Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 22, 1993 TAG: 9308220133
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANK VEHORN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: COLLEGE PARK, MD. LENGTH: Medium
Or, maybe someday Duffner will have enough good football players that he can do these things without worrying about the consequences.
That was the case when he was at Holy Cross, where the former William and Mary player became the most successful coach in Division I-AA.
Before last season, Duffner took over Maryland's slumping program. He put motivational signs all over the Terrapins' dressing room. He installed a run-and-shoot offense, he slapped backs and kicked butts, and he did some pretty weird things on the practice field.
"The craziest of all was breaking the spear," quarterback Scott Milanovich said.
That was the week before Maryland played Florida State.
Duffner wanted to show his players that they shouldn't be in awe of the high (in the polls) and mighty (on the field) Seminoles. In preparation for the game in Tallahassee, Fla., on the first day of practice Duffner had someone banging a bass drum. The second day, he played a recording of the Seminoles' war chant.
On the third day, Duffner made a tactical mistake that put him in a class with Gen. George Armstrong Custer.
Midway through practice, players looked up and saw someone dressed like an Indian riding a horse onto the field. It was a spoof of Florida State's pregame ceremony, in which the Indian rides a horse into the stadium and plants a flaming spear at midfield.
But there was Duffner, charging after the horse, grabbing the spear and breaking it across a knee.
Everyone laughed.
"It was crazy, especially with the horse taking a dump on the practice field," Milanovich said.
No one was laughing when the Terps arrived in Tallahassee two days later and saw the incident being shown on a local TV station.
"A Washington station apparently filmed it and sent it down to Florida," Milanovich said.
Florida State gave the Terps a 69-21 beating, their worst of the season.
"Their players kept telling us during the game that Coach shouldn't have broken that spear," linebacker Chad Wiestling said. "I think they take that stuff seriously down there."
Maryland's second-worst beating came from Penn State, 49-13, after Duffner wrestled someone dressed like the Nittany Lions' mascot on the practice field and hung the mask on the goal post.
As you might suspect from the results of those two games, Wiestling said, such antics didn't make the team play better.
"It was all basically for fun, something to get a laugh," he said. "We look forward to seeing what Coach is going to do next."
But Duffner's high-energy, rah-rah style seems to be rubbing off on the Terps, who have had one winning season since 1985.
"Everyone is really excited and pumped up," Wiestling said. "We want to play hard and win. Before, we just went with the flow and didn't show much enthusiasm."
Maryland opens the season Sept. 4 against Virginia at Byrd Stadium. Any day now, the Maryland players expect to look up and see Duffner engaged in a sword duel with a Cavalier.
"I'll be surprised if he doesn't do something," Milanovich said.
by CNB