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Leach to Wazzu

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by KYSportsWriter, Dec 18, 2010.

Page 3 of 38
  1. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    Friedgen didn't deserve this. He did way better than anyone expected with that team this year. He also took a horrible team with no success for a decade and made it respectable.

    And all the Mike Leach is Jesus stuff on the various threads still cracks me up. I like Leach. I think he is an unconventional offensive coach, who has proven a lot of people wrong. And that said, at Maryland, he had best have a defensive coordinator who is more like a co-head coach. And he had best be prepared for Frank Beamer to eat his lunch once a year. Maryland is what it is. Leach won't be able to perform some kind of miracle that Ralph Friedgen didn't. This isn't West Texas, where he can snatch up third-tier players who fit his system. The East Coast schools that recruit that area fight like dogs for what is out there. And I just don't see Leach heading down to Tidewater and taking players from Beamer, or even Mike London who has had a great recruiting year and has established roots there.

    As someone said, there is a reason why teams were not jumping to snatch up Leach. He brings major baggage. And he is a bit of a carnival worker, not a blue chip head football coach, in the mold of say, Jim Harbaugh. I don't think this is going to be a disaster. I just won't expect Maryland to ever be much more than it already is. And to treat Ralph Friedgen like that, after what he has done for that school, they really don't deserve success.
     
    The Big Ragu, Dec 19, 2010
    #25
  2. Pancamo

    Pancamo Active Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    Ragu is right. The DC area has a handful of superstar recruits and they won't be headed to College Park. Penn State, VT and even Florida takes the pick of the litter. 2nd tier recruites in Maryland are not comparable to the 4th and 5th tier recruits in Texas.

    Michael Crabtree won't be rolling through Collge Park and suiting up on Saturday.

    An eight win season will be a success.
     
    Pancamo, Dec 19, 2010
    #26
  3. derwood

    derwood Active Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    Vernon Davis will do.
     
    derwood, Dec 19, 2010
    #27
  4. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    Here is the biggest problem with the Terps, even if they hire Leach: Maryland football will always be something like priority No. 12 in the Baltimore/D.C. metro area.

    Ralph was a victim of his own initial success. He wanted that program to be big-time, so he pushed hard for them to expand the stadium, build a new coaches complex, give him academic exceptions in recruiting, expand his recruiting budget, let him pay assistants more. Bobby Ross begged for those things back in the 1980s, but no one cared, so he left and won a national championship at Georgia Tech while the Terps spent another decade in total irrelevance. So at least Friedgen moved the program out of the dark ages.

    But he wasn't a great recruiter -- just didn't have the stomach for it (insert smirk here) -- and a series of terrible quarterbacks did him in. Anyone who can make Shaun Hill, Scott McBrien and Sam Hollenbach into credible college quarterbacks is coaching his ass off.

    But when the program starts losing money, you're in trouble. Season ticket sales were way down. Maryland fans had their expectations change. They forgot how shitty they were under Duffner and Vanderlinden. But I suppose you can't be complacent when the fanbase decides they don't care. That's college football.

    The Maryland campus is nice, but College Park, as a city, kind of blows. I say this even though my wife is an alum. Kids want to experience the atmosphere of a college town, where they're celebrities. College Park is basically just a strip on Route 1. It's always going to be hard to convince kids with better options to come there and play in front of 49,000 when they could just as easily play in front of 67,000 in Blacksburg.

    Leach will create buzz. And because he has a good, young quarterback already in place, and 15 starters back, he'll probably have success right away.

    But it always makes me feel a little glum when a university kicks one of its own alums to the curb like this, especially when he dragged that program kicking and screaming into the modern era.
     
    Double Down, Dec 19, 2010
    #28
  5. Lugnuts

    Lugnuts Well-Known Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland


    I have to say I was wrong.

    I didn't think anyone would touch him.

    Maybe it takes the same core brazenness to fire Friedgen as it does to hire Leach.

    It's high drama, though, and they've already got me to watch, so......
     
    Lugnuts, Dec 19, 2010
    #29
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    Don't worry about Leach recruiting in Texas. He'll be all over Texas and Florida. Having Michael Crabtree and Wes Welker come out of his system won't hurt. Wasn't Crabtree one of the top (if not the top) player in the country coming out of high school?

    He'll do fine at Maryland. It should be easier for him there than it was at Tech.
     
    Mizzougrad96, Dec 19, 2010
    #30
  7. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    Agree - kids want to play in the spread. If you are a talented receiver where would you rather go - Penn State or Maryland to play for Leach.

    Listening to Leach on his radio show for past few months I think his time off has given him some new perspective on his weaknesses - running the ball and D.
     
    Boom_70, Dec 19, 2010
    #31
  8. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    You just watched Leach understudy Dana Holgorsen crank up the Cowboy offense.
     
    Boom_70, Dec 19, 2010
    #32
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    In three years I want to see who is the most successful of the hires

    Muschamp
    Golden
    Embree
    The guy at Minnesota
    Leach

    Kudos to Maryland for having a pair.
     
    Mizzougrad96, Dec 19, 2010
    #33
  10. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    The spread and cool stuff from Under Armour are going to be pretty good recruiting tools for Leach
     
    Boom_70, Dec 19, 2010
    #34
  11. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    Friedgen went 8-4 this year, 5-3 in the conference, with a team that before the season was predicted to be crap. He is a good football coach.

    He would have had a decent team next year, because there is a young QB and an offensive line that came together and has a few years left. Friedgen put together that team. I'm not sure how. He didn't seem to recruit and after last season, it really didn't look like he had much to build on. He can coach, though.

    Leach will probably have some success with that team. It has some pieces in place, thanks to Friedgen. No more success than Friedgen would have had, though.

    Going forward? Friedgen took that program to how many bowl games in his time there? Skip ahead a few years, and let's see if Leach has any more success than the typical 8-win season you could expect from Friedgen -- throw out those first few years in which Maryland only lost 2 or 3 games each year; they were an anomaly.

    Programs like Maryland should set their expectations at 8 wins and a bowl game. Anything more than that, and you've captured lightning in a bottle. Friedgen delivered those 8-win seasons, for the most part, and struck lightning in a bottle for a few years when he got there. It was a very successful reign. People here really think Mike Leach is ever going to be able to do more than that in College Park, and really, what is the likelihood that he does less?
     
    The Big Ragu, Dec 19, 2010
    #35
  12. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Re: Leach to Maryland

    Ragu - Friedgen is a good coach and one I've really liked. I'm really torn on this switch from the way it has gone down.

    That said Leach has a bigger upside. We've seen Friedgen's body of work - a very successful 8 win team with minor bowl bid with limited fan interest.

    Leach may go 8-4 but there will be a lot more interest and excitement in program.

    Times they are a changing - Friedgen was too old school for today's athletes.
     
    Boom_70, Dec 19, 2010
    #36
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