The following is this week's article for The Washington Post ------------
The stunning and seemingly sudden decision by Maryland Athletic Director Kevin Anderson to fire Ralph Friedgen as football coach makes absolute sense.
After all, former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach has the potential to bring a passion to the school's football program not seen since Friedgen's first season 10 years ago.
Maryland won eight games this season, statistically the second-best turnaround in college football. Almost no one cared. Fans failed to fill Byrd Stadium, one of the ACC's smaller venues, even once. When 48,000 showed up on a perfect November night for a game against Florida State with the Terrapins still contending for the division title, Maryland officials acted as if they had set a new attendance mark.
That's why Maryland is playing in the low-level Military Bowl. A trip to frigid Washington, D.C., to play in a decrepit stadium on a weekday afternoon in December? Most football people consider that to be more punishment than reward.
Anderson did what he had to do when he had the opportunity to do it. He's absolutely right to force out Friedgen before Leach lands someplace else.
He also could not be more wrong. This has the feel of a professional lynching.
Click here for the rest of the column: Firing Ralph Friedgen is wrong, but Maryland hopes it will generate dollars
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2 comments:
John,
Very good article. This is big business.
I like Leach. He is an entertainer like Paul Johnson was at Navy.
What concerns me is that the "Washington Post" has been saying that Leach is the man, but the AD has said that he has not selected the man. I am not naive, but I wish the paper would somehow ID its sources - not sure how to do that.
Thanks.
Excellent article, with good context. It also explains in a nutshell why I have nothing to do with college football and little to do with college basketball before March. There was a time when I preferred both to their professional counterparts. Now I rarely watch either.
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