Maryland Football: Ralph Friedgen/Mike Leach Situation Getting Ugly for Terps

A moment of silence, please, for the final drama-free sports entity in the Washington metropolitan area.

As of now, it looks like The Kevins—Anderson and Plank—may have a little image rehabilitation in their future if the football coaching situation doesn’t start getting a lot clearer, and a lot calmer, fast.

Late last week, there were reports that Ralph Friedgen would accept a buyout. Now, however, there is a report that he is doing nothing of the sort, and as such will be forcing Maryland to force him to “retire.” In other words, he’s making them fire him. Not exactly the move of a happy man. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Friedgen says publicly once he is divested of his employer-employee relationship with the university.

In the meantime, Friedgen’s fellow Maryland alums are speaking up for him. Yesterday, current Washington Redskin and former Terp Kevin Barnes told the Washington Post that, “I think it’s complete [expletive],” going on to add that “I don’t know this new AD, but to to treat an alumni like Coach Friedgen like that, who turned that program around, is completely terrible.”

Anecdotally, I’ve been seeing and hearing a not insignificant number of first and secondhand reactions, both online and off, from Maryland alums who are really unhappy over how all of this was handled. Clearly, Friedgen was well-liked among a sizable segment of the Terps’ fanbase. One person I know, who is a strong supporter of Maryland sports, said Anderson, “could march right back to Army.” If Anderson is alienating people four months into his tenure, well, that’s not good.

This is all potentially compounded by the fact that Anderson is allegedly looking to hire a coach in Mike Leach who, deservedly or not, has a reputation for stirring the pot.

Leach may very well be a fine coach and a gifted offensive mind, but the fact that Leach does not seem overly concerned with the opinions of lesser mortals (or especially averse to sharing his thoughts with any working microphone) may not make him the ideal ally for Anderson, at least in the short term, when it comes to smoothing over a nasty rift with a beloved university figure.

Which brings me to Kevin No. 2. No one attempts to hide the fact that Plank, the Under Armour CEO and massive Maryland booster, has a close relationship with Leach. Nor should they; every Maryland fan I know is delighted to have Plank as a fellow alum and university patron. But the line between supporter and puppet master is sometimes thin, and if a perception takes hold that Plank orchestrated (or facilitated) Friedgen’s buyout to install someone he personally preferred, that is also not good.

With all this in the background, Anderson is scheduled to hold a press conference at 3 p.m. this afternoon “to discuss the football program.” What he says or does not say during this conference could help repair a rapidly deteriorating situation, or prick another hole in a saggy approval rating.

(For this and plenty more news, commentary, and fun stuff on all things Terps, visit us over at Shell Games, and/or follow us on Twitter @Terpsblog.)