The POS Kevin Anderson leaving

[papasmurfbell]

According to reports.

[thundercleetz]

Apparantly it's not true? If that is the case, what an epic prank! People were absolutely destroying him on Twitter! I was kind of hoping he'd take Edsall with him. If it's not true, I'm really bummed.

[dc.]

I don't get the hate for Anderson. He didn't do anything.

 

First, letting Fridge go was the right move - whether people like it or not, whether it was handled appropriately or not.

 

Second, the fall of the football program - in progress because of Fridge, before Anderson showed up - hurt the university more than anything. They overinvested in the program, the facilities, the stadium and they're paying for it. Huge renovations at huge cost but they can't fill the seats or the suites!

 

Third, the fall of the football program is what has killed the other seven or eight sports they just had to cut. I hate it, especially as a swimmer, but I understand it. We couldn't handle 28 sports with the weight of the football program.

 

Fourth, cleaning up the entire program was necessary because of Debbie Yow - her massive expansion of programs, her ridiculous bets on program, her promises to coaches that made them bigger than the rest of the program. Fridge wanted to be like Gary. Gary wanted to be like Paterno - bigger than the system. They largely were. I don't like that.

 

Ultimately, Anderson was dealt a crappy hand and is trying to make it work. His handling of the untimely and sudden loss of Gary in the off-season was handled well, and while others may have wanted a bigger name, Turgeon is proving the solid worker and recruiter we need - and he's happy to be part of the system, not above it. Edsall, well... we'll see. Much like with Harbaugh when he showed up in Baltimore, the players didn't buy into it last year. They were too used to Fridge letting them run the show. Edsall is a drill sergeant, not a big brother. And unlike in the NFL, the players could (and did) choose to walk away. With his own group coming in, you might be surprised at what you get.

[papasmurfbell]

It was how he let Fridge go. Also The program was in a better place than where he found it. It is about having correct expectations. UMD is not going to win a national championship.

[dc.]

I agree that he handled the Fridge thing poorly - but a lot has shown that it was all also on Fridge making a power play.

 

But I totally disagree that the program was in good shape or even better shape when he took over. That's like saying the Orioles were in good shape when Ray Miller got them in 1998 or that the country was in good shape when Obama took over in 2009. In a better place than they would be a year later? Sure. But already sliding downhill and out of control.

 

The problems in the program that Anderson got to deal with the last 2-3 years were built over YEARS of poor guidance, decision-making and over expenditure. When discussing the expansion of Byrd Stadium 5-10 years ago, the University received tons of feedback that said plainly: no one wants to buy the suites or the seats, period. Debbie Yow is the one that ignored that advice and pushed on. Now Byrd is massive and still growing, but they can't sell suites or seats. And they couldn't when Fridge was around either. The 'big players' just don't care. Even when things were good, it was hard to give tickets away - I used to have professors offer me their football tix because they couldn't find friends to use them!

 

Who had the wrong expectations? Yow. She was the one who wanted MD to by the national player on all levels. And Edsall, despite all his trouble, is apparently a great recruiter - that's where wins come from. Fridge, like Gary, was lazy on the recruiting trail. Why do so many Maryland high school recruits end up elsewhere? Gary and Fridge let them go. Turgeon has already changed that tune a bit with basketball; Edsall might do the same...

 

The expansion to 28 sports was equally silly - especially while overspending on football and basketball - but it happened slowly and surely under Yow's watch. Adding and adding and never considering the long-term costs. But expand they did. Add athletes, scholarships, coaches. Personally, I would rather see the football team dismantled some more - reduce its scholarships and other costs by 20 or so - and you could support a swim team or a tennis team.

[papasmurfbell]

http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/coaches/ralph-friedgen-1.html

 

Ralph has a 600 win % in his 10 yrs.

 

In the 10 yrs before Fridge it is a 336 win % and one winning season of 6-5. To me that leaving it better than you found it.

[dc.]

