When you say effort, that's hard to say right after the game when you haven't watched the film," Edsall said.
This is all you need to know to figure out what kind of coach Edsall is. A coach that answers that all important question I've stated previously the other way.....that players are more important than plays, that kind of coach can tell you exactly what kind of effort his team is putting out at any point during a game and after.
A coach that values plays over players, needs to look at the game film before giving any kind of opinion, because you can't see exactly what's happening with all 22 guys from the sideline, and the effort level for this kind of guy is going to be directly related to how well those 11 guys are executing their jobs against the other 11 on every play.
It's one of the things that makes football so interesting to me, in studying the history of the game. Because the development of the game, changed dramatically, when studying film became available and really valued.
If you are going to be the best, the very best, in whatever league you are playing - there are only two ways to play the game, to go about everything you do regarding the game, and it's either plays or players, and absolutely everything you do, every moment of every day needs to be consistent.
Most coaches that are highly successful, end up gravitating one way or the other, and don't even realize it as it's happening, but the guys that win the most games, and become undisputed champions, hall of fame type guys, always end up in one camp or the other, and are very clear about it.
Edsall wasn't consistent, and he'd only been a head coach at UConn, in transition through four different stages of league play, and never at any other level. It was evident, because many, many times, he was doing things in game plans, and especially with recruiting and moving players all over the field from position to position that just didn't jive with the fundamental philosophy, and I believe the basic conflict of reasoning was the basis as to why we were so emotionally flat as a team at many times, and only really well motivated when forced into that coming back after a loss, forced into a corner mentality, that really doesn't require much external motivation at all, if you've got a group of guys with any competitive spirit at all.
I looked forward very much, to seeing it change at UConn, and become more consistent, because with successful coaches, there's almost always a point in time where the coach consciously realizes it at some level, and that's when they really take off, and we were ready with Edsall. But he flew the coop.
I wonder if it will happen in Maryland. I hope it does for his sake.