Sports in Stilettos

What is Kevin Anderson Thinking?

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.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

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.

“

There was no one who came forward and said, `I want to be the head football coach in Maryland, that’s my dream job, but Randy Edsall,’ ” Anderson said of his coaching search.

—

False.

Pretty sure head football coach at Maryland was also Ralph Friedgen’s dream job.

Seriously Kevin Anderson needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.

1. Terps fans might be a little less pissed off about Friedgen’s ouster if Anderson hadn’t already said, point blank, without being asked that Friedgen would be the coach at Maryland next season. Keep your mouth shut and stick with “We will evaluate at the end of the season.”

2. No one loved the University of Maryland football program more than Ralph Friedgen. No one. He played there, he coached there, and he didn’t want to coach anywhere else. It truly was his dream job. To say that Randy Edsall was the only guy who wanted the job is just one more slap in the face of Ralph Friedgen, courtesy of Kevin Anderson.

3. Anderson’s been on the job less than a year and I’m absolutely disgusted with his performance so far. More than happy to lend my high-heeled boots to help that man out the door.

From Maryland Edsall’s ‘dream job’ - Greenwich Citizen

Following: