Friedgen To Coach In Gridiron Classic This Weekend
1/24/2003 7:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 24, 2003
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - University of Maryland head football coach Ralph Friedgen will join UCF's Mike Kruczek and 12 coaches from NFL Europe in comprising the coaching staffs for the Fifth Annual Rotary Gridiron Classic College All-Star Game. The game will be played this Saturday, January 25, 2003 at Orlando, Florida's Citrus Bowl.
The game, which pits college football seniors from the state of Florida against seniors from the rest of the nation, will kickoff at 2:00 p.m. (EST) and be aired nationally by ESPN2 as well as the Sports USA Radio Network.
During the game's first four years of existence, the Rotary Gridiron Classic coaching staffs were made up of former NFL coaches. Bud Carson, Wayne Fontes, Lindy Infante, Chuck Noll, Buddy Ryan and Barry Switzer, all of which spent time on NFL sidelines as head coaches, are among the coaches that have been part of the game's short history.
Now the game, which is the official all-star game of the NFL Players' Association, will have two co-head coaches on each sideline. One head coach on each team will be from a college program, while the other will be an NFL Europe head coach.
Jack Bicknell will join Friedgen as co-head coach for Team USA, while Kruczek and Peter Vaas will fill the same roles for Team Florida.
Friedgen spent 32 years as an assistant before landing the head coaching position at Maryland in 2001. In his first season at his alma mater, Friedgen led the Terrapins to an outright ACC Championship, a top-10 national ranking and a berth in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). For his efforts, Friedgen was the consensus National Coach of the Year. Maryland is off to a 9-3 record this season and is poised for another trip to a post season bowl game.
"I am very pleased to be coaching in the Rotary Gridiron Classic," said Friedgen. "It has been a game that has gotten better and better each year in terms of the talent that it has been able to attract and it should be fun."
Bicknell, who led Boston College to four bowl games between 1982 and 1990, will join Friedgen on the Team USA sideline. Bicknell is currently the head coach of the Barcelona Dragons, a club which finished as an NFL Europe World Bowl finalist in 2001.
Completing the Team USA coaching staff will be Peter Kuharchek, Sam Rutigliano, Vincent Martino, Kenneth Clarke and Adrian White.
In addition to Kruczek and Vaas, Team Florida's staff will include Doug Graber, Robert Bicknell, David Duggan, Michael Jones and Jim Tomsula.
Kruczek's UCF program has produced 16 Rotary Gridiron Classic players over the last four years, including the all-star game's most recognizable alumnus, Daunte Culpepper. As a participant in 1998, Culpepper, now an All-Pro quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, helped lay the groundwork for the game's future success.
Having spent the last 13 years on the sidelines of the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, first as an assistant and now as a head coach at UCF, Kruczek should feel right at home. Since taking over the head coaching duties in 1998, Kruczek has led UCF to an overall record of 29-23 and an impressive 19-5 (.792) record at home.
"It's an honor to be chosen in the inaugural year in which college head coaches are running the respective teams. It's great to be able to support the effort for a great cause, the Buoniconti Fund. The Rotary Gridron Classic has become bigger and better every year and it's going to be a lot of fun to be a part of the success of the game," said Kruczek.
Kruczek will share head coaching duties with Vaas, a former assistant at Notre Dame (1990-91) and head coach at the College of the Holy Cross (1992-1994). Vaas is currently the head coach of the two-time defending World Bowl Champion, Berlin Thunder.
"The presence of college head coaches and NFL Europe coaches is an excellent combination for the future of this game," said Florida Citrus Sports Executive Director Tom Mickle. "Our developing relationship with the NFL and the college coaches will only strengthen our position as we pursue the game's ultimate goal of benefiting the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis."
The Rotary Gridiron Classic College All-Star Game is one of six signature events produced each year by Florida Citrus Sports (FCS), a not-for-profit membership organization based in Orlando, Fla. The other five FCS events include the Capital One Bowl, Mazda Tangerine Bowl, Walt Disney World Florida Classic, Florida Power Super Holiday Parade and OUC Orlando Half Marathon and 5K. Proceeds generated by the Rotary Gridiron Classic benefit the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, The Rotary Foundation and the Florida Citrus Sports Foundation.
