COLLEGE PARK - Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen has been offered the head football coaching job at Maryland, sources close to the Terrapins program and to Friedgen said last night. It is not known whether Friedgen will accept the offer.
Sources close to Friedgen indicated he was trying to make sure the commitment he received from Maryland was enough to quickly turn around the moribund program. It wasn't so much the financial package he was offered, the sources said, but the money being put into the program to make it competitive with the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Terms of the contract offer were not available, but Friedgen was likely not to accept anything less than the same kind of five-year rollover deal he had at Georgia Tech. Friedgen has been making a reported $200,000 a year, a figure that would increase significantly should he become the new Terps coach.
Friedgen, 53, and his wife, Gloria, were in Maryland last night. A family member said from the Friedgens' home in suburban Atlanta that Gloria Friedgen, who teaches and coaches at a local school, was not expected back home until tomorrow.
Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow was not available for comment last night. Friedgen was seen leaving the football team house last night with associate athletic director Rob Mullens, but neither would comment.
Whatever Friedgen said during his meeting Sunday in Atlanta with Yow apparently was impressive enough for him to go to the top of her list of candidates. Whatever he said during his interview yesterday with Yow and the rest of the search committee was equally effective, because he was immediately offered the job.
If he accepts the offer, Friedgen could be introduced as soon as today at a campus news conference.
Actually, it would be a reintroduction. Friedgen played at Maryland in 1968, graduated the next year and started his coaching career here as a graduate assistant under Jerry Claiborne in 1972. He was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Bobby Ross from 1982 to 1986, when the Terrapins went 39-19-1, winning three ACC championships.
Friedgen left when Ross went to Georgia Tech in 1987. Three years later, the Yellow Jackets beat Nebraska in the Florida Citrus Bowl and claimed a share of the national championship. Ross went to the San Diego Chargers after the 1991 season, and took Friedgen with him as offensive coordinator. The Chargers won the AFC championship in 1994.