The conversation isn't about Ralph. Ralph certainly upped MD football by leaps and bounds. He also had a mediocre middle 6-7 years in the middle. And then, when approached with an honest and fair question about how he was going to 'exit' the program in the coming years, he balked and balked. He allowed the school to give an assistant a 'promise' of his job (yay for Debbie Yow again), but of course never let that really happen. And he was a huge player in trying to expand the stadium, but didn't really work to fill the seats - and for most of his tenure the seats weren't full.

 

In the end, of course Fridge was a great coach. But Anderson isn't only dealing with Fridge and the football program. He was also dealing with an entire athletic department brought to its knees - and not being supported enough by the football program that was supposed to be its foundation.

[papasmurfbell]

So you are disagreeing with what you said before. Fridge deserved a send off or to leave on his own. Anderson could have said this is your last yr. Let it be your swan song and if Fridge bailed that is on him.

[dc.]

No, I said the same thing ... read my first post again.

 

"he handled the Fridge thing poorly"

 

and then...

 

four paragraphs about it not being about Fridge/the shortcomings in football that led to all the other issues.

 

just to clarify, was football better or worse after fridge? better. was the athletic department better or worse after anderson? worse. is either answer entirely inclusive of what was happening in either football or the entire department? not close.

[papasmurfbell]

But I totally disagree that the program was in good shape or even better shape when he took over.

 

Taking a 336 to a 600% is leaving things better than finding it.

[dc.]

You're reading that backwards.

 

That statement was about Kevin Anderson. And "the program" was not football - it was the entire athletic department.

 

As I said, saying the MD Athletic Program was in good shape when Anderson took the reigns - and that it was in better shape than it is now - is like saying the economy was better in January 2009 than it is now. The program now has lost 8 sports, lost two major coaches and struggled to rebound in the aftermath. Of course it looks awful. But Anderson didn't do that. Anderson DEALT WITH that. Just like Republicans love to cry that the economy has fewer jobs now than 4 years ago... well no shit. Obama didn't cut 10 million jobs. Obama got to deal with a situation in which the country was bleeding a million jobs a month. (this is not a political rant, just an analogy).

 

Anderson didn't drive the athletic program into the ground. It was on its way into the ground and he got to be the one to say "we've got to cut some dead weight" - as much as I hate it. And you know what was a hell of a lot of dead weight? A football coach making 2 million a year, winning on occasion, demanding a bigger stadium and more scholarships, but never filling the seats or recruiting worth a damn.

[papasmurfbell]

OK my fault then.

 

I just don't like how he handled Ralph and want him gone for it.

[ForceEight]

I'm not sure why Ralph would have deserved this send-off you seem to be clamoring for...

[papasmurfbell]

Ralph making the program almost twice as good in his tenure deserves a proper send off.

[dc.]

Except that such ideas are pretty fictitious if we really want to continue this...

 

Ralph had his best seasons in his first two years at Maryland. As is often the case, who actually recruited and brought in all the players that Fridge won with in 2001 and 2002? Easy answer, his predecessor, Ron Vanderlinden. In 1999 and 2000 under Vanderlinden, the Terps improved significantly but never jumped the final hurdle.

 

Does Ralph get credit for jumping that hurdle? Sure. But he owes a whole lot of those first years and major bowl games to the guys that came before him.

 

So, Fridge wins 10 games in 2001, 11 in 2002 and 10 in 2003 - all largely with Vanderlinden's recruits. Between 2004 and 2009, with players all of his own recruiting, he had FOUR (count 'em, FOUR) losing seasons to only 2 winning seasons and never again got to 10 wins. That all came to a head with his stellar 2 win campaign in 09.

 

In 2010, he of course made some serious changes and, perhaps for just the second time, had a truly successful season fully of his own making.

[papasmurfbell]

So those were Vandy's players in 2010 with 9 wins. Oh yeah in 2008 with 8 wins those were Ron's. I forgot. In 2006 with his 9 wins Vandy came in to recruit for him.

[dc.]

Did I say they were?

 

I said that if you take out Vandy's players from 01-03, you've got 7 other seasons with Fridge... 3 winning and 4 losing.

[papasmurfbell]

OK that still beats the crap out of what was there before him.