Maryland President Wants To Hire a Coach On The Same Level As Harbaugh And Urban Meyer...A Coach Like Chip Kelly
Maryland 24/7 - “The choice of the next coach is going to be absolutely critical,” Loh said in a meeting with The Baltimore Sun’s editorial board.“The question becomes, what kind of coach do we want? I think [Anderson] said a coach that plays an exciting brand of football — wide open, that has the personality to relate to the kids, the personality to project himself well (to boosters, media) … You have to have an outsized personality here. It’s not just knowing the X’s and O’s. “That’s why you have the Jim Harbaugh’s and Urban Meyer’s,” Loh said, referring to two of the biggest names on coaching, who the Terps have to face on a year-to-year basis.
“We’re in the big leagues now. It’s about football; the Big Ten is not about basketball,” Loh continued. “We have significant new revenue stemming in and we’re going to have an indoor facility … We can have a decrepit Byrd Stadium — you only use Byrd Stadium five times a year or so — [but] those kids use an indoor facility every single day. What draws them here in the indoor facility, not Byrd Stadium. With the Big Ten Network and that exposure, and of course the connection to Under Armour, I would say that this is one of the most attractive jobs in the country for somebody that’s ambitious and willing to take risks.”
“All I can say is Kevin Anderson is committed to getting the right coach to make us highly competitive in the Big Ten,” Loh said. “We will have to pay a competitive rate. I don’t know what competitive is, but Harbaugh and Urban [Meyer] make seven million dollars a year. And Chip Kelly, who is not doing all that well with the Philadelphia Eagles, made far, far less than that at Oregon.”
The reason he brought up Oregon, of course, is because of how Nike’s influenced turned the Ducks program into one of college football’s best after years of mediocrity. The similarities between the two universities — and the Terps current standing in the college football world — aren’t lost on Loh. “This is not going into a school with an established reputation like Michigan and Ohio State, but the potential for growth? The potential for this being another Oregon,” Loh asked. “Assuming that’s the direction where I’ll go…because one of the things I’ll absolutely insist, absolutely insist, is that they are students first, athletes second.
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It’s officially on. I’ve been saying this for the last few years. Maryland has taken every step to become Oregon of the East. The big UA deal. The move to the Big 10. The $155 million dollar football and athletics facility. But the thing they have been missing is the guy to put it all together. A big head coach who attracts recruits, brings in floods of money from donors, and puts a winning team on the field. And President Loh feels the same way. No more Edsalls. No more scooping up a guy after one decent year at UConn. They want a Harbaugh. A Meyer. A Chip Kelly. I love Loh taking a little shot at the Eagles there.
I mean, really I don’t even know what the best coaching move for them will be. Is Maryland prepared to back up the trucks and pay 7 million dollars for a big name? Are they going to try and find a young whipper snapper and hope he’s the next big thing in coaching? They certainly can’t afford to be wrong about this. Loh knows it.
Simple math will tell you that you can afford to pay a coach more money when you are consistently winning. A shit ton of money floods into the University via applicants, donors, boosters, merchandise, etc when you have a winning football team year after year. 7 million dollars a year for a coach is nothing when you are winning year in and year out. That’s what Maryland is aspiring to be. Schools come out of nowhere (see Oregon) all the time to become perineal powerhouses- why not the the Terps? They have the money, the facilities, the location, the conference, the sweet unis, everything. It’s definitely possible. Now they just need to get their Chip.