Ex-UConn coach Edsall a national punching bag - CT Post

[sportsart]

I haven't made a mistake; we got to the Fiesta Bowl because we won the Big East. Winning the Big East happens ONLY through on field excellence! If it was so easy, WVU would have been our representative every year!

We ran into a buzzsaw in Oklahoma, a team with more NFL players on the roster than almost any other team in the nation. Are you telling me that we should have been their equal? Are you telling me that it was Edsall's fault that we didn't win?? Not only were we the underdog, but we were still competitive even through the third quarter in a game where two separate balls bounced off of our receiver's chest and got returned for a pick-6. We were out-gunned and the ball bounced funny to make matters worse.

And did you say "a normal BCS team"??? A normal BCS team is riddled with 4 and 5 star recruits, and has been at it for about 100 years. For more on that, see LSU / Bama / Oregon / OSU / Texas / OU / USC / etc. Even the much heralded Notre Dame and Michigan are not "normal BCS teams" anymore...

Let me help you save time in your life you'll never get back. Whatever went wrong was Randy's fault and whatever went right was because the Big East was weak. He won more games due to being conservative with limited talent but when he loses a few games due to being conservative he's a bad coach.

Even though the ACC has lost like 9 out of 10 BCS Bowl games the coaches of the losing teams couldn't be as bad as Randy right? Yes I know that has not been posted on here but it might as well be.

 

[UConnDan97]

Thanks, sportsart. You've probably saved me at least 2 hours of typing and an additional 4 hours of reading insanity. I should be prepping myself for the UConn - Cuse game tonight, since I am chomping like a Husky at the bit!! Instead, I find myself in the oddest place; defending a school's sports history from its own fanbase! I should have read the words of wisdom in my signature line that Butchy provided me...

 

[businesslawyer]

Have you played a team sport at a competitive level?

While I wasn't good, I lettered in college (wrestling). If I wrestled well, I made the coach look good. If I werestled poorly, I made the coach look bad. Even if he coached the same either way.

Is that really relevant to anything?

 

[businesslawyer]

Good post bizlaw. You probably won't read this, I'm pretty sure I posted in this thread (think it was this thread) that if given time, Edsall will deliver 7-8, wins consistently at UMD, he is not an incompetent idiot, when it comes to game of football (smarmy jerk, different story). I just believe his conservative approach to offensive and defensive football has a ceiling and is somewhat outdated in this era where high powered offenses are the norm. I disagree that coaches don't make a difference. Brian Kelly led Cincy to an undefeated regular season. We lost to that Cincy team by 2 points. You saw the difference in talent between Cincy and Florida in their bowl game. Long story short, the talent between our team and Cincy was a lot closer than it was between Florida and Cincy. The difference IMO, comes down to coaching, game planning, and scheming. I believe Edsall left a couple of wins on the field his last few years here, and I have a hard time time thinking of any one game, where I thought our coaching got us that win. Early in his tenure, against Navy, Wake Forest, Iowa State, I thought we had potentially a special coach on our hands, but at least for me, the feeling faded.

Edsall's inability to have a consistent passing attack that even got near to average leads to those questions. I understand that. Personally, I think the failure had more to do with recruiting than schemes, but time will (or won't) tell. There is no question Edsall's schemes are more white bread than P's. But, with limited practice time, more focus on fewer plays is not necessarily a bad thing. Again, we'll see what happens going forward, but I'm much more concerned about what we learn about UConn post Edsall than MD with Edsall.

 

[Adios]

I though Edsall was cleaning the place up? Did anyone mention this?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...on-jeremy-lin/2012/02/24/gIQABlslXR_blog.html

 

[businesslawyer]

I think the win over South Carolina in 2009 was the peak, and IMO that peak is only marginally higher than the team that took the field in 2003 and beat Indiana.

2003 is really the forgotton dream season, a solid team that is forgotton only because we were unfairly excluded from the meaningless bowl system. Only three losses that year, at Virginia Tech (when Caulley goes down), at NC state (Phillip Rivers), and home against BC in a very competitive game (still IMO the most energized crowd ever at the Rent). Edsall did a tremendous job getting us to that level in 2003.

Look at how and what we beat in '03 versus Edsall's last 4 years. '03 was a great ride, and my hat will forever be off to that team for speeding up our path to success, but struggling to beat the Duke and RU teams we beat that year doesn't lead me to think that team would have done what 07 to 10 did.

 

[jpm25]

While I wasn't good, I lettered in college (wrestling). If I wrestled well, I made the coach look good. If I werestled poorly, I made the coach look bad. Even if he coached the same either way.

Is that really relevant to anything?

it is only relevant to the context in bother to reply to your post about players losing or winning games and coaches being responsible at the end of the season.

