Last year we were a bowl winning team, with Coach Friedgen also winning the coveted ACC coach of the year. Coach Friedgen was also a proud member of the Terrapin Alumni to boot. You hire this new Athletic Director, and he fires Coach Friedgen in a classless manner, and replaces him with a guy who is not a member of the alumni. Coach Edsall was a back-up decision too, yet the AD tries to sell him as being the first choice. We are lied to about attendance at games (I have heard the school make attendance claims which cannot possibly be real), we see players treated poorly, and we are sick of it. We were becoming a great football program under Coach Friedgen, yet he gets fired and is replace by a guy who takes us to last place. From bowl winner to last place in one year. No defense from University leadership can be offered for this situation given the leadership decisions that took place in this same time frame.

We are the Alumni, we are the students. We are your constituents, and we will vote with our wallets.

We want AD Anderson and Coach Edsall to resign. We want you to show some humility, and apologize to us.

Until you address this issue as we request, we will not renew our Terrapin Club memberships. We will not donate to the Alumni association, we will not buy officially licensed Maryland Terrapins merchandize, and we will not attend sporting events. Partial action will not be enough either. Both the AD and the coach need to go, and you need to apologize. It is a package deal. All or nothing.

President Loh, you are watching enough current events to recognize that the people are starting to act, and have had enough of detached leaders making poor decisions and failing to reverse them, we have had enough of leaders failing to be held accountable to their constituents.

You need to get the resignations we ask for, and apologize, or we will take this demand in a new direction, to a new audience. As Terrapins, we value the leadership of those in power who can show some humility.

Step up, or fail to act and watch us help you step out. The regents will notice when the dollars starting drying up, and we control that. Ultimately, you work for us, and we are giving you a pretty strong indication of our desires with this petition.

With total sincerity,

The Undersigned Friends, Supporters, Students and Alumni of The University of Maryland at College Park.