Terps Fill Out Offensive Staff

Maryland hired former Baltimore Ravens assistant Phil Zacharias as its running backs coach, finally filling an offensive slot that has been open since offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe resigned in February.

The hiring ensures that Coach Ralph Friedgen will act as the offensive coordinator this fall.

Former running backs coach John Donovan will coach the quarterbacks.

Friedgen coached the quarterbacks and called the plays during spring practices, and although he said that he was in no hurry to make a hire, he also said several times that the workload was enormous. After two straight rocky offensive seasons, the offense struggled again in the spring; quarterbacks Sam Hollenbach and Jordan Steffy combined to complete 14 of 34 passes with one touchdown and four interceptions during the spring scrimmage.

Zacharias was most recently Temple's defensive line coach after spending three seasons as a defensive assistant with the Ravens. He has spent his entire career as a defensive or special teams coach, with his longest stint at Stanford from 1995 to 2001.

Maryland officials had spoken with former assistant Mike Locksley , the offensive coordinator at Illinois, about joining Maryland's staff, but were constrained by the terms of Locksley's contract.

-- Dan Steinberg