Krivak

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland assistant coaches and officials waited edgily today for Joe Krivak's expected announcement that he is stepping down as head football coach."

Bobby Ross got much of the credit for Maryland's short reign as the most dominant team in the Atlantic Coast Conference in the mid 1980s, but Joe Krivak was often referred to as the guru and play-caller for a string of record-setting Terps quarterbacks. Krivak, who died Tuesday after battling leukemia, tutored a line of Maryland quarterbacks that began with Boomer Esiason and Frank Reich, included Stan Gelbaugh and Dan Henning, and ended with Neil O'Donnell and Scott Zolak after Krivak succeeded Ross as head coach in 1987.

COLLEGE PARK -- University of Maryland athletic director Andy Geiger said yesterday that he will meet with head football coach Joe Krivak after the season to evaluate the program, but did not comment on whether Krivak would be retained for another season.Krivak, 56, is in the first year of a guaranteed four-year contract. He has compiled a 20-31-2 record in five years at Maryland, but will have only one winning season after the current season ends.Maryland is 2-6, with games remaining against Penn State, Clemson and North Carolina State.

To understand where the University of Maryland's football team is headed, let's travel back with the program since 1986, the year coach Bobby Ross resigned and the Terps' life as a national power came to an end. From 1987 to 2000, the Terps had three coaches and only two winning seasons. They played in one bowl game (thank goodness for the Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl), and had only 31 players drafted by the NFL. That's basically all you need to know. But today, the Terps (4-0)

COLLEGE PARK -- Newly appointed University of Maryland athletic director Andy Geiger said he will not make a decision on football coach Joe Krivak's status for the 1991 season until the current season is completed.Krivak, who has a 15-22-1 record, is in the fourth and final year of his contract.Geiger, who began work at the university Monday, said he discussed the situation with Krivak for nearly 40 minutes on the team's flight to Maryland after the game Saturday against Michigan."It's probably not a mystery what his concerns are," said Geiger.

Maryland takes a 5-5 record into its final game tomorrow against eighth-ranked Virginia. It also could be the final game for Terps head coach Joe Krivak, who is in the last year of his contract. Athletic director Andy Geiger will meet with Krivak starting Monday to discuss the coach's future.We'd like to know what you think Maryland should do.Should Maryland rehire Joe Krivak as its football coach?To register your opinion, call SUNDIAL at 783-1800 (or 268-7736 in Anne Arundel County) today through midnight Sunday.

University of Maryland Athletic Director Andy Geiger began "reviewing" College Park's football program yesterday. The Terp won only two of 11 games this season. Mr. Geiger has implied that although he now believes he made a mistake in giving head football coach Joe Krivak a four-year contract last year, he almost certainly will not fire him and pay off his contract.Coach Krivak should not be fired. That would compound the original mistake and create a worse problem than a 2-9 season.College Park President William Kirwan was in to discuss higher education problems with The Sun's editors last week.

COLLEGE PARK -- Despite Maryland's football success this season, athletic director Andy Geiger still maintains he and Joe Krivak won't discuss the coach's job status until after the season.And yet, Geiger points out, "The numbers speak for themselves." That is the only hint he provides as to which way he may be leaning.With three games remaining, Maryland has a 5-3 record and needs only one more victory to compile its first winning season since 1985. The Terps were 9-3 that year, captured the Atlantic Coast Conference championship with a 6-0 record and beat Syracuse in the Cherry Bowl.

COLLEGE PARK -- Underclassmen on the Maryland football team want coach Joe Krivak replaced, according to several veteran players who met with athletic director Andy Geiger yesterday."

Joe Krivak, who resigned nearly two and a half weeks ago as Maryland's football coach, may become an assistant on Bobby Ross' staff if Ross is named coach of the San Diego Chargers.San Diego coach Dan Henning was fired yesterday, and Ross, along with University of Miami coach Dennis Erickson, are the two top candidates to replace Henning."I chatted with Bobby the day before he went to the Aloha Bowl, but I've only read and seen what's in the paper like everybody else," Krivak said. "The thought of working in the NFL does intrigue me, and yes, I would be interested if a position became available."

