Maryland

While Maryland has had well-known and successful coaches, many did not attain their successful reputations while at Maryland. The Terps did not have a winning record from 1962 until the second year of Jerry Claiborne's tenure in 1973. Claiborne restored winning ways and bowl appearances to his Bear Bryant influenced program and when he left for Kentucky Bobby Ross ably took over. Ross continued the first-in-the-ACC weight training program that Claiborne had started and was extremely successful until leaving in 1987. When Joe Krivak was handed the reigns, he finished out his five-year contract but could post but one winning year and a minor bowl appearance and he was replaced by Mark Duffner. Maryland's school colors are taken from the state flag and have through the years variously emphasized black and gold as jersey and/or helmet colors or combinations of red, black, and white. Claiborne added the distinctive block "M" on a white shell but it was Ross that reintroduced the red shell as the helmet's base color when he became head coach in 1982. This helmet design with the script "Terps" on each side remained the standard until there was a slight change in the stripe configuration in 1991, Krivak's final year. When Duffner changed to a black shell, the era of the red helmet ended and with it, a long line of terrific quarterbacks who went on to NFL stardom: Boomer Esiason, Frank Reich, Stan Gelbaugh, Neil O'Donnell, and Scott Zolak. The weight training program started by Claiborne and further emphasized by Ross produced J.D. Maarleveld, a transfer from Notre Dame and consensus All America offensive tackle in 1985 who at 6'6", 300 pounds influenced almost every other ACC team to install an official, supervised strength training program. This era in Terps football is best known for what is considered to be the greatest collegiate comeback in NCAA history as Frank Reich brought Maryland back from a 31-0 halftime deficit against defending national champion Miami at their home field in Orange Bowl Stadium to a stunning 42-40 victory in 1984. Reich of course repeated his heroics in the NFL, bringing the Buffalo Bills back in the AFC Playoffs against the Oilers and overcoming a 35-3 third quarter Houston lead to win 41-38.