COLLEGE PARK - Shortly after interviewing with Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow 23 months ago, Ralph Friedgen found himself headed back to the school from which he had graduated and where he had worked as an assistant coach under Bobby Ross.
As familiar as he was with the campus, Friedgen had some doubts about the direction of the football program. Assured by Yow he was the leading candidate to replace head coach Ron Vanderlinden, Friedgen was to meet with university president C.D. Mote Jr. about a position he had coveted for more than a decade.
"I didn't really know if I was going to take this job," Friedgen recalled earlier this week. "They hadn't won. There had to be a reason why they hadn't won. I didn't know if the administration was going to back you, if there wasn't enough money or if there wasn't the desire to be good.
"Ever since I went to school here, we were always apologizing for who we were, and I never thought we should. We were a darn good school, and we could be as good as anybody in the country. Dr. Mote said that to me. That was his view. That was the kind of thing that excited me."
Friedgen's excitement has become contagious. After leading the Terrapins to a 10-2 record and their first Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 16 years in his first season, Friedgen has watched the program's resurgence continue.
At 8-2 this season, including a seven-game winning streak going into tonight's game at Clemson, Maryland can help put Friedgen into the record books as the most successful second-year coach in ACC history.
But Friedgen, who can join former Clemson coach Ken Hatfield at the top of the list, is not getting overwhelmed by his success.
"The only thing I noticed on that [list] is that most of those guys got fired," Friedgen said with a laugh, sitting in his office Tuesday night after practice.
"I don't know how good a record that is. It's a short walk. I don't want to sound like I'm not appreciative, but I really do believe that it's not just me."
Experienced staff
Friedgen credits the knowledge of an experienced coaching staff, the work ethic of his relatively young team and the support of Yow for the Terrapins' reprise of last season's success.
But the reason for 19th-ranked Maryland overcoming a 1-2 start this season and putting itself back into the major bowl picture - perhaps even a BCS game - has a great deal to do with its head coach.
Given the adjustments he had to make with patiently bringing along new quarterback Scott McBrien and finding a replacement for injured tailback Bruce Perry, Friedgen may have done an even better coaching job this year.
Friedgen is not one to advance that theory.
"Last year's team was a mature team, guys who had been playing for a long time and hadn't been successful, at least as successful as they wanted to be," said Friedgen, 55. "You just had to teach them the things that would help them be successful and put them in the right places.
"This year's team, you have to do those things, too, but this year's team it's a matter of maturation. I'm probably not very patient with it, but I understand that's something you have to go through. You can't let them get frustrated and disappointed. You've got to be encouraging and accentuate the positive."
It has meant showing his players tape of their successes rather than their failures, and in McBrien's case, keeping him in the starting lineup even when he looked clueless during a season-opening, 22-0 loss to Notre Dame and, two weeks later, helpless in a 37-10 loss to Florida State.
"It's a lot like raising a child," said Friedgen, father of three daughters, ages 13, 15 and 24. "You watch your child make mistakes and hopefully they can learn from them. When they are successful, they gain confidence. It's a neat thing about coaching."
His players have not seen that much of a difference this season in Friedgen, but they agree his positive outlook helped the team overcome its slow and sloppy start.
"After we lost to Notre Dame and Florida State, there were some worries, but Coach told us, 'You guys are going to do nothing but get better,' " recalled senior wide-out Scooter Monroe, the team's leading receiver. "He's exactly right. We've gotten better every week, and we're back where we want to be."
Not that Friedgen has suddenly gone soft. Though he might be a bit more polished around the edges than when he returned to his alma mater nearly two years ago, he is still the same shoot-from-the-lip kind of guy he was as one of the top assistant coaches in the country at Maryland and Georgia Tech.
Did we mention demanding?
"He just won't let up on us," said senior linebacker E.J. Henderson, who has recently shown signs of becoming as dominant as he was last season, when he was the ACC's Player of the Year. "[He's] almost a perfectionist. It's going to be his way or no way."
But Henderson did see another side to Friedgen when they were both deciding their future last winter.
Henderson was contemplating leaving for the NFL, but he then had to undergo back surgery in the offseason, which prompted his return to Maryland. Friedgen was mulling over an offer from Georgia Tech to replace George O'Leary, then talked with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers about their head-coaching vacancy.
"He's an open guy. He's a real nice guy. He always wants to hear your problems and what you have to say," Henderson said. "Before I made any move, I wanted to talk with Coach first and see what he thought. He was definitely a big factor during those six or seven months."
Improve the facilities
Georgia Tech's interest in Friedgen led Yow to rework his contract, stretching it from five years to seven and eventually to 10 with a significant boost in pay. Friedgen's message to the administration was clear.
Improve the facilities, and I shall stay.
"I just wanted to know if we were going to be the best we could be," Friedgen said. "As long as we're going to do that, I'm going to be staying here. And we are. Look what we've done in a year. We've made more improvements in a year than has been done in 109 years."
Friedgen gives a lot of credit to Yow for his not jumping to Georgia Tech, which was offering more money.
"I probably would have left here if it wasn't for Debbie Yow," Friedgen said.
There were some who thought - and still think - it couldn't get any better for Friedgen than it did last season.
