Terrapins Open Practice With Friedgen in Control

"I prepare very, very hard," said Ralph Friedgen, whose Terps face a difficult schedule after back-to-back 5-6 seasons. (By Toni L. Sandys -- The Washington Post)

Ralph Friedgen went fishing nearly every morning during his three-week vacation last month. Then he went back to his vacation home in Georgia, retreated to the basement and spent four or five hours staring at two computer screens and plotting Maryland's return to success.

As soon as his vacation ended, he was back working his real summer hours, arriving early at Maryland's football offices -- usually by 6 a.m. -- and leaving late. Last Sunday, he spent 11 hours in the football offices, alone. And the last day he spent without thinking about football?

"Never," Friedgen said last week. "Ever. That's what I do. That's who I am, you know? I think about football. I think about plays. I think about situations, probably more than I should."

There's plenty to consider for Friedgen, whose sixth season begins with today's first practice. After a brilliant start to his tenure, the Terps are coming off back-to-back 5-6 seasons -- just as they were the year he was hired. Recruits, Friedgen said, are waiting to see how the team performs this fall. Current players, Friedgen said, lack the confidence that propelled the Terps to a 31-8 record in his first three season.

The schedule is unforgiving; the home slate includes Miami and Florida State, while all five of Maryland's road opponents played in bowl games last year. And after the departure of offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe, Friedgen is calling the plays for the first time since he left Georgia Tech in 2000, and for the first time as a head coach.

That's by design. After last year's disappointment, Friedgen felt frustrated not only with his team's won-loss record, but also with his role on the coaching staff.

"To be honest with you," he said, "it was a little boring."

Which is why he was thinking about taking over the play-calling even before Taaffe departed in February. With the coordinator position open and Friedgen's mind still unsure, he consulted with friends in the business, including Georgia's Mark Richt and Notre Dame's Charlie Weis.

"Why would you want someone else to call the plays in your offense?" Friedgen recalls Weis asking. "Who knows it better than you?"

Friedgen ultimately agreed. And so he's delegated more of the administrative tasks that occupied his time in past seasons. He's announced that he will dramatically scale back his fundraising phone calls and appearances this fall. He's pared down his schedule of pregame breakfasts with boosters, again, to free up more time. He said his "creative juices are kind of back flowing again," and added that with his increased duties, he probably deserves more responsibility for this year's results.

"He says he likes pressure, he enjoys pressure," longtime offensive assistant John Donovan said. "It's been a while for him, but it's his offense. . . . I think he's fired up to be doing it again."

Before the turnover-plagued struggles of 2004 and 2005, Friedgen's Terps had been carving up the team's offensive record books, setting scoring records in his first two seasons. Those fireworks earned Friedgen the typical monikers that come with high-scoring success: he was a genius, an innovator, a guru.