College athletic directors, presidents and boosters across the country need to learn from the example set by those in power at the University of Maryland and Towson.
In a week when Alabama and Miami, among others, canned highly successful football coaches after one sub-par season, Maryland?s Ralph Friedgen is busily preparing his team for a number of potential bowl games, while Towson?s Gordy Combs is on the recruiting trail after a 7-4 campaign.
Had officials at Maryland and Towson followed the same path as some of those other schools, the Terps and Tigers would likely be in the midst of a rebuilding project with new coaches roaming the sidelines. Instead, both local schools kept the faith that Friedgen and Combs could turn around the respective programs after a number of difficult seasons. The schools also sent a message that they would do all they could to help one of their own ? both coaches are graduates of the schools they now lead.
Maryland posted back-to-back 5-6 seasons after reaching bowl games in Friedgen?s first three seasons. This year, the Terps, while still not among the country?s elite programs, are 8-4 and finished one game short of playing for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and a possible berth in the Orange Bowl.
Two years ago, Combs appeared headed to the unemployment line after going 3-8, including 0-8 in Towson?s inaugural season in the Atlantic 10 Conference, a league that is considered the best in Division I-AA.
However, the Tigers rebounded with a 6-5 record last season and spent much of this season in the top-25 rankings.
“I think what happens is that people get impatient in a hurry,” said Combs, who has spent the last 37 seasons at Towson as either a player, assistant or head coach. “In many of those cases, alumni or people who donate money to the school get into the heads of the presidents or athletic directors and tell them that a change is needed. What people don?t understand is that when you change coaches just to make a change, in most cases you?re setting that program back five years or more.”
Of course, one person?s problem is another?s opportunity. Whenever a coach loses his job, that dismissal gives another coach a chance at career advancement. No one understands this better right now than Navy?s Paul Johnson. He parlayed a successful run at Division I-AA Georgia Southern into his current job when he replaced Charlie Weatherbie in Annapolis in 2002.
Now, after going 36-24 in five seasons at Navy, including qualifying for a bowl game four straight years, Johnson is once again being courted by a number of schools looking for a new coach. Johnson is rumored to be a candidate for openings at Alabama and N.C. State, to name a few.
Although flattered by the attention, Johnson tries not to make too much of rumors that surface. The world of college athletics, he said, is often cruel and doesn?t always make too much sense.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business.”
Ron Snyder is a staff writer for the Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
