Maryland Terrapins football under Jim Tatum
From 1947 to 1955, Jim Tatum served as the head coach of the Maryland Terrapins football team, which represented the University of Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college football. Maryland hired Tatum to replace Clark Shaughnessy after the 1946 season. Tatum had created both success and controversy during his one season as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners football team. During his nine-year tenure, Tatum became one of the most successful head football coaches in Maryland history, and the Terrapins compiled two national championships, three conference championships, and five bowl game appearances. His teams compiled a 73–15–4 record without a single losing season, and as of the end of 2016, he has the highest winning percentage of any Maryland football coach who coached at least seven games. In 1954, the University of Maryland appointed a new president, Dr. Wilson Elkins, who chose to de-emphasize football. Following the 1955 season, Tatum took a pay cut to coach at his alma mater, North Carolina, and he died four years later.
List of Maryland Terrapins football honorees
After his national championship-winning season in 1953, Jim Tatum received Coach of the Year honors from the AFCA and the FWAA. He was also named coach of the year by the Southern Conference in 1951 and the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953 and 1955. "The Sporting News" named Jerry Claiborne the nation's top coach in 1974, and in 1982, his successor, Bobby Ross, received that distinction from the Touchdown Club. For his first-year turnaround of a team that had one winning season in the previous decade, Ralph Friedgen received national Coach of the Year plaudits from at least eight organizations.