If its a donor driven choice, then you see where Uconn is financially. they had no choice and DB nor SH could possibly argue that RE is not an improvement over BD. so the donors had all the leverage. It is what it is. I highly doubt DB's dream hire is Randy Edsall.
Here's the thing for me...I appreciated the fact that RE built his teams from the lines out, knew that Uconn would never have a great passing game given the climate and recruiting base, and had his teams ALWAYS play fundamentally sound and smart football. they tackled well and generally played good special teams (returns more than coverage and kicking). Uconn's identity was smashmouth, hard nosed, Parcells-like football. he developed players and his senior classes were always best players on team. He got a lot of guys paid at the next level. He never recruited well based on star systems but found diamonds in rough constantly. But...I used to be able to call about 75% of the plays based solely on formations and down and distance. There was never any creativity. Defenses played 8 or 9 in the box and UConn could never take advantage except for Marcus Easley's breakout season (ex-DanO season). If the team fell behind, they were usually screwed. It was predictable. But it was never horrible like the Pasqualoni and Idiaco years.
When Randy left, he handled it as badly as could be imagined. His nonsense about a dream job and all that rung as stupid as did the constant reminders of the trailers. He's not a dynamic personality. He's never won big anywhere he's been. He's probably best suited as a defensive coordinator. If your hope is that Edsall will revive the program and create a situation that makes UConn irresistable to a P5 conference, then I think your hope is fleeting. And while it would be nice to have a football team that just isn't embarrassing itself on a weekly basis, the only long-term goal for the program and athletic department is P5 and I'm not sure this hire helps. I hope I am wrong. But at least there should be a team that one can support again. for those too young to remember, going to the Rent from 2003-2009 was a worthwhile way to spend your Saturdays.
