Maryland Terrapins
An unofficial football team composed of Maryland Agricultural College students played games against local high schools in 1890 and 1891. The following year, the school lent its support, which marked of the Maryland football program in 1892. The football team has continued to the present day with the exception of a brief hiatus in 1895. In 1894, former Maryland coach and player William W. Skinner spearheaded the formation of the Maryland Intercollegiate Football Association, which served to award the state football championship. Maryland hired D. John Markey as its first paid football coach in 1902. H. C. "Curley" Byrd, who eventually served as the university president from 1936 to 1953, began his playing career on the team in 1905. In 1911, Byrd was appointed as the head football coach, and he served in that position through 1934. During his tenure, Byrd was instrumental in growing support of the program, and in 1915 successfully requisitioned funding for the school's first stadium. In his position as university president, he was also responsible for building the school's current football facility, Maryland Stadium.
Maryland Terrapins football
In 1950, that small field was replaced by the identically named but much larger Byrd Stadium, which was constructed at the cost of $1 million. The new stadium had an initial capacity of 34,680, which has since been upgraded to 51,055 through extensive additions. Shortly after its construction, the stadium hosted its dedication game against Navy, which Maryland won 35–21. That same year, the new field held its first and only bowl game, the Presidential Cup Bowl, which featured Texas A&M and Georgia. In 2006, the University of Maryland became the first school to sell naming rights to its field. The home field was officially branded "Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium" in a 25-year, $20 million contract. In 2008, Chevy Chase Bank was bought out by Capital One, and the stadium was renamed Capital One Field at Byrd Stadium. On December 11, 2015, the Board of Regents voted 12–5 to remove the "Byrd" from the stadium's name because of Harry "Curley" Byrd's segregationist history, renaming it Maryland Stadium for the time being.