Maryland Football Announces First Three Hires
12/5/2000 7:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 5, 2000
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - University of Maryland head football coach Ralph Friedgen has named the first three additions to his Terrapin coaching staff. Friedgen, who took over as the 33rd football coach in Maryland history on November 29, has tabbed Charlie Taaffe as offensive coordinator, Gary Blackney as secondary coach and Dave Sollazzo as defensive tackles coach.
Taaffe comes to College Park by way of Montreal where he most recently served as head coach of the CFL's Alouettes. Blackney was Bowling Green's head coach from 1991-2000 while Sollazzo served as the defensive tackles coach at Georgia Tech for the past two years.
"I feel very fortunate to be able to get Charlie Taaffe as our offensive coordinator," said Friedgen. "There aren't many people I know I would turn that responsibility over to and I feel very fortunate to be able to have hired someone of his quality and his experience. The fact he has been the head coach of a team which has played in the Grey Cup speaks volumes.
"Gary Blackney is an outstanding secondary coach and could be a coordinator very easily. He has built a tremendous reputation during his career, particularly at Ohio State and then as head coach at Bowling Green.
"I've known Dave Sollazzo a long time. He is a very aggressive, young coach. He works very hard with his players, is an excellent recruiter, and I know he will do very well here at Maryland."
Following are profiles of each of the three coaches joining the Maryland staff:
CHARLIE TAAFFE
(Siena College, `73)
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Name pronounced: taff
Charlie Taaffe was most recently with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League where he served as head coach in 1999 and 2000. Under his guidance, the Alouettes had a combined 24-12 record (back-to-back 12-6 seasons) and most recently advanced to the 2000 Grey Cup finals. For his efforts in 1999, Taaffe was named CFL Coach of the Year making him only the second Montreal coach to earn such distinction (Marv Levy being the first in 1974). All together, Taaffe spent four years in Montreal as he served two years as the Alouettes' offensive coordinator before taking over as head coach.
Prior to his stint north of the border, Taaffe was the head coach at The Citadel from 1987-96. Taaffe took the Bulldogs to new heights in his 10 years with the Division I-AA school as he won more games than any coach in the history of the Military College. Prior to his tenure, The Citadel had not won a league game or road game in over two seasons. Under Taaffe, the Bulldogs won a Southern Conference championship, finished a regular season (1992) ranked No. 1 in the country and advanced to the Division I-AA playoffs three times. He was the 1992 recipient of the Eddie Robinson Award (which recognizes the top coach in Division I-AA), the Southern Conference Coach of the Year in 1990 and `88, and the Kodak Region II Coach of the Year in those same seasons. In addition, his teams beat six different Division I-A opponents including upsets of South Carolina (1990) and Arkansas (1992).
His 1992 team was arguably the best in The Citadel's history as it finished 11-1, was the top ranked team at the end of the regular season, and ultimately fell to the eventual champ (Youngstown State) in the quarterfinals. His overall record at The Citadel was 59-54-1 with six seasons of .500 or better.
Taaffe came to The Citadel after a successful stint as an offensive assistant at the U.S. Military Academy from 1981-86. In the three years Taaffe served as Army's offensive coordinator, the Cadets had a combined record of 23-13.
Taaffe's ties to the Atlantic Coast Conference are strong. Before his stint at The Citadel, Taaffe coached at three different ACC schools for a total of seven years. From 1976-80, he was an assistant at Virginia where he coached the offensive backfield, linebackers and special teams. His position with the Cavaliers came on the heels of graduate assistantships with NC State (1975, receivers) and Georgia Tech (1974, offensive backfield).
The 1973 season was Taaffe's first as a coach at the collegiate level as he was an offensive backfield coach at Albany (N.Y.) State College. The position came right after his graduation from Siena College in Siena, N.Y., where he was a quarterback for three years and earned a B.A. in education in 1973. He was inducted into Siena's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990.
Born April 20, 1950, Taaffe is married to the former Jan Anderson, a former athletic trainer at Army. The couple has one son, Brian Patrick, who was born March 17, 1989.
The Taaffe File
Personal
Date of Birth: April 20, 1950
Hometown: Albany, N.Y.
