Friedgen Signs 10-Year Contract

Ralph Friedgen, who guided Maryland to the Atlantic Coast Conference title and a berth in the Orange Bowl in his first season as a head coach, Tuesday agreed to terms on a 10-year contract.

Friedgen, 54, inherited a team that had not been to a bowl game since 1990 and led it to a 10-1 season, a No. 6 ranking and a place in the bowl championship series. Maryland will play Florida in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2, the Terrapins’ first appearance in a major bowl since the 1977 Cotton Bowl.

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Oliver “Buddy” Pough, 48, signed a five-year contract to coach South Carolina State, replacing the retiring Willie Jeffries.

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Quarterbacks Eric Crouch and Rex Grossman added a new twist to the Associated Press All-America team--the Heisman Trophy winner and runner-up are both on it.

Nebraska’s Crouch was selected as the all-purpose player and Florida’s Grossman was selected as quarterback.

The defense included UCLA linebacker Robert Thomas.

Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer was among the coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday who criticized the BCS system that will crown a national champion after Miami and Nebraska meet in the Rose Bowl.

“I always wanted to play for the mythical championship. I liked the old system,” Switzer said. “I don’t know if the BCS is good. The mythical national championship was fine with me.”

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Toren Gerard Gordon, a junior fullback at Western Carolina, was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a man outside a nightclub last week.

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Police at Evansville, Ind., arrested an ex-boyfriend in the killing of Indiana running back Levron Williams’ mother.

Steven J. Robbins, of Gary, Ind., was being held without bond in the Vanderburgh County Jail.

Brenda Douglas, 37, was shot Dec. 1.