1950 Maryland Terrapins football team
Maryland was led by fourth-year head coach Jim Tatum, who "Time" magazine called "the most successful major college coach in the game" during his nine-year tenure at College Park. To date, Tatum remains the winningest Maryland football coach of the modern era, with a winning percentage of 0.819. The team was led on the field by sophomore quarterback and future Heisman Trophy runner-up Jack Scarbath who made his first career start in the season-opener.
Maryland Terrapins football under Jim Tatum
In addition to his team's success on the gridiron, Tatum caused controversy. Buddy Burris, the first three-time All-American at Oklahoma, said, "Jim Tatum was a con-man, a dictator, a tyrant, and one hell of a football coach." Tatum greatly surpassed his allocated budget and linked players with sponsors who sometimes paid or bought clothes for their sponsored players. After a 34–13 Gator Bowl victory over N.C. State, University of Oklahoma president George Cross discovered that Tatum had paid the fifty Sooners players $120 each ($, adjusted for inflation). Cross had explicitly warned Tatum not to do so, as it was a violation of conference rules. With further investigation, it was discovered that $60,000 ($ in inflation-adjusted terms) was unaccounted for in the athletic department budget, which resulted in the relief of athletic director Jap Haskell.