Former Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen has been nominated to the 2025 ballot into the College Football Hall of Fame, it was announced on Monday. Friedgen is one of nine coaches on the ballot, joining Larry Blakeney, Jim Carlen, Pete Cawthon, Larry Coker, Urban Meyer, Darryl Rogers, Nick Saban and Tommy Tuberville. This marks the third consecutive year that Friedgen have been nominated for the College Football Hall of Fame. After playing for Maryland in the late 1960s and returning to the program as an assistant under Bobby Ross in the mid-80s, Friedgen, 77, finished 75-50 and posted seven bowl appearances during his ten seasons as the head coach at Maryland. Under Friedgen, Maryland finished inside the top-25 in four seasons including a Peach Bowl win over Tennessee back in 2002. His first season with the program ended with the program's first ACC title in 16 seasons as Friedgen was named the consensus national coach of the year, becoming the first ACC coach to win the championship in his first season as head coach. His 50 wins after six seasons with the program mark the second-most wins only behind Hall of Fame coach Danny Ford, who posted 51. Friedgen helped recruit a long list of local talent to the program with EJ Henderson, D'Qwell Jackson, Shawne Merriman, Vernon Davis and Torrey Smith among the 80 players to earn All-ACC honors and 37 All-Americans. While seven players were named ACC players of the years under Friedgen, Maryland also produced 27 NFL players with Darrius Heyward-Bey, Josh Wilson and Nick Novack adding to the long list of talent through the decade. Mike Locksley has pointed to Friedgen as a mentor through his first five seasons as the program's head coach. “One thing that stood out to me when that coaching search took place, for a guy that I call a great mentor, coach Friedgen,” Locksley said. “One of the first things he said, and it’s kind of become a mantra of mine, that coach Friedgen said to the team was, ‘I’m not going to teach you how to win, I’m going to teach you how not to lose — how not to beat yourself.’” Despite being named the 2010 ACC coach of the year, Friedgen parted ways with the university following the arrival of then-athletic director Kevin Anderson before the longtime Terps coach moved on to Rutgers for two seasons. The announcement of the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be made in early 2025 with more specific details to be announced in the future. Per release, the 2025 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 67th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 9, 2025, at the Bellagio Hotel & Resort, and they will be honored at their respective schools with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments, during the 2025 season. Related Links
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