School official: Ralph Friedgen to return as Maryland football coach

School official: Friedgen to return at Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen will return for the 2010 season, The Associated Press has learned.

Friedgen’s job status appeared shaky after the Terrapins lost a school-record 10 games this season. But after meeting for two consecutive days with athletic director Debbie Yow, he has been given the go-ahead to make plans for a 10th season as head coach at his alma mater, according to a school official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet formally been made.

The 62-year-old Friedgen has two years left on a contract that pays him $2 million annually. He is 66-46 at Maryland, but the Terrapins have endured four losing seasons over the past six years.

After Maryland’s final game Saturday, a 19-17 defeat to Boston College that extended the team’s losing streak to seven games, Friedgen made it clear he intended to return.

“These kids never quit on me. Why would I want to quit on them?” he said. “I want to be there when they’re good, so we can think about these times and laugh about them.”

Friedgen, a former player at Maryland, took the Terrapins to the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference title in his first season and has gone to six bowl games. But Maryland had the worst overall record of any ACC team this year (2-10) and won only one league game.

In February, offensive coordinator James Franklin signed a contract that would enable him to take over for Friedgen after the 2011 season or receive a $1 million buyout. Now that Friedgen knows he’s coming back, he can begin working with Franklin to improve an attack that loses only one player on the line, center Phil Costa.