“Every year we have a mantra, we have a saying that we want to be able to rally around,” Randy Edsall said in a video posted on the Maryland football Web site. “Hold the Rope. You know, you might have somebody hanging over the cliff and holding onto that rope, and you’re at the top of that cliff. You don’t want to let anybody down.”
As seen below, Edsall demonstrated his holding the rope technique while discussing the slogan. The video also shows players breaking huddles with “Hold The Rope!” chants.
That phrase seems to have been popularized, in a football sense, by the Rich Rodriguez-era Michigan Wolverines. And Barack Obama.