Something's not right with Maryland Football
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Most likely a combination of things.
1. They’re a mediocre program with a mediocre track record of player development.
2. With the transfer portal any players that ARE good can transfer up to better programs at any time.
3. They don’t have the NIL needed to keep those players from leaving.
1. They’re a mediocre program with a mediocre track record of player development.
2. With the transfer portal any players that ARE good can transfer up to better programs at any time.
3. They don’t have the NIL needed to keep those players from leaving.
I agree it's a combination of things, including some of the above. I also think the track record (borderline bowl team at best) and lack of tradition (relatively poor fan support) hurts retention. Top guys want to be in top environments. So they might be able to sell high school recruits on "The best stay home" (or whatever) but once things aren't going well, it's tough to get them to stay.
Also, and maybe this doesn't factor in to any of these decisions, but College Park is NOT a nice place (campus is fine, but the town is...woof). I'm there a couple of times a month and when you compare it to other college towns with major football teams (State College, Ann Arbor, Tuscaloosa, Gainesville) is not a nice place to spend your college years.
If the kid is looking for a better town, Baton Rouge ain't it
Part of the problem could be being near DC and professional teams. Universities that are not in cities with professional teams seem to do better. They get more press, fans are more plentiful and dedicated, players are more glorified and rewarded better.
Most of the top B2G and SEC teams are in college towns without pro teams.
Most of the top B2G and SEC teams are in college towns without pro teams.
These kids are trying to get a bigger payday, be it through NIL, NFL draft or some combination. Period and full stop.
What people don't realize is that the average NFL career is very short. I think six years. The first three or four years are fixed income based on your draft position. If you don't get drafted in the first two or three rounds, your income suffers greatly. So your first several years are fixed based on draft status and your second contract is typically your last.
My point is that if you play DE for Kent State and get drafted in the fifth round and become an NFL starter you make far less than that person drafted in the second round from a PSU, LSU, Michigan or USC. With the Xfer portal and NIL, you are leaving a LOT of money on the table playing for a program that doesn't get you the exposure you need to move into the early rounds.
Take QB...
QBs will likely have a longer career but imagine a RB or S. You are tied to that first 4 year contract and may never have a second.
What people don't realize is that the average NFL career is very short. I think six years. The first three or four years are fixed income based on your draft position. If you don't get drafted in the first two or three rounds, your income suffers greatly. So your first several years are fixed based on draft status and your second contract is typically your last.
My point is that if you play DE for Kent State and get drafted in the fifth round and become an NFL starter you make far less than that person drafted in the second round from a PSU, LSU, Michigan or USC. With the Xfer portal and NIL, you are leaving a LOT of money on the table playing for a program that doesn't get you the exposure you need to move into the early rounds.
Take QB...
- Brock Purdy, drafted last, made has a four-year deal for $3.7m, an average of $934,000 per year.
- Desmond Ridder, drafted in the 3rd round, got a $5.362m contract with a little over $1m signing bonus.
- Pickett, drafted in the first round, has a contract of over $14m with over half of that being a first-year pre-paid bonus. His average annual salary is over $3.5m.
QBs will likely have a longer career but imagine a RB or S. You are tied to that first 4 year contract and may never have a second.
I haven't seen the stats recently but years ago the average NFL career was something like 3.5 years.
That would mean you never get more than your rookie contract. ouch. But even guys that put together great 8 year careers, retiring at age 30, half of their earnings are governed by their draft position.
same reasons why anyone leaves anything.....the experience isn't what you thought it would be or were told it would be.
I have a feeling at Maryland it isn't what they were told it would be.
I have a feeling at Maryland it isn't what they were told it would be.
I agree and wasn't talking about this student athlete in particular.
Although Baton Rouge definitely has better food than College Park.
I am sure that is some of it....but I think most of it is that they didn't get the upper end offers and have played their way into a premier program. In that premier program, they'll get better coaching, development and exposure. All fo that means "mo money".
LOL. There is a Ledo's pizza within walking distance from my house. I've had their pizza twice in 20 years. This area does not have good pizza but Ledo's is REALLY bad even for the DMV.
