Long-time Assistant Friedgen Settles In As Head Coach
5/2/2001 8:00:00 AM | Football, Terrapin Athletics
May 2, 2001
By John Cannon
News-Post Staff
In his 31 years as a coach,
Ralph Friedgen helped win some
of football's most prestigious
titles.
Yet there was one that eluded
him -- head coach.
That finally changed last
November when Friedgen, who
had served three credential-filled
decades as an assistant, was
hired to take over Maryland's
program.
Friedgen has spent the past five
months getting acclimated to his
new job, which includes
recruiting and making public
appearances like Monday's at
the Frederick Chapter of the
Terrapin Club. His most important
task, however, is restoring
Maryland's program to
prominence.
Friedgen, a self-admitted
perfectionist and meticulous planner, has typically worked from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day
this spring, trying to make his first tenure as a head coach a successful one. He's also
been away from his family, which still lives in Georgia.
"Life could have been a lot easier. I haven't seen my children in six weeks, and it's getting
hard. My wife came up this past weekend -- it was four weeks before I saw her,"
Friedgen said. "It's a tough existence. And sometimes when we don't practice so well, I
wonder if it's worth it. But it is."
After all, Friedgen wanted to be a head coach after being an assistant so long, including
the past four years as Georgia Tech's offensive coordinator.
"Like I told people at Georgia Tech, I could have been happy staying there the rest of my
life, but I don't think I would have been fufilled," Friedgen said.
The former Maryland player couldn't have accomplished much more as an assistant.
Friedgen. who began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Terps in 1969,
helped Maryland win three straight ACC titles (1983-85) as offensive coordinator under
head coach Bobby Ross.
Under Ross, Friedgen also served as offensive coordinator for Georgia Tech's national
championship team in 1990 and for the San Diego Chargers' Super Bowl team in 1994.
Despite such accomplishments, Friedgen watched several colleagues land head coaching
jobs while he continued to work offensive wonders as an assistant.
"I've won a national championship and been to the Super Bowl, and they're head
coaches," Friedgen said. "It was something I felt I'd be capable of doing. I just needed the
opportunity."
Friedgen didn't get it last year, when he applied for N.C. State's head coaching job, and he
decided to build a house in Georgia.
"I had a piece of property I was going to retire to and had been holding off (building) in
case I got a job," Friedgen said. "And one day I was thinking, 'I'm 53 years old, and what
the heck am I waiting for?' I said to myself, 'Why am I putting everything in my life into a
position that may not come?"
In November, however, Friedgen finally got that head coaching position.
"It was kind of like, 'This is what you've always wanted. How bad do you want it?'"
Friedgen said. "And I think the time is right. This is the time of the Terps -- with the
basketball team going to the Final Four."
While his house in Georgia is just about completed (Friedgen plans to keep it as a vacation
home), his rebuilding project at Maryland has just begun.
"We're further ahead than other places I've been. We just need to perfect our offense,"
Friedgen said. "I'm a perfectionist and need everything just right."
Things went right at Georgia Tech, where Friedgen built a high-powered offense that
was one of two in the nation to average at least 200 yards rushing and passing in 1999.
Friedgen's system is a mixture of all the offenses he's worked with over the years. He
utilizes plays that fit his personnel and strives for balance between running and passing.
At least one Maryland player has taken a devout interest in Friedgen's playbook.
"The offensive book is like a bible," said running back Bruce Perry, who thought the Terps
didn't demonstrate all facets of that offense in Saturday's instrasquad scrimmage. "This
was just a little piece of the package. There's a lot more to come."
Friedgen thought this spring was more of a learning process for his players, who had to
grasp his intricate offense, than it was for him as a first-year head coach. And at least
Friedgen's new job is in familiar surroundings.
"I think it's been easier for me here, having gone to school here in the 60s, coaching here
in the 70s and coming back in the 80s," he said. "I pretty much know the school and how it
operates. I also know a lot of the alumni and administration."
Still, there have been adjustments, like when a multitude of people wanted to talk to
Friedgen after Saturday's scrimmage.
"I saw how everybody wanted a part of me. I'm big, but I can only be in one place," said
Friedgen -- whose nickname is Fridge -- with a laugh. "I got out of there at 9:30 that
night. I don't think I've experienced anything like that."
When you're the head coach, it comes with the title.
