Sports in Stilettos

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Mostly, though, the 2011 Terps have suffered because the program was rebuilt a year too early. With all the returning players on both sides of the ball, this was a year where the new system should have been phased in slowly, with Edsall riding his returning talent the way Friedgen did when he took over the program. Instead, the entire fabric of the program has been change. Don’t let Edsall’s denial on this subject fool you. If it walks like a rebuild and quacks like a rebuild, then it is a rebuild.

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Maryland Football Is Rebuilding A Year Early, But Whose Fault Is That? - SB Nation DC

SB Nation DC ran a really great piece about the Maryland football team and why the team, which challenged for the ACC title with a surprising 9-4 season last year, is 2-5 and looking worse as the season progresses.

I haven’t written much about it because I’m so incredibly frustrated and ticked off with the way it’s going, but I encourage you to click through and read it. Unlike anything I’d be able to write, it’s fairly neutral and objective when it comes to the coaching staff and the athletic administration at Maryland.

Terps' Francis shoots from the lip, and wouldn't have it any other way - Washington Times (Link) »

Maryland fans, check out Patrick Stevens’ great feature on Terps’ nose tackle A.J. Francis.

The Franchyze is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter, and Stevens always does an excellent job covering the Terps, so this is just a whole lot of win in one story.

The caption on this article from January is “Maryland, New AD Kevin Anderson Go Out On a Limb with Randy Edsall.”

Now that a 2-10 season is in the bag, I feel it’s safe to say that limb wasn’t so sturdy.

I was (and still am) absolutely disgusted by the way the school and the AD handled Ralph Friedgen’s firing and I was unimpressed with their choice of Edsall as a replacement.

He hasn’t proven me wrong.

If Maryland wanted a coach who could lead his team to a poorly attended 2-10 season, why didn’t they just keep the Fridge?

The Terps were 2-10 in ‘09 and the school couldn’t afford to buy out his contract, so he got another year and capitalized as the Terps went 9-4 and had a shot at the ACC title game.

Still, Byrd Stadium wasn’t filling up with enough fans, so the Fridge was rewarded for the team’s comeback with a pink slip from new AD Anderson.

To replace the alum who’d given his heart and soul to the Maryland football program, they hired a coach who put new uniforms on the players but no more butts in the seats, rubbing a lot of people wrong en route to another 2-10 season with such low attendance that Maryland was pushed to cut other sports for budget reasons.

Edsall’s short tenure in College Park has been full of blunders, and I’d have no problem categorizing it as an epic failure - just like Anderson’s decision to can the Fridge in the manner he did at the end of last year.

I feel for the players, who played their hearts out and deserved much better.

But when it comes to Anderson and his poor handling of the entire Friedgen-Edsall situation, this season’s end result seems like karma at work.

(via Maryland, New AD Kevin Anderson Go Out On a Limb With Randy Edsall)

Randy Edsall should be stopped before he hurts Maryland any worse - The Washington Post (Link) »

Everything I wanted to say about Randy Edsall, but John Feinstein said it first.

Maryland Football Transfers: Randy Edsall Grants Release To Three More Terps - SB Nation DC (Link) »

If you’re a Maryland fan and you’re not outraged yet by what Randy Edsall is doing to this program, I’m not sure what it’s going to take.

Three redshirt freshman - Rahsaan Moore, Jeremiah Wilson, and Titus Till - are the newest to get the heck outta Dodge, but their losses won’t be felt as much as those of D.J. Adams, R.J. Dill, and David Mackall, who already announced they were peacing out ASAP.

That makes six players who’ve been released in the 10 days since the season ended, and EIGHTEEN in the calendar year.

Show of hands if you still think this Edsall Experiment is the way to go!

He’s angered a lot of fans and, more importantly, deep-pocketed boosters, and few outside Maryland AD Kevin Anderson have anything good to say about him.

The Washington Post’s John Feinstein is over him (as am I).

The Hartford Courant’s Jeff Jacob’s doesn’t paint a very good picture either.

And the number of players leaving is possibly the most damning part of the equation.

How can Maryland expect to draw in top recruits when it’s not a top program in good years, when it’s just coming off a really bad year, when there have been rumors of discontent in the locker room, and some key players are leaving?

If a player like R.J. Dill, a three-year starter, no longer sees a place for himself as a Maryland Terrapin, I doubt it’s going to be an easy sell to get a 17 or 18-year old kid to envision himself there.

When a new coach takes over, his first recruiting pitch has to be to the players already on the roster. If he can win them over, especially the team leaders, they’ll be the biggest advocates in retaining players and drawing new recruits. By all accounts, though, it seems like Edsall royally botched that pitch - if he even bothered to try. And because of that, Maryland football will likely be feeling the negative effects for quite awhile.

Gary Crowton openly campaigning to leave Maryland (Link) »

Geez, even the other coaches are leaving Maryland to escape Randy Edsall.

(Kidding….kind of. Crowton wants to coach at Colorado State. But The Baltimore Sun did post another more recent story, saying that Crowton is still focused on recruiting at Maryland.)

It has come to my attention (thank you, Ms. Bleacher Chic) that Maryland’s Pride uniforms made the Wall Street Journal’s Most Stylish Uniforms list.

Awwww yeah.

