Jan. 22, 2002

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - University of Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen will be honored as the 2001 Bobby Dodd Foundation National Coach of the Year in a dinner slated to take place on the university campus Tuesday evening, Feb. 26.

The award, sponsored by the Bobby Dodd Foundation of Atlanta, Ga., is named in honor of the former Georgia Tech coach who spent 22 seasons as head football coach of the Yellow Jackets. The award is voted on by a blue-ribbon selection committee, including past Bobby Dodd Award recipients.

Friedgen, the consensus national coach of the year and a unanimous selection for the Bobby Dodd Award, led the Terps to their first ACC title since 1985 and a final national ranking of No. 10 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. dinner are available to the general public for $45 per person. Tickets can be reserved by calling the University of Maryland Athletic Department at (301) 314-7020. The dinner will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Inn & Conference Center (located at the intersection of Rte. 193 and Adelphi Rd.).

	Previous Bobby Dodd Award recipients:


Vince Dooley, University of Georgia
Bo Schembechler, University of Michigan
Tom Osborne, University of Nebraska
LaVell Edwards, Brigham Young University
Bobby Bowden, Florida State University
Joe Paterno, Penn State University
George MacIntyre, Vanderbilt University
Ken Hatfield, Air Force Academy
Jim Wacker, Texas Christian University
Fisher DeBerry, Air Force Academy
Dick Sheridan, North Carolina State University
Dick MacPherson, Syracuse University
Don Nehlen, West Virginia University
Bill Curry, University of Alabama
Bobby Ross, Georgia Tech
George Welsh, University of Virginia
Eddie Robinson, Grambling State University
Barry Alvarez, University of Wisconsin
Fred Goldsmith, Duke University
Gary Barnett, Northwestern University
Bob Sutton, United States Military Academy
Mike Price, Washington State University
Bill Snyder, Kansas State University
Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
George O'Leary, Georgia Tech