to see Friedgen’s last game, but I’ve got a real bad taste in my mouth about the way Maryland handled this. If you don’t want Friedgen anymore, fine. DON’T say you do then. Good for him for refusing to retire.

And if Kevin Plank is behind this, like some local media is suggesting, shame on him. Listen up, Kev: You might’ve engineered new gear for athletes but that doesn’t make you an athletic director so step off. Stick with what you know. Actually, don’t. I wore your Cold Gear leggings under other pants to the Ravens game yesterday and they were less warm than wearing 2 pairs of Target leggings. Maybe if you butted out of Maryland’s athletic department and focused on UnderArmour, your overpriced apparel would actually work as advertised.

After a few weeks of speculation about who would replace coach Ralph Friedgen at Maryland, it’s official: now-former UConn coach Randy Edsall’s the guy. 

Less than 24 hours after losing to Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, he traveled to College Park, interviewed, and landed the job.

Until this morning, his name wasn’t really mentioned as a candidate to replace Friedgen (perhaps by design since he was preparing for UConn’s first BCS bowl game), the discussion instead dominated by coaches ranging from frontrunner Mike Leach to Gus Malzahn to thank-goodness-we-didn’t-get-them Rich Rodriguez and Mike Locksley.

Before today, my knowledge of Edsall and his career was limited to: losing to Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, holding the UConn team together in the wake of Jasper Howard’s tragic murder, and acting really, really ridiculous on the sidelines. 

I did a little research and learned that he played under Tom Coughlin at Syracuse (well…he was the backup qb anyway) and took the UConn job as it was on the cusp of becoming the first school to make the leap from I-AA to I-A. His record at UConn was 74-70, although his record after moving to the FBS level is actually better (for comparison, Friedgen was 75-50 at Maryland). 

Edsall did a lot (shephered UConn from I-AA to a BCS bowl berth) in a short period of time (the Huskies moved to I-A in 2000 and joined the Big East in ‘04) with very little (UConn’s football offices were in trailers outside the stadium as recently as five years ago). 

But what will he do for Maryland that Ralph Friedgen couldn’t have done?

I think he’s probably a very good coach who will at least keep the Terps on the same path they were on this year, but I’m not sold that Randy Edsall is the guy who’ll get us in the Orange Bowl every year (partly because I’m not sold that such a guy exists). 

As far as I can tell, he’s a solid, well-liked guy, pretty even-keeled with a good reputation. (Sounds like the Fridge, huh?) He doesn’t have the spark of someone like Mike Leach - who can be more of a dangerously live wire - but he doesn’t have the controversial baggage either. 

Still, if what Maryland’s looking for is someone to fill seats and keep top in-state recruits at Maryland, I’m not sure Edsall’s going to have any more success than Friedgen. As ESPN analyst and Maryland alum Scott Van Pelt pointed out, Maryland’s fan base is tricky, and it’s going to be a challenge for any coach to hold their interest. 

Maryland’s in a basketball conference (the ACC) right between two major NFL markets (Baltimore and Washington). The fanbase isn’t as large and as passionate as that of someplace like Penn State or Florida, because the football team isn’t the team. Maryland’s fans are also Redskins fans or Ravens fans, and they’re more likely to spend their disposable income at NFL games than at Byrd Stadium. 

Winning big, and doing it consistently, will only change that so much. And if Randy Edsall wins big, and does it consistently, bigger schools will come calling. And unlike Ralph Friedgen, a Maryland alum who was more than happy to stay at Maryland, Edsall will likely answer the calls. He was in the mix for the Notre Dame job last season and talked with Miami about that opening earlier this year; if he’s a smashing success in College Park, an even bigger program will offer him even more to coach somewhere else, and Maryland will again be looking for a new hire.

Ralph Friedgen took the Terps from 2-10 to third in the ACC in one season. There’s a lot of young talent on the roster, beginning with ACC Rookie of the Year quarterback Danny O’Brien. If Fridge stays for the final year of his contract, and maybe a one-year extension, maybe they win the conference again. Then if he retires, the Terps are in a bit better position to attract a slightly bigger name, maybe one who’d see Maryland as a long-term deal. 

Right now, up-and-coming coaches see the program as a steppingstone, a strategic career move that will put them on a bigger stage and in a better position to get one of the prime jobs down the road. 

The only person who’d enjoy great success at Maryland and not consider moving on was Friedgen. And Maryland fired him. 

Here’s hoping Randy Edsall is able to pick up where Friedgen left off and accomplish great things with this great group of players. And here’s hoping Maryland treats him a little better than they treated his predecessor.

On a day when much of the sports world hangs on the every word of a bunch of athletically gifted and over-hyped 18-year-olds, Maryland has more important things to worry about.

