Ralph Harry Friedgen played football at University of Maryland as a multitude of positions under many different coaches. Upon graduation he returned to his alma mater to be a graduate assistant before later accepting positions on the staffs of The Citadel, William and Mary and Murray State.

In 1982, Friedgen returned to the University of Maryland as offensive coordinator under head coach Bobby Ross, who was his mentor during his tenure at The Citadel. Friedgen then followed Ross first to Georgia Tech for four years, and then again to the San Diego Chargers. In 1999, he was the winner and awarded the Frank Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach.

In November 2000, Ralph Friedgen was named the Head Coach of the University of Maryland football team. He was charged with rebuilding a struggling program that had only one winning season and no bowl game appearances since 1990. Fredgen spent 10 years at Maryland with a reputation of having one of the top offensive minds in college football. He won the ACC Coach of the Year award in 2001 and 2010.

Friedgen was most recently the special assistant coach for Rutgers after serving as the offensive coordinator during the 2014 season.