Alma Mater: Siena College, `73
Coaching Experience
Montreal Alouettes (CFL)
1999-2000 Head Coach
1997-98 Offensive Coordinator
The Citadel
1987-96 Head Coach
U.S. Military Academy
1981-86 Assistant Coach - Offensive Coordinator, Quarterbacks, Offensive Backfield
Virginia
1976-80 Assistant Coach - Offensive Backfield, Linebackers, Special Teams
NC State
1975 Graduate Assistant - Receivers
Georgia Tech
1974 Graduate Assistant - Offensive Backfield
Albany (N.Y.) State College
1973 Assistant Coach - Offensive Backfield
Playing Experience
Siena College Football (quarterback), 1970-72
Clemson Football (quarterback), 1969
"I'm extremely excited about the opportunity and the possibilities. Although I have been gone a while, I spent a large portion of my career coaching in the ACC and I have always felt Maryland had a lot of potential to go along with its outstanding tradition. I am excited about helping Ralph Friedgen restore the program and get it back in a prominent position. With some hard work, I don't know why we can't do that. I think a lot of Ralph and have known him for over 20 years and when he asked me to come, I certainly saw it as a great opportunity."
Charlie Taaffe
New Terrapin Offensive Coordinator
GARY BLACKNEY
(Connecticut, `67)
Secondary
Gary Blackney most recently served as head coach at Bowling Green State University. He resigned his post following the final game of the 2000 season after 10 successful years with the program and an overall record of 60-50-2 (47-32-2, MAC). The BGSU job was his first as a head coach and his 60 wins as a Falcon rank third on the school's all-time list.
Blackney left Bowling Green as the only coach in school history to win a bowl game as he led the Falcons to victories in the 1991 California Raisin Bowl (28-21 over Fresno State) and the 1992 Las Vegas Bowl (35-34 over Nevada). With 11 wins in 1991 and 10 in 1992, he is the only coach in BGSU history to have back-to-back seasons of 10 wins or more. In doing so, he also became one of just three coaches ever to have been named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year in consecutive seasons. Other honors at Bowling Green included being named a finalist for Football News' National Coach of the Year award in 1991 as well as two selections as AFCA Region 3 Coach of the Year (in `91 and `92).
The 1991 season was Blackney's first as a head coach and with 11 wins that year, he tied an NCAA record for most wins by a first-year head coach. In fact, his career at Bowling Green began with a MAC record 19 straight conference wins and a 22-game unbeaten streak in the first two years. But the accolades did not end on the playing field for Blackney. To date, he is the only coach from the MAC to have his recruiting classes receive the American Football Coaches Association Academic Achievement Award (70 percent or better graduation rate) each year of the award's existence. His first recruiting class (1991-92) finished with one of the top marks in the nation at 93 percent.
Prior to taking over at Bowling Green, Blackney served as an assistant coach for 21 years. After serving as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Connecticut, in 1968 and `69, he got his first full-time position in 1970 as a defensive backs coach at Brown. He then spent two seasons (1973-74) as offensive backs coach at Rhode Island. From there his stint serving big-time programs (and often alongside some big-time coaching names) began. From 1975-77, he was a defensive backs coach and ultimately defensive coordinator (1977) at Wisconsin. After three years with the Badgers, he moved to the West Coast and UCLA where he worked as a defensive backs coach under Terry Donahue. In 1980, Blackney came back east to Syracuse where he held the same post from 1980-83 under Dick MacPherson. His final coaching spot before Bowling Green was at Ohio State where he began his tenure in 1984 as a defensive backs coach under Earl Bruce and ended as an inside linebackers coach from 1988-90 under John Cooper. In between (1985-87), he was the Buckeyes' defensive coordinator.
Of all of his positions, however, none had the eventual name-power that his G.A. job at Connecticut had. In Storrs, he worked with Rick Forzano, current South Carolina coach Lou Holtz, former Cleveland Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano, as well as eventual NFL assistants Dave Adolph and Dan Sekanovich.
A 1967 graduate of UConn, Blackney is a native of Plainview, N.Y., and was born in Astoria, N.Y. He and his wife, Lauretta, have four children: Debbie, David, Kyle and Gary, Jr.
