James Franklin’s return to College Park brings more than a familiar face to SECU Stadium. It also drags Ralph Friedgen’s old succession mess back into the conversation.
Saturday’s matchup has plenty riding on it for Maryland in its final non-conference game, with Mike Locksley’s team in year eight trying to make a statement in a season that feels make-or-break. The setting adds to the buzz, too: a regional opponent, a coach who has made DMV recruiting a priority, and a Maryland crowd that’s trending toward a sellout as the Terps look for another chance to win over fans.
But Franklin’s presence on the opposite sideline also reopened an old wound for Friedgen, whose 10-year run as Maryland’s head coach ultimately unraveled after a promised transition never took shape. Franklin had been named head coach in waiting in February 2009, and Friedgen had signed off on the plan.
It was supposed to be the bridge from one era to the next. Instead, once Kevin Anderson replaced Debbie Yow as athletic director, the arrangement was put on hold, and Franklin eventually landed at Vanderbilt in 2011.
Looking back nearly 15 years later, Friedgen didn’t hide how he feels about the way it played out.
“You would think if they were going to fire me and already had a coach-in-waiting, they would have hired him. But they didn’t,” Friedgen told Michael Howes of The Baltimore Sun.
"[Kevin] Anderson said he wanted to take Maryland from good to great. How did that work out?”
The connection between Locksley and Franklin is part of what makes this week’s game so loaded. Former Maryland quarterback Scott McBrien said he “always thought Coach Locksley and Coach Franklin were deadly together” after the two overlapped for three seasons under Ron Vanderlinden and then Friedgen before taking different paths and eventually building competing programs.
Locksley, for his part, said the personal ties are real, but they won’t be the point when the game kicks off.
“The commonality is that we've worked together, we know each other really well, know families," head coach Mike Locksley said on Tuesday. "There's no doubt from a personal level.
But like I said, the game here will have nothing to do with the personal. We both were raised - I know I was raised offensively under Ralph.
When you look at how I prepare offenses, the way we self-scout, the way we gameplan, the way you call plays. Those are all byproducts of one of the best coaches I've had an opportunity to work for on the offensive side of the ball.
I'm sure for him - and you'd have to ask him those things - but I'm sure for him, Ralph had [a] similar impact, maybe on his coaching career. But there's no doubt the commonality is that we both work together.
We know each other very well, but this is going to be more about the upgrade in the game for us more than our personal relationship.”
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Marylands 2026-27 Schedule Sets Up A Season Terps Fans Will Feel
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For Maryland fans, the calendar now stretches from an exhibition on Oct. 11, 2026, to the official opener on Nov. 2, with the league slate offering the usual grind of travel and test nights. Layered on top of that is the championship tribute, which should give the season a different feel around College Park as the Terps mark one of the defining moments in program history with special promotions and events. [Read more 🡒]