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Here is my latest for The Washington Post -------
So now Randy Edsall wants Maryland fans to believe he was brought in to rebuild Maryland’s football program.
“This is a process we are in,” he said after the Terrapins’ humiliating 38-7 loss to Temple on Saturday. “It was not going to get changed overnight no matter how much I want it to.”
Maryland was 9-4 last season under Ralph Friedgen. Like most college teams it lost some key players and returned some key players. As has become evident since his firing last fall, Friedgen had let the program slip in at least one critical area — academics — and there’s no doubt his laissez-faire approach was a lot different from Edsall’s “thou shalt not wear your cap turned backward” regime.
There’s no point arguing about whether one way is right and other way is wrong. Edsall had success on the field at Connecticut, Friedgen had success on the field at Maryland for most of his 10 years. And, as any college president worth his bow tie will tell you, coaches aren’t judged by their players’ fashion sense or even their players’ grades. They are judged by wins and losses.
Saturday was not a good day for Edsall on any level and, while he was candid in admitting that his team wasn’t ready to play (no kidding) it was a cop-out for him to fall back on the “this is a process” cliche. Al Golden, who took over at Temple in 2006 when the Owls had been kicked out of the Big East and had gone 38-151 under three coaches in 17 seasons, had a real process to go through.
7 comments:
Articles like this just feed into the fan (and president) frenzy around conference realignment. You state (and do so all the time) that conference championships like the ACC are meaningless when in fact its the opposite -- they are very real, very good and very important goals for any team and player. These championship goals shouldn't be minimized based on the stupidity of what 'the Jones's' may be doing in their conference, or that the media or other fans say, almost in a "Na Na Na Goo Goo' tone that my conference is better than your conference!!
In reality, what does it really matter? And I'm not talking BCS vs non-BCS leagues as I'm know that there is a wide gap, I'm talking Pac12 vs Big10 vs. SEC vs ACC, etc. If I'm a school in any one of those conferences, I root like I would as in the others and don't feel bad because its perceived that my conference is lesser the Jones's. It truly doesn't matter. Its amazing someone can't just enjoy the season of their team, it has to be minimized on some wider scope.
I am a fan of an ACC team and while you will continue to try an try again to minimize anything any football team in this conference accomplishes, please know that I am one that will resist your (and quite frankly many others) effort and enjoy the season for what it is.
Yes, MD was 9-4 last year and they beat NOBODY! However, they didn't get humiliated on their home field by the likes of Temple - or was that Alabama in Byrd Stadium Saturday?
MD has sold out to Underarmour, and the weekly "mystery uniform" unveiling is laughable when the scoreboard and empty seats tell the real story.
As for the ACC overall, I do believe Clemson to be very good, and FSU shows considerable hope for the future.
Sloppy article, John. I'd be tempted to agree with your characterization of Edsall, but your credibility suffers greatly when your facts are wrong. I'm shocked that somebody didn't point out that you forgot about the Terps' game against Notre Dame on November 12. Duh.
With all due respect, the tone of this piece is a little bitter and petty. You trash the ACC for being weak, but then claim that Edsall is copping out by not acknowledging the school's 9-4 record last season as a place to build off of, vs. rebuilding. Edsall (and most knowledgeable fans) saw deficiencies in the program despite the wins and he is obviously overhauling things to fix them. Why challenge his honesty on this matter?
As far as the ACC, trashing it is easy to do, but what would you suggest that it do to improve its performance? Most AD's in the conference want to field quality football teams and want to hire quality coaches, but there is only so much talent to go around. Does the ACC need to offer an apology for not being the SEC? News flash: The ACC is not a strong football conference. Everyone, myself included, can complain about that; but thinking about how to fix it requires a little more journalistic gravitas.
Are you still doing appearances on the Mike Wise show? Sometimes the link is there at feinsteinonthebrink.com, sometimes it isn't. Please let me know. Thank you.
If you're going to paint Virginia Tech into the category of cupcake schedulers, or at least imply as much, you should give them credit for playing LSU, Nebraska, Alabama and Boise in the very recent past. I believe they were also scheduled to play Wisconsin before Wisconsin rescheduled for 2016. They are also scheduled to play Pitt in 2012 and 2013, in what were to be non-conference games, Alabama in 2012, Ohio State in 2014 and 2015, and the aforementioned Wisconsin.
It is impossible to deny that the out-of-conference schedule this year is weak, but I consider Tech to be one of the more competitive non-conference schedulers.
Jeff says
Well Ralph Friedgen took over a not too terrible team from Ralph Vanderlinden. He did put Maryland back on the football Map. Ralph lost to Middle Tennessee State twice in two years and struggled badly in 2008 and 2009. But they were indeed 9-4 last year and could easily have been 11-2. Randy has to implement his system, not rebuild the program.
As for the uniforms. Though I cannot find a picture I have somewhere. Back in 1960 or so Tom Nugent - for a home game, dressed his offense and defense in different uniforms and his "GO" team in still another. They each sat in separate boxes on the sidelines. Now that was something I had a feeling I would never see again. And I think the NCAA issued a cease and desist order. Nugent doesn't get much praise. But he did beat Penn State.
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