The Blackney File
Personal
Date of Birth: December 10, 1944
Hometown: Plainview, N.Y.
Alma Mater: Connecticut, `67
Coaching Experience
Bowling Green State
1991-2000 Head Coach
Ohio State
1984-90 Assistant Coach - Defensive Backs (1984), Defensive Coordinator (1985-87),
Inside Linebackers (1988-90)
Syracuse
1980-83 Assistant Coach - Defensive Backs
UCLA
1978-79 Assistant Coach - Defensive Backs
Wisconsin
1975-77 Assistant Coach - Defensive Backs (1975-76), Defensive Coordinator (1977)
Rhode Island
1973-74 Assistant Coach - Offensive Backs
Brown
1970-72 Assistant Coach - Defensive Backs
Connecticut
1968-69 Graduate Assistant
"I was very impressed by the university's commitment to return Maryland to one of the premier football programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and I feel like the appointment of Ralph Friedgen is going to provide great leadership to that end. I feel very privileged to be a part of the University of Maryland football program."
Gary Blackney
New Terrapin Secondary Coach
DAVE SOLLAZZO
(The Citadel, `77)
Defensive Tackles
Name pronounced: suh-LAH-zo
Like Ralph Friedgen, Dave Sollazzo is making a return to the University of Maryland. Sollazzo, most recently of Georgia Tech, was a defensive line coach for the Terps in 1986 and `87 as well as a graduate assistant in 1984. He has been at Tech the last two years as a defensive tackles coach.
Prior to his appointment with the Yellow Jackets, Sollazzo was the defensive line coach at The Citadel from 1989-98. The Citadel was another homecoming for Sollazzo as he had lettered for the Bulldogs for three years on the defensive line from 1974-76. In that time, he started 33 consecutive games under former Maryland coach Bobby Ross. His position coach was Ralph Friedgen.
As a coach at The Citadel (where he was hired by Charlie Taaffe), Sollazzo coached Brad Keeney to All-America honors and Southern Conference-leading totals in sacks and tackles for loss in 1995. In `97, he coached Adrian Luster to all-conference honors as well. The highlight of his coaching career in Charleston, however, may have been in helping the 1992 squad finish its season by not allowing a touchdown in its final 13 quarters and leading the nation in scoring defense at 13 points per game. That squad also finished sixth in pass efficiency defense.
Along with his ties to Maryland and The Citadel, Sollazzo has an extensive history in prep coaching. With the exception of the Maryland job in 1984, Sollazzo was a high school defensive coordinator in South Carolina from 1978-85.
Sollazzo was born in Harrison, N.Y., on December 24, 1955, and earned his degree from The Citadel in 1977. He is married to the former Ellen Beloin of Farmington, Conn.
The Sollazzo File
Personal
Date of Birth: December 24, 1955
Hometown: Harrison, N.Y.
Alma Mater: The Citadel, `77
Coaching Experience
Georgia Tech
1999-2000 Assistant Coach - Defensive Tackles
The Citadel
1989-98 Assistant Coach - Defensive Line
Guilford (N.C.) College
1988 Assistant Coach - Defensive Line
Maryland
1986-87 Assistant Coach - Defensive Line
Stratford (S.C.) High School
1985 Assistant Coach - Defensive Coordinator
Maryland
1984 Graduate Assistant
North Charleston (S.C.) High School
1983 Assistant Coach - Defensive Coordinator
Fort Johnson (S.C.) High School
1978-82 Assistant Coach - Defensive Coordinator
Playing Experience
The Citadel Football (defensive line), 1974-76
"I am very happy to be back at Maryland. When I was here back in the `80s, I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to things from a football perspective also. I think that this is one of the best areas in the country as far as recruiting goes and I think that this university presents a great opportunity in terms of the potential for a great football program. It has everything that you would want in terms of an academic and educational environment."
Dave Sollazzo
New Terrapin Defensive Tackles Coach
Transactions
College
Maryland - Named Charlie Taaffe offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, Gary Blackney secondary coach, and Dave Sollazzo defensive tackles coach.
