So yesterday was Ralph Friedgen's final game at Maryland, and he went out in style, as his team blew out East Carolina in the 2010 Military Bowl. As he departed the field, the fans at RFK Stadium sent him off appropriately.
In the meantime, Maryland's administration was thinking about their next head coach, giving Texas Tech's Mike Leach a tour of campus. Mike Wise found the timing to be disgraceful and wrote about it here.
Let's give the administration and Kevin Anderson, the neophyte Maryland athletic director who fired Friedgen, at least this: They will stop at nothing when it comes to finding their bottom.
People of Terrapin Nation, please: The body wasn't even cold. You couldn't have at least waited until he cleaned out his office at Gossett Team House on Thursday? It was just too much to let the ACC coach of the year have one more day before the mail-order bride from Texas arrived?
I don't disagree with Wise often, but I will here. The fact of the matter is that Maryland needs to move quickly to fill their coaching vacancy. Recruiting season is coming soon, and players need to know that a team's future is in good hands before committing to the school. Friedgen's career may have had one more game, but in the Terps' eyes, it was already done. The Military Bowl was simply Friedgen's sendoff for the fans, who did their part in style. The athletic department, however, needed to move forward and act quickly for the sake of the program.
Testudo Times is right. Maryland has to make this hire quickly, so they wouldn't be doing their jobs if they didn't have Leach come and take a tour.
Today's must-reads from around the SB Nation network:
- We linked this in Starting Lineup, but Hogs Haven caught up with ESPN's Mark Schlereth to discuss the Redskins and Schlereth's former coach, Mike Shanahan.
- Hogs Haven also watches some tape and breaks down the team's win over the Jaguars last Sunday.
- Testudo Times recaps the Terps' emotional Military Bowl victory.
- Bullets Forever recaps a nice Wizards win over the Pacers.
- Casual Hoya recaps a disappointing Georgetown loss at Notre Dame.