Feelings on Edsall?

[RegisteredUconn]

He was a fine coach. He was the best UConn could have hoped for at the time. He deserves credit for a job well done. His departure -- well, many other coaches leave that way.

The more interesting questions:
- If both P and Edsall are fired on December 1, do you hope Edsall applies for the UConn vacancy?
- Would you be glad to see him back if he was re-hired?

I'm guessing the answers are maybe, depending on the applicant pool, and no. People will want change and hope even if it's probably no improvement.

My answers would depend on how good a season Randy turns in this year. He hasn't exactly set the world on fire at Maryland. His first year was, well, his first year. Last year, so I read, was plagued by injuries to key players. If raises the Terps level of play this year so they perform like his UConn teams did, I would not be particularly eager to have him back. But, if Maryland gets ranked and plays in the ACC title game, then yes, I want him back. Under any circumstances, I wish him the best. He's earned that.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

My favorite Edsall moment was when he publicly stayed UCONN fans had no reason to have expectations since we had no history. Clearly im summarizing, but since we shouldn't have expectations, why are we mad at P again?

Because P inherited a UConn team with a history.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Is this is a serious question?

Is yours?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Is yours?

Yeah, you just posted that if Maryland reaches the ACC title game you'd want him back.

And I'm the crazy one.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Yeah, you just posted that if Maryland reaches the ACC title game you'd want him back.

And I'm the crazy one.

Wanted Edsall gone, did you? Fan of the P hire were you?

If a desire to move up from P to a ranked, title-playing-for ACC coach makes me crazy, then yes, I'm crazy as a loon. I'm ready to organize a good moon-baying right this second.

 

[CTMike]

Edsall isn't, won't, and can't come back. He dumped us, and people would welcome him back? Get out of here. "Oh just kidding guys about leaving for my dream job thing. I won't leave you again, honest."

I liked him while he was here. Then he went against the family, and now he's dead to me. There are 100 other candidates I'd be happier with.

 

[ZooCougar]

My favorite Edsall moment was when someone here stated that he would make the ACC title game in his first season. Good times.

I was not surprised with why he left. If you were paying attention you knew there was tension. Everytime he lost an assistant like Lakatos or a guy to WVU, he was clearly ticked off in press conferences and had stated that he addressed the salary issue to the AD.

In this environment, there are assistants out there making a million bucks. Some coordinators are making much more than even some head coaches. Hathaway just didn't get it.

I WAS surprised with how he left.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Wanted Edsall gone, did you? Fan of the P hire were you?

If a desire to move up from P to a ranked, title-playing-for ACC coach makes me crazy, then yes, I'm crazy as a loon. I'm ready to organize a good moon-baying right this second.

I would take Nick Saban too. Maybe we should kick those tires to see if he's interested as long as we're dealing with a fantasy.

 

[FrostyNuggets]

There are mountains and there are molehills.

Definitions
Mountain: building an FBS football program from scratch.
Molehill: a coach being completely disingenuous to those of us outside of his inner circle.

There are those who cherry pick to santimoniously rail against a point not made, and those who dont.

Gee, this is fun!

 

[ZooCougar]

Wanted Edsall gone, did you? Fan of the P hire were you?

If a desire to move up from P to a ranked, title-playing-for ACC coach makes me crazy, then yes, I'm crazy as a loon. I'm ready to organize a good moon-baying right this second.

This is so funny.

You apologists are so traumatized that you still equate not loving Edsall with loving the P hire. I was totally underwhelmed, I supported him up until a certain point until I realized that he couldn't even manage a clock.

 

[ruskin]

Pasqualoni is 2-0 head to head against Edsall. Enough said.

That may be the most misleading, unenlightening and irrelevant statistic of all time. If it's supposed to mean P is a better coach than Edsall in the 21st century that is 100 percent laughable.

Pretty sure Edsall would not be 10-15 since 2011. He won almost all the games he was supposed to, ESPECIALLY the disaster last Thursday.

It's stunning to me that with UConn's limited Division I-A/FBS experience people here are experts on how to build a program from scratch. "Make mediocrity look like success" 9-4, 8-5, 8-5, 8-5 in his last four years WAS success. Jesus.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

This is so funny.

You apologists are so traumatized that you still equate not loving Edsall with loving the P hire. I was totally underwhelmed, I supported him up until a certain point until I realized that he couldn't even manage a clock.

3rd game?

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Edsall isn't, won't, and can't come back. He dumped us, and people would welcome him back? Get out of here. "Oh just kidding guys about leaving for my dream job thing. I won't leave you again, honest."

I liked him while he was here. Then he went against the family, and now he's dead to me. There are 100 other candidates I'd be happier with.

