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.
1951 Maryland Terrapins football team
The Associated Press later called Maryland's preseason favorite title a "dubious distinction", to which few teams in the Mid-Atlantic had been able to live up. Tatum expressed confidence and said it was "the best team I've ever coached," but acknowledged the team could lose as many as seven games in a worst-case scenario. Another Associated Press article said most people expected a big season from Maryland as the culmination of five years of Tatum's high-caliber recruiting. A United Press article had high confidence in Maryland, because of its experienced team and what it assessed as an easier schedule than previous seasons. It predicted Georgia, LSU, Navy, and North Carolina as the "only rough spots" on the schedule.