Maryland started 7-0, highlighted by a nationally televised, overtime win at Georgia Tech, clinched its first ACC championship since 1985 with a dramatic, last-second win at N.C. State and then played in the FedEx Orange Bowl, the school's first New Year's Day bowl since 1976.
The video of the 300-plus- pound Friedgen slam-dancing with his players in the locker room in Raleigh is still replayed at home games. There were also those fight songs Friedgen belted out after wins and the tears he shed.
"I was very emotional last year because I wanted this opportunity for so long and for the first year to do so well [and see] these kids grow as a team, their expectation level continued to rise," he said. "Things were so low when I got there.
"People looked at me like I was nuts [to say] that we were going to do this or going to do that. I just see such potential in this school. We really haven't scratched the surface yet, we really haven't. We have a lot to sell."
This year, the Terrapins started the season with a high-profile game against the Fighting Irish but quickly fell out of the rankings, and the spotlight, with that loss as well as the defeat to Florida State. Last week's comeback win over then-No. 14 N.C. State at Byrd Stadium put Maryland and Friedgen back on the radar screen.
This time, there is little in the way of hysteria, just a sense that Maryland is a good team trying to get better.
"This year, I can't say I haven't enjoyed it. I have," Friedgen said. "It's a little different type of thing. I'm probably more accepted now than I was a year ago. Maybe I'm more comfortable in my role."
Difficult job
Terry Bowden understands how difficult a job Friedgen had going into this season.
After finishing 11-0 in his first year at Auburn, Bowden watched the Tigers win nine straight his second season before ending with a loss and a tie. As the son of Florida State coaching legend Bobby Bowden and the brother of Tommy Bowden, the Clemson coach, Terry Bowden has followed Maryland closely.
In his job as an analyst for ABC, Terry Bowden was among those who doubted the Terrapins - and Friedgen - early on.
"Even as an analyst, we said, 'Well that's Maryland; nobody's going to do it twice. I'll believe in Ralph Friedgen if he can do it twice,' " Bowden said earlier this week. "A lot of guys have a Cinderella season. It's the second year that shows that there's something of substance. There's a lot of proving.
"Eventually, you become the hunted and not the hunter. Without a doubt, the players at Maryland believe their coach knows how to win football games. He has their total commitment. They know if they do what he says, they have a chance to win."
It has enabled McBrien to put up comparable stats and display the same leadership skills as his predecessor, Shaun Hill. It has allowed Chris Downs to go from a little-used reserve to being tied for second among ACC backs in rushing average. It has led to the defense leading the league in fewest points surrendered.
"I think if I have a strength as a coach, I'm able to recognize the strength of players and learn how to put them in position to be successful," Friedgen said. "One of the things about our offense, and I think we've done it on defense, too, is we don't have the players fit the system. The system is flexible enough to meet the needs of the players. That's the key."
Friedgen has seen other teams he helped coach take a couple of steps back after finding a high level of success.
It happened at Georgia Tech in 1991, the year after the Jackets shared the national championship. Picked to win the ACC, Georgia Tech finished a disappointing 8-5. It happened with the San Diego Chargers during the 1995 season, the year after they reached the Super Bowl.
"When you're coming off a good year, guys are wanting to know whether they're going to make all-conference, where they're going to get drafted," Friedgen said. 'Their goals become bigger than the team goals. You're not as good as you should be because everyone is not pulling the rope the same way.
"I've really coached very hard for that not to happen, but doesn't mean I've not done that before and it hasn't happened. The benefit of being old is that you go through a lot of situations. Maybe because this bunch was so young, they didn't know any better. This group has played very unselfishly."
Though most of the players who have contributed to Friedgen's fast start were recruited by Vanderlinden, it was a staff of veteran coaches, including two other former head coaches, offensive coordinator Charlie Taaffe and defensive coordinator Gary Blackney, that put them in the right place.
"I'm just happy to coach the kids I've got. Whether I recruited them or not is irrelevant," Friedgen said. "As far as our winning, that goes to our whole program - our administration, our players, our organization. Too much is made about me. It's everybody."
But it is Friedgen's name that could go into the record books tonight, if the Terps win at Clemson for the first time since 1985. He is currently tied with another former Clemson coach, Charley Pell, for most wins in the first two years. Others on the list include former N.C. State coaches Lou Holtz and Mike O'Cain and Friedgen's former boss and mentor, Ross.
"I have been fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time," Friedgen said.
Fast starters
With a win tonight against Clemson, Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen would tie former Clemson coach Ken Hatfield for the most victories in the first two seasons in the ACC.
Coach, School Seasons Record
Ken Hatfield, Clemson 1990-1991 19-4-1 Ralph Friedgen, Maryland 2001-2002 18-4 Charley Pell, Clemson 1977-1978 18-4-1 Lou Holtz, N.C. State 1972-1973 17-6-1 Bobby Ross, Maryland 1982-1983 16-8
Mike O'Cain, N.C. State 1989-1990 16-8 Tommy Bowden, Clemson 1999-2000 15-9 Chuck Amato, N.C. State 2000-2001 15-9 Danny Ford, Clemson 1979-1980 15-9