There's no doubt about it: Last season's finish one win away from a bowl
bid was not the way the script was to end. "The losses to Duke and
Virginia were nothing less than heartbreaking," says Ron Vanderlinden,
who begins his fourth season this fall
as Maryland football's head coach. "My goal is to continue to improve
our football program. If we do that, we're going to have a successful
season. We were right on the brink of a bowl season a year ago and I
think the key for us now is to continue to make that improvement."
Coach Ron Vanderlinden expects a turnaround season ahead.
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The measure of improvement will be evident to sports fans around the
country on Thursday, Sept. 28, when Maryland plays defending national
champion Florida State in a nationally televised (ESPN) match-up at Byrd
Stadium. With three nonconference games before the 28th--an opening home
game with Temple, a road game at West Virginia, and home game with
Middle Tennessee--the Terps could have three games in the win column
prior to meeting Florida State.
Already, university officials are preparing for a possible attendance of
40,000 or more at the FSU game, a rarity for a team that has placed in
the lower half of ACC teams for repeat attendance.
"We're hopeful of getting off to a good start," says Vanderlinden. "That
would certainly increase interest and give us the confidence we need to
play the national champion." He also noted that ESPN has volunteered its
broadcasting talent to do seminars on campus preceding the game as a way
of saying thank you for the inconvenience it might cause the university
community in doing a Thursday night game.
What gives Vanderlinden and Terp fans high hopes is the number of strong
returning players including eight with All America, All-ACC or ACC
Player of the Week honors. Vanderlinden is encouraged about the passing
game, calling it the best we've had. "I look for us to improve
offensively in the scoring category due to our ability to make plays in
the passing game. We made dramatic improvement last year in every
category except the passing offense."
In each of three successive seasons under Vanderlinden, Maryland has
risen consistently among national leaders in six of eight major
statistical categories: rushing offense and defense, total offense and
defense, scoring offense and defense. Last season, Maryland scored 35
touchdowns--the most since 1993. Vanderlinden says the team's offense
scored 30 points or more in five of the first seven games in 1999,
matching a record that was last set in 1951. Heisman Trophy candidate
LaMont Jordan led the nation in rushing the last six games of the
season, ending up with 1,600 rushing yards.
With returning quarterbacks Calvin McCall and Latrez Harrison bolstered
by junior college transfer Shaun Hill in the same position, Vanderlinden
has reason to be confident. "Hill is everything we hoped he would be,
and more," he says, citing his impressive performance throughout spring
drills.
Now, Vanderlinden is looking to Maryland fans for support."Winning
creates interest--and we're close to doing that--but hopefully there's
enough interest created in what we have done in the past to improve our
attendance. We're working hard to build a program based on the highest
principles of intercollegiate athletics and recruiting as good a student
academically as possible."
What more can one ask. Except, maybe, a winning season and a bowl bid.
--DB
