Where does Friedgen go from here?

For a few moments Saturday, Terrapin football coach Ralph Friedgen couldn’t bear to look at the assembled media gathered before him.

Here was a man of immense pride and conviction, the alum who returned to his alma mater in 2001 and immediately won an ACC title nobody thought was possible, then backed it up with an 11-win season the next year and a 10-win season the year after.

He was once an offensive genius, a program savior. He had full command in pushing all the right buttons to make a Terp football program that was nothing into something.

Saturday, after the Terps lost 36-9 to Virginia Tech in an ugly and uninspired performance, Friedgen was far from that man.

He teared up, and his voice grew softer. He looked down at the podium in front of him, as if to hide his face or simply try to decipher what had gone so terribly wrong.

Yes, he’s still passionate about this program. This season, Friedgen has choked up during a few of his weekly Tuesday press conferences, three days removed from his team’s latest loss, let alone right after one.

In that sense, his emotion Saturday wasn’t surprising.

But passion aside, Friedgen lost whatever it was that made him special somewhere along the way.

During the past three seasons, the offensive playcalling has been average at best, and the offensive line has lacked consistency. And although Friedgen doesn’t coach it, the Terp defense has taken a steep fall in terms of tackling and pass defense.

To add to his problems, the competition has improved.

The ACC is a parity-filled league, but it’s certainly a better conference with expansion than it was when Friedgen started nine years ago. Just look at what’s happened in the four times the Terps have faced the Hokies since they arrived in 2004.

This season, the Terps are 2-8, and there’s a good chance they end up 2-10, an almost unimaginable result this summer, even with only 14 seniors on the roster.

Friedgen can cite his team’s inexperience, the injuries to key players and the Terps’ seemingly unrepeatable turnover rate, and rightfully so. But 2-8, with losses to Sun Belt opponent Middle Tennessee, a Rutgers team that completed only four passes and an equally mediocre Virginia squad, is the kind of record that speaks for itself.

It’s not unreasonable to assume Friedgen, now 62 with two more seasons remaining on his current contract, will never again reach the heights he once did. Sure, a solid seven- or even eight-win season is possible, even next year if all goes right.

But as Virginia Tech dominated the Terps in all facets Saturday, it seemed just as likely that things may not turn around, that Saturday wasn’t rock bottom. With quarterback Jamarr Robinson, a candidate to start in the future, the Terp offense was reduced to a series of wild quarterback scrambles. Robinson’s runs might have been fun to watch, but he produced just three points.

Going into next season, Friedgen will have the same offensive line, maybe worse if left tackle Bruce Campbell decides to go pro. The defensive line, which for years has been without a dominant player, is stocked with young talent but will only lose experience. And then there’s the question of who to start at quarterback.

It’s clear Friedgen won’t — and shouldn’t — be fired. Besides the financial difficulties of such a drastic move, it’s only fair to allow the guy who rebuilt the program the chance to go out on his own terms, as cliché as that sounds.

But it’s also clear this season will have a lasting effect, both for Friedgen’s immediate future and for his legacy.

akraut@umdbk.com