 

[JaYnYcE]

I was glad he left for another job, because he was never going to lose his job here. I just once thought we had a special coach on our hands but as time went on, I realized we didn't. I feel his conservative nature cost us a few games where we were the better team

I Totally agree



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sdhusky]

Your comment was that we won the big east through "legalities" and not "on field excellence." Yes, that is definitely where we disagree. 5-2 in the Big East is not a legality. It was all done on the field, and in most people's opinions, with inferior talent than all the other Big East teams, save perhaps Syracuse...

again, being in the 50th percentile of BCS schools might be excellence for you. We just have to agree to disagree.

To me, its the definition of mediocre. And that what Esdall was - mediocre. Which is better than my worst fear - becoming Temple or Rutgers - but its not excellence.

Randy is mediocre as a coach. At UCONN, mediocre met the expectations.

 

[UConnDan97]

again, being in the 50th percentile of BCS schools might be excellence for you..

Wow. In an earlier quote, you had UConn as a "top 35", and now they are in the 50th percentile (#60 / 120)??? If these posts keep going, you might have them down to #90 before Sunday comes! But I can't think about that for 2 reasons:

1) Sportsart told me not to, and he's right, because it's bad for my health and sanity.
2) UConn just lost a heartbreaker to that team from the badlands of New York, and I'm going to go throw up now.

Enjoy...

 

[UConnDan97]

Oh, I see, my fault. You were saying 50th percentile of BCS schools, so I guess you were saying they were still 35th. Weird, because I'm sure that there were non-BCS schools ranked in the top 25 that year, and I'm pretty sure we were ranked before the OU game.....

....again, I have to stop and go throw up now...

 

[sdhusky]

Oh, I see, my fault. You were saying 50th percentile of BCS schools, so I guess you were saying they were still 35th. Weird, because I'm sure that there were non-BCS schools ranked in the top 25 that year, and I'm pretty sure we were ranked before the OU game.....

....again, I have to stop and go throw up now...

You want to quibble? How about in the top 45th percentile of BCS school?

I don't consider that excellence.

 

[UConnDan97]

Let me help you save time in your life you'll never get back. Whatever went wrong was Randy's fault and whatever went right was because the Big East was weak. He won more games due to being conservative with limited talent but when he loses a few games due to being conservative he's a bad coach.

^^ What he said...

 

[sdhusky]

[quote="He won more games due to being conservative with limited talent but when he loses a few games due to being conservative he's a bad coach.[/quote]

I think his inability to win against top 25 teams and his ability to finish in the top 35 was because he was a terrible recruiter. If I had to pick a BE coach to win a game against a MAC school, I would pick Randy.

After a decade in the program, if there is limited talent, it's the coaches fault.

 

[UConnDan97]

=
After a decade in the program, if there is limited talent, it's the coaches fault.

I agree. Mack Brown's Texas team went 8-5 this year. They must have had limited talent. Since he's been there for about a decade or more, Mack Brown sucks. Let's start a new post that says, "Mack Brown Sucks." Wait, what's that, you say? Texas had a lot of talent?? So then Mack Brown must REALLY SUCK!! And this whole time, we've been focusing on Randy! Can you believe it?? Silly us!! [/quote]

 

[Palatine]

I agree. Mack Brown's Texas team went 8-5 this year. They must have had limited talent. Since he's been there for about a decade or more, Mack Brown sucks. Let's start a new post that says, "Mack Brown Sucks." Wait, what's that, you say? Texas had a lot of talent?? So then Mack Brown must REALLY SUCK!! And this whole time, we've been focusing on Randy! Can you believe it?? Silly us!!

[/quote]
That's your defense of Randy? Somebody else had a bad season? No sale.

 

[noeynox]

For me, it was when I realized that FUCRE's peak would be top 35 and 8-5.

Make no mistake - we got in the Fiesta Bowl through contracts and legalities (someone had to come from the BE) and not through on field excellence.

Once we showed up there, it was obvious to the world that Randy's peak didn't belong on the same field as a "normal" BCS team.[

[/quote]
So does this make you a "hater"?

 

[noeynox]

Was that before or after we entered our first BCS game against Oklahoma? (I'm guessing the week before that game, you weren't very vocal about his lack of coaching ability). Or maybe it was when we upset WVU along the way? Or maybe it was the time we beat South Carolina at a neutral site? Or maybe before that when we beat Notre Dame at ND?

His conservative nature may have cost us some games where we were the more athletic team, but it also won us some games when we clearly were not....

...again, I'm not going to build a statue for him. But I'm not going to act like he accomplished nothing here, either.

You'd have guessed wrong. The simplest I could make it, could Randy take us to the next level. To me the next level means 10-2, 11-1, with a BCS bid. I believe the answer to be no. It really is no more complicated than that.

 

[UConnDan97]

[quote="Palatine, post: 176616, member: 974"
That's your defense of Randy? Somebody else had a bad season? No sale.[/quote]

I'm not selling anything, so you don't have to buy anything. If the idea is that Randy wasn't a good coach for us, that is just a flat out lie. Plain and simple. The history is there. The records are there. If the statement is that Randy is not Urban Meyer, then this is a completely different conversation, people! Again, I will repeat what I stated about 86 posts ago; I'm not going to build a statue for the guy, but I'm also not going to say that he wasn't a good coach. I can't put it any simpler than that. If you are all arguing that the man wasn't Bill Parcells, that's fine with me.

