Maryland's Ralph Friedgen Should Be Shoo-In for ACC Coach of the Year

Maryland didn't have much on the line against N.C. State. The Wolfpack, meanwhile, were playing for a shot at the ACC championship.

Four hours and four Torrey Smith touchdowns later, the Terps won 38-31 (and it wasn't that close). For Terps fans, it was a satisfying cap on a pretty satisfying season, as the win brought the Terps to 8-4 one season after a 2-10 train wreck lowlighted by losses to Duke and Middle Tennessee State. 

Maryland is now well positioned for one of the better minor bowl games, if there is such a thing. If I'm reading this rundown in the Baltimore Sun correctly, it seems the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte and the Music City Bowl in Nashville are the three strongest candidates. The Peach Chick-Fil-A Bowl is unlikely but not technically impossible. The Military Bowl in D.C. would appear to be the safety.

So with everyone singing Maryland's praises and the bowl conversation not a matter of if but of when and where, it's time to give credit where credit is due.

Maryland finished sixth in the ACC in total defense, third in red zone defense, second in turnover margin, and fourth in rush defense—not bad considering the team's struggles along the line and at secondary.

On offense, Maryland's season stats are less than gaudy, but they put it together down the stretch--and by "down the stretch," I mean "after they named Danny O'Brien the starting QB." In fact, I'd go so far as to call O'Brien-to-Smith the ACC's most dangerous QB-receiver tandem right now. In O'Brien's nine starts, Maryland averaged 30 points a game en route to a 6-3 record, and they did it with no running game and a jury-rigged offensive line.

That should lock in O'Brien for ACC freshman of the year. But it should also lock in Ralph Friedgen for ACC coach of the year.

I don't want to be a revisionist historian here—Maryland was a good, but not great, team this year. And a lot of the beneficial things like the ball-hawking defense, O'Brien's emergence, Smith's dominance and a down ACC had little if anything to do with Friedgen.

And yet, he successfully negotiated a quarterback controversy, instilled confidence in a talented but unproven freshman, made the best of an o-line decimated by injuries, helped make the special teams unit one of the nation's best, and ultimately quadrupled—QUADRUPLED—last season's win total. And he did it all while openly auditioning for his own job in front of a new university president and athletic director.

Frank Beamer led an impressive turnaround of his own, Butch Davis helped guide the Tar Heels through a chaotic season, and Jimbo Fisher keyed a nice resurgence. But for my money, none of them accomplished more with less than did Friedgen. He's your ACC coach of the year.

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