Only decent pizza in the DMV is Flippin Pizza. They condition the water to make it closer to Philly/NY. Only good crust for 3 states
Sorry, but I can't buy that. If so many of them played their way in to a better program then Maryland wouldn't suck.
As someone who is coached in Maryland, and still has plenty of friends, who do I can tell you that Mike Locksley is nothing but a used car salesman. Full of empty promises and definitely plays the race card with everything to recruits.
When he got the head coaching job here at Maryland he sent out an email and text to many of the states powerhouse coaches, both private and public. His basic message was that those coaches needed to keep black players from leaving the state and send them to a fellow black coach. he’s played up how their culture will be one where it is black centered in that he knows how to coach those kids better because of his skin color.
What guys like chop found out is that he really doesn’t know what he’s doing either at practice or in game day
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That is fascinating. It is professional malpractice to make that type of appeal to these young men and then fail to deliver. MD seems to consistently recruit at a respectable level but never produces any consistency on the field.
I don't think so. One of our HS friends qualified for a minority scholarship (might have been like $1000) and turned it down. She, a black female, did win a couple of other small scholarships based on merit alone. Always respected her for that choice. She said she didn't need special help because of her race.
At the very least I know it has been put out there that one of Franklin's pitches to 'croots is that he wants to be the first black coach to win an NCAA championship.
Not really playing the race card though. That would be, I wasn't able to do X because of my race. This statement by Franklin is more of I want to be the first to... Like be the first in my family to... Be the first American to... Be the first over 60 to...
First, Maryland is a great university, no need to deny that fact.
Secondly, Locks is not a terrible coach.
Third, I cursed Maryland after the no-handshake game and that curse still has another 10 years to run.
Fourth, Maryland will never be competitive in the B10 until it can recruit and develop OL and DL at a competitive B10 level, which will probably never happen.
Fifth, the transfer rules are cruel to the Marylands of the football world, but you can't really blame the players for taking advantage. These are guys like Chop Robinson who have worked really hard and see better opportunities elsewhere.
Sixth, especially given my curse, I kinda like the idea of Maryland serving as a training ground for future Penn State players.
Secondly, Locks is not a terrible coach.
Third, I cursed Maryland after the no-handshake game and that curse still has another 10 years to run.
Fourth, Maryland will never be competitive in the B10 until it can recruit and develop OL and DL at a competitive B10 level, which will probably never happen.
Fifth, the transfer rules are cruel to the Marylands of the football world, but you can't really blame the players for taking advantage. These are guys like Chop Robinson who have worked really hard and see better opportunities elsewhere.
Sixth, especially given my curse, I kinda like the idea of Maryland serving as a training ground for future Penn State players.
Maryland football is a joke. Joe Paterno became the head coach and made them irrelevant. Joe never lost to Maryland (24-0) with one tie in '89. Think about that sheer dominance. No matter how bad of a season we were having we could always beat Maryland. As a result, their football program is lousy and is lousy to this day. Add to that the pathetic lack of any sound leadership within that program when you have an incident where a player dies due to the direct negligence of the head football coach. Inexcusable. The program is the definition of a dumpster fire.
When we play there half the stadium is for PSU. There is no comparison between PSU football and Maryland football, night and day. We pack the house with 110,00 passionate fans they get 60,000 disengaged "fans". We go into the Maryland, DC, Virginia area year in year out and get the best talent and Maryland can do nothing but watch it happen. Thank you Joe for building the juggernaut that is PSU football while making Maryland an afterthought at best.
When we play there half the stadium is for PSU. There is no comparison between PSU football and Maryland football, night and day. We pack the house with 110,00 passionate fans they get 60,000 disengaged "fans". We go into the Maryland, DC, Virginia area year in year out and get the best talent and Maryland can do nothing but watch it happen. Thank you Joe for building the juggernaut that is PSU football while making Maryland an afterthought at best.
As I said above the campus is fine. I'm not sure I'd say any of the buildings are noteworthy but then again I'm compared them to my two alma maters (PSU and UNC, which both have beautiful campuses) and Syracuse (where I worked) which has some really cool buildings.
Flippin is good but the one near me closed during covid.
Wise Guys (in DC only) is also really good in terms of a NY style slice.
So don't go to Penn State because their coach is (checks notes)...oh, wait....
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