BLOOMINGTON, Ind. —- It’s been a busy, busy, busy day, enough so that it feels like there should be a couple days off in my future.
(“Ha,” came the taunt from the recesses of my mind after I typed that.)
SEE RELATED:
In any case, Maryland’s 80-68 defeat of Indiana tonight was clearly Story No. 2 on the day.
No. 1 was athletic director Debbie Yow‘s decision to retain football coach Ralph Friedgen.
I didn’t get the chance to talk to Yow until about 6:15 p.m. tonight. Then there was a story to write. And then the basketball game started at 7:30.
So, it’s pretty clear what sort of dilemma that created in terms of blogging. As in, it wasn’t happening until after the game.
But there was one exchange worth sharing at this late hour, simply because it’s relevant to the program going forward rather than simply in the here and now. And while “transcript journalism” isn’t usually a great plan, it seems worth wading into a bit now.
PS: What is your expectations for this program in 2010 and beyond?
DY: I’m not sure about beyond.
PS: OK, 2010.
DY: In 2010, I think what would be reasonable would be to have a winning record in the regular season. So that would be 7-5 if we’re playing 12. That would be reasonable at this point. That doesn’t necessarily likely lead us to the top-25 status, but I think it is reasonable that given all the players we have coming back and as well as how Jamarr [Robinson] did, that it’s reasonable to anticipate seven wins.
PS: So that would be the standard he [Friedgen] is going to be judged by in 2010?
DY: I’m not going to go into standards and judging. You just said ‘What’s my expectation,’ and that’s what it is.
OK, so there’s no “standard” that Yow is planning to “judge” Friedgen by. As always, plenty of factors would probably contribute to that decision.
But let’s put it this way. If my editor told me he expected me to write six stories every week and blog eight times every day and Tweet three times every hour during the standard work day, I would suspect my continued employment rested upon writing six stories a week and blogging eight times a day and Tweeting three times every hour during the standard work day.
And if Friedgen’s boss thinks “it’s reasonable to anticipate seven wins” in 2010, well, it sure looks like there’s a way-too-early baseline for guessing just how Maryland can avoid another coaching rigamarole at this time next year.
—- Patrick Stevens
