ABCDE SPORTS thursday, december 30, 2010 HOCKEY


Caps take it outside Team’s first outdoor practice in preparation for Winter Classic is cause for exuberance for players such as Alex Ovechkin, left. D2


COLLEGEBASKETBALL


Terps roll over N. Florida Jordan Williams records his seventh consecutive double- double in 85-62 victory. D3


BLOGS,MULTIMEDIAANDCHATS washingtonpost.com/sports Capitals Insider Watch video and check out a photo gallery from the team’s outdoor practice. The League Which is the most dangerous NFC team heading into the playoffs? Join the debate. Terrapins Insider Stay up-to-date on Maryland’s search for a new football coach.


$50,000


PROFOOTBALL Two new pieces


Fine given to Brett Favre by theNFLfor failing to cooperate in its investigation. D3


Terps win with Military precision


FRIEDGEN EXITS WITH TRIUMPH


MIKE WISE


The coach, at least, had class


I


n this decrepit stadium, they began chanting a college coach’s name onWednesday


evening. Over and over, thewords


tumbled fromthemouths of a throaty crowd atRFKStadium, until they reached the same crescendo asMaryland’s turnaround season had under that coach— until the emotional Terrapins players had blown the doors off their opponents and won one for the big lugwho cried with them,wonwith themand cried somemore. Theyweren’t chanting “Mike


Leach.” “Thank you, Friedgen! Thank


you, Friedgen!” Ralph Friedgen choked back


more tears as his players embraced himon the last night of hisMaryland career, after this 51-20 demolition ofEastCarolina paved theway for the newyoung thing to spice up the university’s dyingmarriagewith its boosters. Indeed, at the exact same time


a 63-year-old football liferwas coaching his final game at his almamater, Leach, the former Texas Tech coachwho has been accused of ordering a kid complaining of a concussion to be locked in a shed,was touring Maryland’s campus. Let’s give the administration


andKevinAnderson, the neophyteMarylandAthletic Directorwho fired Friedgen, at least this: Theywill stop at nothingwhen it comes to finding their bottom. People of TerrapinNation,


please: The bodywasn’t even cold. You couldn’t have at least waited until he cleaned out his office atGossett TeamHouse on Thursday? Itwas just toomuch to let theACCcoach of the year have onemore day before themail-


wise continued onD10 Fans offer their appreciation for departing head coach Ralph Friedgen, who got to flash a winning smile asMaryland finished the year 9-4. PHOTOS BY JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST Maryland running back Da'Rel Scott heads for the end zone on his first of two long touchdown runs, which covered 61 and 91 yards.


Possible successor Leach set for interview today


BY ERIC PRISBELL AND STEVE YANDA


On the same day Maryland


players and fans bid goodbye to Coach Ralph Friedgen with a re- sounding victory in the Military Bowl, one candidate to succeed Friedgen, former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, was on the University ofMaryland campus, a source close to the athletic de- partment said. Leach will inter- view with the search committee in charge of finding Friedgen’s successoronThursday, the source said. The football program’s past


andpossible future collidedonan eventful Wednesday that saw Friedgen coach the Terrapins to a 51-20 victory over East Carolina before a Military Bowl-record 38,062 fans at RFK Stadium. Friedgen,whohasbeenfired after 10 seasons at his almamater, said he will clean out his office Thurs- day. Friedgen’s voice choked with emotion at times during his final postgame news conference at Maryland, but the 63-year-old re- frained from tears because, he said, “maybe I’mall cried out.”He talked about his feelings for his assistants,someofwhomarenow out of jobs; the outpouring of support he has received in recent days and how this season’s team ranks with his 2001 team as the most gratifying he has coached. And he spoke of his legacy, which includes graduating most of his players, staying out of trouble with the NCAA and winning five of seven bowl games in 10 sea- sons. “My legacy is what it is,” Fried-


gen said. “It is 75-50 [his record], it is how I treat people, who I am as a person, what I represent. I canlookinthemirrorandhaveno problem doing that. I gave the best I had for 10 years. Obviously that is not good enough. That is what hurts.” Friedgen’s successor will inher-


it a team that engineered the second-biggest turnaround in the


terps continued onD10 D EZ SU


aren’t locked in Will Montgomery and Kory Lichtensteiger will start for the Redskins, but they don’t know for how long. D3


As shooting touch vanishes, Hoyas fall No. 9 Georgetown


loses Big East opener to No. 15 Notre Dame


BY TARIK EL-BASHIR


south bend, ind. — The one thing No. 9 Georgetown had al- waysbeenable to relyonbetrayed them in a big way Wednesday night: Layups rimmed out, jump- ers clanked off the iron and one three-pointer missed everything. All the missed shots added up


to the Hoyas’ worst shooting per- formance of the season and, ulti- mately, a 69-55 loss to No. 15 Notre Dame in the Big East Con- ference opener for both teams. “We shoot a lot of shots, and


we’ve been fortunate in the first 12 games we’ve made a lot shots,” said point guard Chris Wright, whose only field goal (on nine attempts) came at the 11-minute mark of the second half. “We had


an off day today.” It was a cold offensive effort by


almost any standard but it was all the more unexpected considering Georgetown arrived at Joyce Cen- ter ranked second in the nation in field goal percentage (52.8 per- cent). The Hoyas, though, con- nected on only 35.7 percent of their attempts during an out-of- sync first half and finished the game with a 42.6 percentage, which included a dismal 4 for 22 from beyond the three-point arc. “You have to give their defense


credit for our shooting woes,” said Coach John Thompson III, who fell to 6-1 in conference openers. “Everything was contested. And once we started to miss, it almost snowballed.” Despite all the missed shots,


Georgetown (11-2) still had a chance to make a game of it early in the second half. Trailing 34-28, the Hoyas produced four consec- utive stops at the defensive end.


hoyas continued onD4


In coach’s absence, Wizards top Pacers Saunders misses


104-90 victory to attend to family emergency


BY GENEWANG TheWashington Wizards have JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST


grown accustomed to playing with a personnel deficit this sea- son, weathering injuries that at times have relegated prized rook- ie point guard John Wall and leading scorer Andray Blatche, among others, to the bench as spectators. On Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers, they had to withstand the absence of yet another principal component, but this time, the concern was far more affecting than simply when a teammate would be back in the lineup. The Wizards’ thoughts instead were with Coach Flip Saunders,


who missed the game to attend to a family emergency involving his mother, and the team responded with a 104-90 victory before an announced 16,108 atVerizon Cen- ter thanks to an authoritative burst to open the fourth quarter with defense to match the rest of the way. “I talked to Flip and told him


this was for he and his mother,” said Wizards top assistant Randy Wittman, who filled in for Saun- ders and will do so again on Friday if necessary. “Those are tough times. You know like I said before the game, your family is your number one priority. Noth- ing else matters in this thing, and he’s got to be back there and keep his mind where it should be.” Saunders’s charges certainly


were attentive when it came to closing out the game, getting es- pecially valuable contributions


wizards continued onD5


The Wizards’ Nick Young sets sail for a dunk during the second half. Young scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-26 shooting. l Wizards gauging trade interest in Blatche. D5


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