By Stan "The Fan" Charles

For what is supposedly the offseason, the past couple of weeks have been pretty wild for University of Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow and her athletic program.

First, we'd be remiss if we didn't congratulate women's lacrosse head coach Cathy Reese in her fourth year at the helm of her alma mater and for winning her first championship against perennial power Northwestern.

But Yow was not allowed to bask in the glow of that amazing run by the Lady Terps lacrosse team. She was a bit busy getting raked over the coals by Dave Cottle's fan club.

No question Cottle is a good coach. Could Yow have allowed Cottle another year to get his team over the hump? Sure, but remember, Cottle really wasn't her hire to begin with. Rather, just shy of hiring Gary Gait, Yow yielded to pressures from Terp backers who got behind the last-minute candidacy of the Salisbury State graduate.

After a busy and sometimes stumbling couple of weeks, the Terps appear to have netted their man. John Tillman has left Harvard after three solid years rebuilding the Crimson's program where they won eight games last season, the Crimson's highest win total since 1999.

The combination of the resignation of a respected, winning coach and being turned down by several leading candidates such as Mike Pressler, Jeff Tramboni and Gary Gait, Yow knew she needed to make a big play for Tillman.

That big play for the ex-assistant head coach at Navy amounted to a seven-year contract, and Tillman is now a Terp. Still no word on Cottle's next stop, and as time goes by, it seems more likely he doesn't want the Penn State job.

Ralph Friedgen, most likely entering his exit year, has lost a player he very much wanted to be a part of his 2010 turn-around season. Freshman LB Javarie Johnson has been granted his release. Johnson, who had originally committed to Miami, enrolled at Maryland last January and participated in spring practices.

His high school coach, Craig Jeffries told the Baltimore Sun's Matt Bracken Maryland didn't do anything wrong, rather Jeffries alluded to the need for Johnson to "get out of town and get away from some of the distractions around home. Some kids just need to get away."

Johnson had been viewed as one of the program's biggest acquistions this past season. The release of Johnson will be conditional and most likely will not allow Johnson to sign with another ACC program or a team Maryland plays over the next three seasons.

Finally, all reports we hear on Maryland baseball coach Erik Bakich are positive. The former Vanderbilt assistant had a rough first season, an Oriole-like, 17-38. But, Bakich's strength is recruiting, so don't expect the results to stay down for long.

However, while Friedgen was losing a prized recruit, Bakich had the same fate befall him as well. Patrick Leyland, the son of Detroit Tigers skipper Jim Leyland, has opted out of going to college, instead signing with his dad's team.

Leyland, like his dad, is a catcher. He was attending Bishop Canevin High School in Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Tigers in the eighth round. Jim Leyland said he had not urged the club to draft his son.

Posted June 18, 2010