It's a Stately Endeavor

Terps, Cavs Vying For Area Reign

In Ralph Friedgen's first four years at Maryland, his teams won 36 games and an ACC title, played in three bowl games and won two. And yet the Terps enter tomorrow's game against Virginia with a 2-2 record and their toughest tests still to come, and a loss this weekend would raise the specter of a second straight losing season.

In Al Groh's first four years at Virginia, his teams won 30 games, landed one of the best recruiting classes in school history, played in three bowl games and won two. And yet the Cavs enter tomorrow's game in College Park never having claimed an ACC title or played in a New Year's Day bowl under Groh, and a loss this weekend would point toward a continuation of that trend.

Add the fact that, as border-state rivals, the programs are in perpetual competition for media attention and area recruits, and it's easy to characterize tomorrow's game as something more than just one of eight conference matchups in just another 11-game season.

"I think [this season] is hugely important," said ABC Sports analyst Ed Cunningham, who grew up in Alexandria and graduated from Mount Vernon High before winning a national championship as a player at the University of Washington. "For Ralph, this season's a big deal because if you go two years in a row with a losing record, then the recruits are going to start saying, 'Wait a minute. . . . ' Because no one wants to lose.

"I think maybe even more for U-Va., this is a huge year. They always beat the teams they should. But they need to take that next step, where they start knocking off people in the top 10 and putting themselves in a position to play for an ACC championship."

The coaches were hired almost one month apart in late 2000, and both have taken considerable strides with their alma maters over the past five years. Friedgen has a record of 38-16, Groh 33-21. Maryland has sold a record number of season tickets for four straight years, with more than 32,000 this season; Virginia sold its entire allotment of 39,123 for the second year in a row and is expected to set a season attendance record this year.

Both coaches have been rewarded with contract extensions; Friedgen's deal, signed last summer, runs through 2012 and guarantees him approximately $1.5 million a year, while Groh signed a five-year contract last month that boosted his total annual compensation to $1.7 million. And both schools reeled in recruiting classes last year that were ranked in the top 20 nationally according to Rivals.com and in the top 25 according to Tom Lemming of College Sports TV.

"I'm proud for one of my players to go to either school," said DeMatha Coach Bill McGregor, who has former players starting for each school. "You have two outstanding programs, two outstanding head coaches."

While both coaches reject the idea that one game or even one season has particular import, it's hard to ignore the potential implications of a loss tomorrow for either program.

Recruiting analysts and local high school coaches agreed that one off year did nothing to deflate Maryland's burgeoning reputation and could even help; a losing record can translate into more immediate playing time for recruits, who are often swayed by a message of "we're one or two players away," analysts said. A second losing season, though, could prove more problematic.

"If it's a one-year thing, that can be blamed as a blip on the radar screen," said Jeremy Crabtree, national recruiting editor for Rivals.com. "But if it's a downward spiral that goes into two or three years, then, yeah, it can be something that changes the perceptions of a lot of kids, not just locally but nationally."

"One never really does it to you," agreed Lemming, who said the Maryland brand holds more weight in recruiting now than it has for 27 years. "Two or three years in a row, then kids think it's a downslide and they start to look elsewhere."