In Wednesday's editions, an article on graduation rates for athletes at the University of Maryland incorrectly referred to former football coach Mark Duffner. In fact, athletic director Debbie Yow said the percentage this year is likely to be lower because football players transferred after the departure of head coach Joe Krivak in 1991.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 3/13/98FTC

Ron Vanderlinden, Maryland's new football coach, recruited some areas where the Terps usually haven't gone for players, like Michigan and Illinois.And Baltimore.When the letter of intent signing period opens today, the Terps expect to make official the oral commitments of 22 high school players. Three are from Michigan and two are from Illinois, reflecting the Big Ten background of Vanderlinden and several members of his staff, but there are also three players from the Baltimore area.Mount St. Joseph running back Aaron Thompson, The Sun's Offensive Player of the Year, and two other members of the All-Metro team, Arundel quarterback Erik Lipton and Wilde Lake safety Tony Jackson, represent the biggest cache of local talent headed to College Park since Joe Krivak was coach.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Virginia football team had a bye two weeks ago, so quarterback coach Joe Krivak went recruiting. Hopping between high schools in Prince George's County, Krivak took a shortcut through College Park and stopped to admire the new upper decks at Byrd Stadium.Those additions are among the many changes made to Maryland football since Krivak was forced out as head coach at the end of the 1991 season, and he wondered how his regime would have fared with a renovated stadium, a softer nonconference schedule and looser admissions standards.

Joe Krivak remembers the time he spent at the Naval Academy as an assistant football coach to George Welsh as "five great years in my life."The fond memory of tutoring Navy quarterbacks from 1977 to 1981 and helping the Midshipmen gain invitations to three bowl games convinced Krivak that he was "highly qualified" to fill the coaching job in Annapolis after the recent dismissal of George Chaump.Navy athletic director Jack Lengyel is screening more than 40 applicants, and said he does not anticipate selecting a coach for at least two weeks.

A football coach can be smart, he can be a good PR man, he can be a great guy.But in the end, none of that matters as much as one thing: Did he win?In light of that, the football coaches at Maryland and Navy would appear to be in danger of losing their jobs.Both men -- Mark Duffner at Maryland, George Chaump at Navy -- have strengths.Duffner takes a back seat to no one when it comes to energy and enthusiasm. For some, he has a little too much energy and enthusiasm.Chaump, at 59, is a soft-spoken, fatherly type who is rich in experience.

COLLEGE PARK -- The program is headed in the wrong direction, and the coach is fired. Players who don't fit in the new coach's plans leave, adding to the roster turnover that, in the best of times, is going to include a certain number of academic and physical casualties.This is attrition, and it has left Maryland with one of the youngest teams in the nation. The Terps could use as many as 20 first-year players at North Carolina tomorrow. Contrast the Terps' inexperience with the seasoning of the 14th-ranked Tar Heels, who will start 13 seniors.

By nearly a 2-to-1 margin, respondents to "It's Your Call" say the Terps should let Joe Krivak out of the final three years of his contract.Of 325 callers, 208 (64 percent) said Krivak should be replaced as football coach at Maryland. The other 36 percent (117 callers) said he should be retained."It's Your Call" represents a sampling of opinions from certain segments of the community, but it is not balanced demographically, as would be done in a scientific public opinion poll.

COLLEGE PARK -- Whatever the University of Maryland is paying Joe Krivak not to coach football is a bargain. In fact, if and when the Terrapins start winning, ol' Joe should ask for a raise.What a difference around Byrd Stadium, the practice fields and among a lot of people on campus these days (save for the student body, judging from Saturday's home crowd count: 27,550).Krivak used to wander into his weekly news conference after the team's latest loss and complain about how restricted he was in the academic quality of the players he could recruit.

COLLEGE PARK -- The University of Maryland may have to pay former head football coach Joe Krivak as much as $235,000 in salary and benefits over the next three years.Krivak, 57, resigned Dec. 6 under pressure from an intense two-week evaluation of the program by athletic director Andy Geiger. Krivak compiled a 20-34-2 record in five years at Maryland.He had three years left on a contract he signed after the 1990 regular season. It was worth $94,000 per year.According to settlement figures released by the university through Geiger yesterday, Krivak will be paid $113,400 through March 1, 1993, which includes base salary, use of a courtesy car and benefits.