Friedgen to return for 2011 season

Terrapin football coach Ralph Friedgen will return for the 2011 season, Athletics Director Kevin Anderson announced yesterday, solidifying — at least for another year — his future in a program approaching a major crossroads.

The Terps' recent on-field struggles, coupled with the naming of offensive coordinator James Franklin as the team's coach-in-waiting, had cast doubt on Friedgen's future with the program. As recently as the past week, Anderson was noncommittal about Friedgen's status, declining to say whether the 10th-year coach would return next season after the Terps' victory at Virginia on Saturday.

Yesterday's announcement, which came two days before the Terps face Florida State in a crucial ACC matchup, gave a sense of closure to a question Friedgen often wondered aloud this season.

"Based largely on the improved performance of our team and student-athletes this season, Coach Friedgen will be our head football coach next year," Anderson said in a release. "Once this season is complete, Ralph and I will sit down to discuss the current state and future of the program."

The Terps are 73-49 in Friedgen's nine-plus years as coach, including six bowl games and an ACC Championship.

A program-worst 2-10 record last season, though, led many to question Friedgen's future with a program he helped resurrect. Rumors swirled last offseason that then-Athletics Director Debbie Yow was attempting to raise the necessary funds to buy out the remaining two years in Friedgen's contract, but he was eventually retained.

A lagging economy and an athletics department struggling financially made the prospect of buying out Friedgen's or Franklin's contract after this season unlikely. Complicating the situation is the fact that Franklin, who was named the team's coach-in-waiting in February 2009, will be owed $1 million if he does not assume head coaching duties after the 2011 season.

"I'm excited about the direction of our program," Friedgen said yesterday in a release. "We have a great of bunch of kids and a tremendous staff [sic]. I'm thankful for all the hard work they have put into this season. Right now, we're just concentrating on Florida State."

Even after Yow said earlier this year that a seven-win season was a "reasonable" benchmark for Friedgen to reach in order retain his job, Friedgen repeatedly told media and recruits alike that he would return for the 2011 season.

"Yeah. I tell [possible recruits] I'm planning on being here," Friedgen told The Washington Post earlier this month. "That's me. That's what I tell them. That's really out of my hands, you know what I'm saying. All I can do is worry about winning the next game, so that is what I concentrate on doing. [If] the powers that be think that's good enough, fine. If the powers don't, then I won't be here."

With Friedgen's contract set to expire after next season, though, questions still remain about the long-term direction of the program. Friedgen, 63, has said he will coach as long as he enjoys it, while Franklin has come under scrutiny for questionable play-calling and the team's offensive inconsistencies.

Anderson admitted in an interview last month that Franklin's coach-in-waiting status limits the program's future options, and his decision on the Terps' coaching position — particularly, whether to hire from inside the program or hire an outside name — could define the early part of his tenure as athletics director.

Asked to comment about his expectations for his role with the program in the coming years, Friedgen declined to speculate.

"I don't know," Friedgen said. "It is what it is."

Senior staff writer Kate Yanchulis contributed to this report.

schneider@umdbk.com