It had been 16 seasons since Maryland last captured an Atlantic Coast Conference Championship – then alumnus Ralph Friedgen returned to campus and Terrapin football changed.

In 2001, his first season as coach of Maryland, Friedgen took a sub-.500 team from a year ago and led his squad to its first ACC title since 1985 and an appearance in a BCS bowl game.

But Friedgen, who lettered twice for the Terrapins as an offensive lineman, didn’t stop there. In the two years since the conference championship, Terps football has become one of the nation’s elite programs, with two bowl victories in consecutive years.

During his three years in College Park, Friedgen has compiled a 31-8 record, three major bowl appearances, three straight 10-win seasons and a national coach of the year award in 2001.

“He’s had a great career,” said NIU coach Joe Novak, whose team will play Maryland at 5 p.m. Saturday. “He’s a great offensive coach. People talk so much about his offense, but Maryland also plays great defense, too. And they know how to win.”

Friedgen’s 31-8 start to his college football coaching career is better than any other coach in the history of the ACC and seventh best all time for Division-IA football.

“It’s not a surprise,” said Maryland running back Josh Allen about Friedgen’s accomplishments. “It’s amazing what he’s done, but at the same time anyone who knows him knows he wouldn’t have it any other way.”

This season Friedgen, who was the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers in 1994, will begin the season again with NIU for the second-straight year. The Huskies are one of just six teams to ever beat the Friedgen-run Terrapins.

“I think I have more [butterflies] this year than my first game,” said Friedgen at a weekly press conference. “I really don’t know how this team is going to react because it’s so young. There’s just so many things that we don’t know about this team that we’re going to find out a lot more on Saturday.”

“The Fridge,” as he is called, has also been referred to by some experts as the best offensive coach in the country. Using a 600-page playbook, Friedgen uses countless plays with countless formations to keep opposing defenses guessing.

The problems the massive book creates for defenses can also be felt by the Maryland offense that has to learn the plays.

“At first it was mind boggling before I learned the tricks to remembering it,” Allen said. “It’s more than learning the playbook, it’s learning how to play football.

“[Friedgen] tries to make it really easy for us to learn. It’s really fun being in an offense with so many different sets and plays.”

All the success and notoriety has even landed Friedgen a spot in an ‘Under Armour’ commercial. At one point, an emphatic Friedgen screams to his team: “When they come in here they are going to play our game in our house and no one beats us in our house!”

“It’s entertainment,” NIU linebacker Brian Atkinson said. “I look at it like they are speaking to us.”