Expected to bring in an underwhelming 2011 football recruiting class, Terps fans are more focused on who’ll be in College Park more immediately, like, tonight: the Duke Blue Devils.

It might not be the biggest sports rivalry game…except, for Maryland hoops fan, it’s the biggest rivalry game. (Some have said it’s a one-sided rivalry and Duke doesn’t care as much but really, does anyone care what Duke cares about? No. Moving on…)

It’s a game that Maryland, on a hot streak, has a good chance to win. The Terps narrowly lost the last matchup, at Duke, last month - and let’s be honest, they should’ve won that game. But that was last month, in the middle of the Terps’ frustrating run of games in which they had a lead, lost the lead, self-destructed, and lost the game.

That was then. Duke is tonight, at Comcast Center, and the #5 Blue Devils are looking much more vulnerable than they did the last game, most recently losing to St. John’s in a huge upset.

Of course, that’s what worries me. Duke is perfectly capable of rebounding from that game, coming in fired up and ready to roll right over the Terps. No one wants to be a rebound, least of all Maryland, especially when it comes to Duke.

The Terps have played Duke very well in College Park the last two seasons. Thanks to the extreme generosity of my awesome friend Mike, I was there last year when Maryland pulled off the win to claim a share of the ACC title, and I’m pretty sure that no matter how many more games I attend, in any sport, that one will stay in the top five. Jordan Williams’ dunk? So awesome. (P.S. Jordan - Do it again tonight, k?)

The 2009 game, when I ponied up the big bucks to take my dad to his first Maryland game, is close behind. The Terps almost-but-didn’t-quite win, but my favorite dude, Dave Neal, had pretty much the most amazing screen on Duke’s Nolan Smith EVER. For real, watch it. And you can read my post about it here.

For the first time in three years, basically the first time since Maryland basketball really meant something to me (yeah, I know, I was late to the party on that one) I won’t be at the Comcast Center when Duke comes to town. That just means all the Maryland dunks need to be bigger and the screens need to harder so they look just as exciting when I’m watching from home. And Maryland fans, if you’re lucky enough to be at the game, y’all better make some noise for me.

After a few days of obsessively refreshing websites and searching Google news and constantly checking Twitter for the latest on Maryland’s offer to former Miami head coach Randy Shannon, I finally got the news. Too bad it wasn’t what I was hoping to hear.

The Baltimore Sun reported that Shannon has declined an offer to take the defensive coordinator position at the University of Maryland.

I won’t lie; I like Randy Shannon and I was very happy to hear he’d been offered the position. I already had a blog post all ready to go about how he’s a stellar defensive coach and a stand-up guy and a really strong hire for new Terps head coach Randy Edsall.

I’ve liked Randy Shannon since he was elevated to the head coaching job at Miami at the end of the 2006 season. I thought it was wonderful when he refused to cater to former UM QB Robert Marve when he was acting like an entitled brat. I wanted him to be successful at Miami - and I don’t even like Miami - because I thought he was good for that program at that particular time (new rule: any player with a gun is off the team and out of school). And I was disappointed when it didn’t work out, just as I’m disappointed it’s not going to work out between Shannon and the Terps.

Shannon reportedly turned the job down because if he took it, he’d be losing $1.5 million in buyout money from the University of Miami. It seems like he gave that number to the Terps, theoretically offering them the chance to match it, and they said “Kbye.”

Can you blame either side?

Maryland’s already paying Randy Edsall somewhere in the $2 million range, and they’re also paying former coach Ralph Friedgen another $2 million to not coach (Tell me where the logic is in that. Please. Someone.) Coming up with another enormous chunk of change for a coordinator probably wouldn’t be a great option for the school right now.

While there are some college coordinators pulling in salaries worth millions, those coordinators do not coach in the ACC (Auburn’s Gus Malzahn will be making $1.3 mil after a raise, but ACC D-coordinators last year made between $150,00 and $700,000, depending on the school.)

Maryland had no business giving Randy Shannon $1.5 million. They probably could’ve come up with something that would add up to that over a few years, but it seems like he didn’t want that.

I wouldn’t either. Why go back to work if you’re going to make less than if you were to stay home and relax? (Jury is still out on whether Randy Shannon actually knows how to relax. Interesting thought, and much more pleasant than thinking about the reality of a world where someone can earn that much money for doing absolutely nothing, while millions work multiple jobs just to put food on the table.)

Randy Shannon to Maryland was a really exciting possibility, but in the end, it was more fiscally responsible for both sides not to come to an agreement. No harm, no foul. And still no DC at Maryland. So, who’s up next? (And can we get a “Candidates must submit minimum salary requirements in order to be considered” this time?)