THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220555
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD. LENGTH: 75 lines
Mark Duffner never said returning Maryland to ACC football glory would be easy. But, Duffner admitted Wednesday that he didn't imagine the chore would be as difficult as it has been.
``It's been a struggle, a real battle,'' Duffner said. ``I wanted to win right away, but it has taken time, more time that I thought it would take.''
Maryland is still not close to being where Bobby Ross had it in the early 1980s when the Terps routinely competed for ACC titles and bowl invitations.
Duffner had his first winning season (6-5) last year, but the Terps lost a bowl bid to North Carolina - a team with an identical record that they had beaten during the season.
``The message we got from the bowls was clear when Carolina was picked over us,'' Duffner said. ``We still have to earn their respect. We have to be better than 6-5.''
Maryland expects to take that next step this season.
``We are a better team,'' Duffner said. ``It is our strongest and best conditioned team.''
Indeed, Maryland returns more starters than any other ACC team - eight on offense and nine on defense, and has one of the league's two experienced quarterbacks in Brian Cummings.
Another plus is a softer non-conference schedule that includes Alabama-Birmingham and Northern Illinois.
Duffner made winning look easy at Holy Cross, where he had a 60-5-1 record and received five national coaching honors.
But his first winning season at Maryland, in his fourth year, came just in time to save his job and merit him a one-year extension on a contract due to expire at the end of this season.
Athletic director Debbie Yow indicated Duffner could have gotten a longer extension if he had bargained for it. She thinks he didn't do that because he had a feeling he would have even greater bargaining power after this season.
``He has a lot of confidence in his ability and that of his staff and players,'' Yow said. ``He might be asking me for a whole lot of money after this season.''
Duffner, though, has not silenced all of his critics. Many believe the Terps would have made it to a bowl last year if Duffner had not given the starting quarterback job back to Scott Milanovich after he served an NCAA-imposed four-game suspension for gambling.
With Cummings, the Terps roared to a 4-0 start and No. 17 national ranking. Duffner admits he had promised Milanovich the starting job if he sat out the suspension and returned to school instead of jumping to the NFL, which he could have done.
Duffner, though, kept the arrangement secret from media, fans, and most of the team. Cummings knew about it, but he was under a gag order not to tell.
``That was why I told people last year that I would be delighted if we went 4-0 and I had to hand the ball back to Scott,'' Cummings said Wednesday.
``I wasn't angry with Milanovich when he replaced me. I knew it was going to happen. But I was disappointed, sure. It was like pitching eight innings of hitless ball and being taken out in the ninth inning.''
Georgia Tech popped Maryland's bubble in the fifth game and Milanovich was on his back more often than he was on his feet.
``Tech had a great scheme, and I don't think the outcome would have been any different if I had been at quarterback or anyone else,'' Cummings said. ``It wasn't Scott' fault.''
The Terps never regained the momentum they had in the first four games, and had to abandon their run-and-shoot offense to defeat North Carolina State to clinch a winning record.
The Terps are getting even farther away from the run-and-shoot this season. Duffner, who had used the offense at Holy Cross, said opponents finally caught up to it.
``We had to get more balance in our attack,'' he said.
Cummings said the new offense is not as much fun as the run-and-shoot, ``but it is the best offense for Maryland now. We can win with it.'' MEMO: Coming Friday: The University of Virginia. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
After his first winning season in four years, Maryland's Mark
Duffner hopes to win the respect of bowl officials. by CNB