Jim Tatum
After World War II, Tatum accepted a position as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma. He compiled an 8–3 in 1946 record before accepting the head coaching position at the University of Maryland. Bud Wilkinson, a fellow assistant coach at the Iowa Pre-Flight School, was one of his assistants at Oklahoma and was promoted to head coach when Tatum left for Maryland.
Maryland Terrapins football under Jim Tatum
After the season, disaffection within the Southern Conference prompted seven former members, including Maryland, to form the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The schism was due in part to the ban on bowl participation, and the vast geographic dispersion of and disparity between the sizes of member schools. Clemson, another founding ACC member, had likewise been forced to play outside the Southern Conference in 1952.