Then, if that is the new argument, I would ask the following questions: Do you believe that a program that just jumped from 1-AA to 1-A should have had a Bill Parcells or an Urban Meyer already at the helm? And do you believe that the recruiting base should be equivalent to a Florida or Ohio State? If the answer to either one of those questions is "yes", please let me know, so that I can rest easy, knowing that I am in a chat room full of lunatics (see my signature line below)...

 

[sportsart]

Of course nobody mentions when we were 3-5 after a tough loss to RU and a 26-0 beat down by UL our guys sucked it up and won out (5 straight) to EARN a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

No good coaching there. It was all due to a bad Big East.

Why is it so hard to give credit where credit is due? We could just as easily have been a Buffalo type program.

Was it time for him to go? Yes. Did he leave in a piss poor manner? Big yes.

Did he do a better than average job at UConn? A big yes. All you experts have no idea what it takes to do what he did and you look silly to the people who know best. The players and their parents.

Randy built a very strong foundation that, if handled properly, can grow into something special.

I wish him well at MD but won't lose a minute worth of sleep if he fails.

It really is time to enjoy the next chapter. Looks like our recruiting is off to a good start.

 

[UConnDan97]

Of course nobody mentions we were 3-5 after a tough loss to RU and a 26-0 beat down by UL our guys sucked it up and won out (5 straight) to EARN a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

No good coaching there. It was all due to a bad Big East.

Why is it so hard to give credit where credit is due? We could just as easily have been a Buffalo type program.

Was it time for him to go? Yes. Did he leave in a piss poor manner? Big yes.

Did he do a better than average job at UConn? A big yes. All you experts have no idea what it takes to do what he did and you look silly to the people who know best. The players and their parents.

Randy built a very strong foundation that, if handled properly, can grow into something special.

I wish him well at MD but won't lose a minute worth of sleep if he fails.

It really is time to enjoy the next chapter. Looks like our recruiting is off to a good start.

I couldn't have said it any better than this, Sportsart (and I didn't say it any better, clearly). And throughout the whole last hour, I still keep thinking that I didn't take your advice about 20 posts ago. You were right.....you were right...

 

[sportsart]

I couldn't have said it any better than this, Sportsart (and I didn't say it any better, clearly). And throughout the whole last hour, I still keep thinking that I didn't take your advice about 20 posts ago. You were right.....you were right...

Someday I hope to take my own advice.

 

[noeynox]

Of course nobody mentions when we were 3-5 after a tough loss to RU and a 26-0 beat down by UL our guys sucked it up and won out (5 straight) to EARN a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

No good coaching there. It was all due to a bad Big East.

Why is it so hard to give credit where credit is due? We could just as easily have been a Buffalo type program.

Was it time for him to go? Yes. Did he leave in a piss poor manner? Big yes.

Did he do a better than average job at UConn? A big yes. All you experts have no idea what it takes to do what he did and you look silly to the people who know best. The players and their parents.

Randy built a very strong foundation that, if handled properly, can grow into something special.

I wish him well at MD but won't lose a minute worth of sleep if he fails.

It really is time to enjoy the next chapter. Looks like our recruiting is off to a good start.

Art speaking for myself. I don't deny he did those things. I think we weren't going any higher with him. To the poster who mentioned Parcells and Meyer, no one expected him to be that, but RE himself acted like he was that. The flipside to the coaching, was that he was annoying everytime he spoke save for the Jasper Tragedy. What are we arguing at this point. Lets be thankful he left on his own terms. Win win for everyone if you ask me.

 

[AJC88]

wow you guys are still going on this. #shocked.

 

[Mr.Phat]

Sorry all you haters out there, but Randy Edsall will ultimately prevail in this saga. He is doing what is necessary to clean up an out of control program and the team that remains will win -- this year! Then all the media bashers can eat his droppings.

I wish there was a dislike button. You'd get one for this ridiculous comment.

 

[mattp]

wow you guys are still going on this. #shocked.

i'd left this thread alone for a few days and thought i'd check in on it. it's amazing how often the same thing can be repeated. i think everyone knows where everyone stands and i doubt anyone is going to change tanyone's mind at this point. let's bury it. like when Rick Rubin had a funeral for the word "def" we need to have a funeral for discussions on Randy. i suggest there be no eulogy

 

[Nostical]

I wish there was a dislike button. You'd get one for this ridiculous comment.

Really? Sorry you feel that way. So what part of the comment do you deem ridiculous? That Edsall will win at Maryland, that he's cleaning up the program (kind of like needs to happen evidently with UCLA basketball), or that he'll have the last laugh?
I actually think the comment is right on the money.I guess we'll just have to wait and see.