The offseason hiring of offensive coordinator James Franklin has eased Friedgen's workload, enabling him to work more with players individually and focus on the big picture. "He seems more relaxed," said Dave Sollazzo, the defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.
The Terrapins begin their first practice today. They open the season at home against Delaware on Aug. 30.
The stadium is a key to the program's fortunes, Friedgen said. A number of Atlantic Coast Conference schools have expanded their football stadiums recently, or made plans to. Maryland must keep pace, Friedgen said, to entice recruits and fans alike.
"We're one of the last to get going here. But I think it's going to be really nice," the coach said.
Expansion of Tyser Tower, with its 64 suites, is to be finished for the 2009 season. Some 8,000 seats are to be added to the west end zone in a later phase, bringing stadium capacity to about 60,000. Eventually, Friedgen said, "we're going to lower the field and put FieldTurf in and make the seats behind the bench a little more premium. And then we're going to redo our locker room."
Friedgen is intricately involved in the locker-room design, scrutinizing such aspects as how many columns there will be. "I want an open locker room," he says.
Friedgen said he hopes the stadium will attract more members to the Maryland Gridiron Network, or MGN. The booster group, which raises money for football projects, has about 1,000 members now - a figure expected to rise as the season draws nearer.
Dozens of MGN members are former Maryland players. That's a group that figures into yet another one of Friedgen's ideas, this one tied to the players' traditional pre-game march into the stadium.
"This year, what I'm trying to do is invite our lettermen to join us in Terrapin Alley. Let the lettermen walk before us and let the people recognize some of the players who have been here in the past," Friedgen said.
"I'm really trying to build these traditions that involve our fans."
jeff.barker@baltsun.com
