April 25, 2010

ATLANTA - Maryland's Ralph Friedgen and a number of other college football coaches will play in the annual Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge charity golf tournament on Tuesday.

Each coach will team with a celebrity alum to compete for $400,000 in scholarship money. Former Terp and NFL quarterback Stan Gelbaugh will play with Friedgen.

The nation's premier head coach and celebrity golf event will be held at the beautiful Reynolds Plantation resort on Lake Oconee outside Atlanta. Over the past three years, the Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge has provided more than $1.3 million in scholarship and charity to its participating universities.

The groups will tee off at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and play a two-man scramble format. The tournament's championship team will receive the first place $120,000 scholarship donation to their university. All teams will win a portion of the $400,000 scholarship purse.

Official team pairings:

Group One:
South Carolina - Steve Spurrier / Sterling Sharpe
vs.
Clemson - Dabo Swinney / Dwight Clark

Group Two:
Virginia Tech - Frank Beamer / Dell Curry
vs.
Alabama - Nick Saban / Steve Sloan

Group Three:
North Carolina - Butch Davis / Natrone Means
vs.
N.C. State - Sidney Lowe / Monte Towe

Group Four:
Ole Miss - Houston Nutt / Wesley Walls
vs.
Maryland - Ralph Friedgen / Stan Gelbaugh

Group Five:
Wake Forest - Jim Grobe / Billy Packer
vs.
Vanderbilt - Bobby Johnson / Will Perdue

Group Six:
Georgia Tech - Paul Johnson / Jon Barry
vs.
Florida State - Jimbo Fisher / Terrell Buckley

Past winners: 2009 South Carolina (Spurrier/Sharpe / -12, playoff winners), 2008 South Carolina (Spurrier/Sharpe / -12), 2007 Virginia Tech (Beamer/Curry / -10).

In addition to the $400,000 scholarship purse, additional proceeds will be donated to selected charities including Chick-fil-A's WinShape Homes. The Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge is a significant contributor to the Chick-fil-A Bowl's overall charitable and scholarship donations. The Chick-fil-A Bowl leads all bowls in the country in charitable giving, including gifts of more than $5.8 million since 2002.

The tournament is being taped by ESPN for broadcast in the fall. The date of the broadcast will be announced this summer.

For more information on the event, visit www.Chick-fil-ABowlChallenge.com.

About the Chick-fil-A Bowl
The Chick-fil-A Bowl is the ninth-oldest bowl game in the country and hosts the longest-running rivalry series between the ACC and SEC. Now in its 43rd year, the Chick-fil-A Bowl has established itself as one of the nation's elite bowl games with a string of 13 consecutive sellouts and has earned a reputation as one of the most competitive bowls in the nation. Ten of the last 18 games have been decided by a touchdown or less. The Chick-fil-A Bowl has disbursed more than $97 million in team payouts during its 42-year history and has increased team payout every year since 1996. The Bowl also leads all other bowl games in charitable and scholarship contributions, giving more than $1.2 million to organizations in need in 2009 alone. Other events under the Chick-fil-A Bowl brand include the Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge head coach and celebrity golf event each April and the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game season-opening game over Labor Day weekend which will host two projected pre-season top 25 teams, LSU and North Carolina, to open the 2010 season Sept. 4.