Riddle me this, Terps fans: When y’all saw the team run out in those unis Labor Day weekend against Miami, how many of you thought that landing on WSJ’s best uniform list might be the highlight of the season??

I know lots and lots of people thought they were hideous - including me, at first - but from a marketing standpoint, and a Maryland Pride standpoint, they were pretty darn awesome.

The one thing I’d do differently (remember, we’re only talking uniforms here) is to make them even more reflective of the flag, with the yellow and black side of the helmets matching up with the red and white shoulder, and vice versa, rather than having it all on the same side. Balances it out a little, in my opinion.

According to Mark-Evan Blackman, the Menswear professor (they have those??) at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Maryland’s uniforms made the cut because “Whether you like it or not, it’s provocative, and uniforms should be just that.”

Mmmhmmmm. Don’t hate. Seriously, after this season, the Terps should take their wins wherever they can get them - even if it’s just the WSJ 2011 fashion round-up.

**I’ve heard from several people hating on the “ugly pattern” so, for you non-Marylanders, that’s our flag, hence the whole “Maryland Pride” thing. Hate it all you want, but check out your state flag and see if you think it would look this good as a uniform (I’ve already looked it up, and very few other states could pull this off).

Every year on the occasion of the Maryland-Duke game (and sometimes in between, when I need a pick-me-up), I watch the video of former Terp Dave Neal taking Duke’s Nolan Smith OUT during the 2009 game at Comcast Center.

Seriously, I’ve seen concrete walls that can’t set a screen that solid. And then! To finish with the 3-pointer! It’s all the reasons I love Dave Neal rolled into one clip.

My ab-fab favorite part about it?

I was there.

I went to great lengths to procure tickets for my dad for Christmas, and we got every bit of my money’s worth (unfortunately, I also set the bar for Christmas presents impossibly high).

My dad’s a big Terps fan, but until then, he’d never been to a game. Lemme tell ya, it would’ve been tough to pick a better one.

The Maryland-Duke game in College Park is, at least for Maryland fans, one of the most awesome sporting events imaginable. The atmosphere is so frenzied, so emotionally charged, that it’s tough to even describe. And when Maryland actually plays well against Duke and it’s a close game, the atmosphere is like frenzied running on too little sleep and way, way too much Red Bull. Or Four Loko. Insane.

Imagine that wild atmosphere, and then add in a Maryland fan favorite (Neal), a hated rival, a block that a linebacker would admire, and a beautiful, clutch, three-point shot. Can it possibly get any better than that? Some might say yes, like if they’d managed to hold on for the win, but for this Terps-crazy sports nut and her papa, you know, I don’t think it could.

Although, the following year, I was at Comcast Center when Duke came to town as the top-ranked team and LOST and Jordan Williams dunked on Jon Scheyer on a no-look pass from Greivis Vasquez right in front of me.

That came really, really close to usurping Dave Neal’s screen for the title of Most Awesome Sports Moment Ever, but c’mon, there’s just no usurping Dave Neal.

This year’s game itself probably won’t be one of those unforgettable ones (it wouldn’t shock me if it’s one Terps fans would rather forget), but after a pregame ceremony, it’ll be the first game played on Gary Williams Court. It’s an incredible, well-deserved honor for a man who defined Maryland basketball.

If you’re going, I’m envious. And when you’re there, do me (and yourself) a favor. Look around. Take it in. Join the crazy crowd and yell something at Duke that the administration probably won’t approve of. Look at that wall of screaming, fanatical fans in the student section, and realize that all of them, and all the great games and unforgettable finishes in recent memory, all of them are the work of Gary Williams.

Except that screen. That’s all Dave Neal.

Ceremony to honor former Maryland head coach Gary Williams and name the court after him. Not gonna lie, my brain leaked out my eyes a little bit at this.

I realize not everyone agrees with it, but this was a fitting tribute to a man who came to embody Maryland basketball and everything for which the program stands. It was broken when he took over as head coach, and he took it to the very top. Yes, there were others who did great things for the team and the university - it wasn’t all Gary.

But Gary’s an enormous part of the reason you walk past that national championship trophy case when you enter Comcast Center - he’s a big part of the reason the Comcast Center even exists - and donation or no donation, I’m thrilled the university decided to honor his legacy this way.

It’s not Garyland anymore, but Gary Williams Court sounds pretty darn good.

(via Twitter / @sunjeffbarker: Shot today in Terps” footb …)

The Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Barker shared the above shot from the Maryland football locker room on Twitter Friday. I might’ve posted a photo of these before but they’re so freakin’ flashy and fabulous that this shoe-loving sports blogger can’t resist.

There are a lot of Terps fans out there who don’t have one little bit of love for any bit of the Maryland Pride football uniforms, and I admit, I wasn’t that into them at first either.

These cleats, though. I want a pair. How can you not love them?

Seriously. I’m curious. When I look at those crazy, busy, outlandish, amazing cleats, my eyes get all heart-shaped, Pepe le Pew-style and I can’t stop pondering the possibility of turning those spikes into a spike heel. I’d probably never wear them out, but that’s besides the point. There are thousands of shoes that are works of art rather than footwear intended to be worn.

I might get a little hypnotized every time I look at them, so if you’re a Maryland fan, and looking at these uniforms makes you want to squeeze your eyes closed and never open them again: Why? What am i missing?

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