And if Edsall performs like the ghost of Bear Bryant for the next half decade you'd prefer an up-and-comer because you just like noseless faces? You're not one of the Hatfields or McCoys are you?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

And if Edsall performs like the ghost of Bear Bryant for the next half decade you'd prefer an up-and-comer because you just like noseless faces? You're not one of the Hatfields or McCoys are you?

He is never coming back. I wish he never left. But he did. His time at UConn is over. He will never coach here again. That should not be something that people need to point out to anyone here. Gee whiz.

 

[CTMike]

Edsall being compared to Bear Bryant (even hypothetically) is right up there with some of the most ludicrous comparisons ever on this site. And this coming from someone who would have been considered an Edsall Apologista!

You honestly are telling me that you'd trust Edsall not to stab us in the back again?

 

[RegisteredUconn]

I would take Nick Saban too. Maybe we should kick those tires to see if he's interested as long as we're dealing with a fantasy.

The question posed was a hypothetical. I answered hypothetically. Nobody asked, nor did I answer how likely I thought Maryland being ranked and playing in the ACC title game was. I find it highly, highly un-likely, so, in the context of my original post on the matter, I would not be eager to have Edsall back. Good news though. You and I aren't really so far apart. I'd be interested in Saban.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

The question posed was a hypothetical. I answered hypothetically. Nobody asked, nor did I answer how likely I thought Maryland being ranked and playing in the ACC title game was. I find it highly, highly un-likely, so, in the context of my original post on the matter, I would not be eager to have Edsall back. Good news though. You and I aren't really so far apart. I'd be interested in Saban.

That's why I asked if it was a serious question. It's a fantasy. We might as well start a thread on my upcoming 3some with Jessica Alba and Kate Upton.

 

[Exit 4]

I thought Edsall was a tremendous coach, who coached up his players and generally got the most out of each player. He also was a decent gameday tactition and far superior to PP with his gameplans, clock mgmt and in game adjustments. I understand why Edsall left, he had done what he could with UConn, sticking around longer would put him in the realm of 'permanent' UConn coach. My bitterness with Edsall has everything to do with how he left. Mr Class suddenly lost all class when it was his turn at the candy counter. He should have returned with the team that night from the Fiesta Bowl and made his announcement a couple days later.

 

[CTMike]

That's why I asked if it was a serious question. It's a fantasy. We might as well start a thread on my upcoming 3some with Jessica Alba and Kate Upton.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

View attachment 3639

It would be a quick story.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I think we should win.

That's what I think of Randy Edsall.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Edsall being compared to Bear Bryant (even hypothetically) is right up there with some of the most ludicrous comparisons ever on this site. And this coming from someone who would have been considered an Edsall Apologista!

You honestly are telling me that you'd trust Edsall not to stab us in the back again?

Playing the lottery in hope of a big payout is one of the most ludicrous things ever. Yet people do it every day. Even people who've already won. How lucky would you have to be to win twice. Yet even that has happened. That's what hypotheticals are all about. My reference to Bear Bryant was preposterous. That's exactly why I chose it. Some guys seem to be saying they wouldn't want Edsall back under any circumstances. I just wanted to make sure that the never, never, never, never, ever was truly operational or just some level of displeasure other than never that wasn't well phrased. Of course if it really was never, I wouldn't mind knowing what the guy did that he absolutely wouldn't deserve a second chance.

I'm honestly telling you that I could, under the right circumstances, learn to trust someone who had betrayed me. And I don't know if he stabbed us in the back at all. Please read my statement carefully. I didn't say I don't think he stabbed us in the back. I said I don't know. During his time in Storrs he sure as hell conducted himself in a manner that, in my eyes, would make back stabbing unlikely. He seemed much more honorable than that. Could he have been a back stabbing son-of-a-bitch? Hypothetically ?

 

[CTMike]

You are a better man than I if you could trust him again. And, on a petty level, I like to think that UConn has more self respect than running back to the guy that dumped us.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

You are a better man than I if you could trust him again. And, on a petty level, I like to think that UConn has more self respect than running back to the guy that dumped us.

You make good points, Mike. Some of us just like to argue.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Kind of a non-story IMO. As much as some of us feel jilted, he left the way most coaches leave - nature of the business. Wasn't always 'thrill-a-minute' football but the Edsall years were the best we've had and that's what I choose to remember. FWIW, does anybody imagine HCRE, coaching UConn in the American, would be thinking "I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger on that Md offer"?

 

[CTMike]

You make good points, Mike. Some of us just like to argue.

It's why we are on the Boneyard, right?

 

[UConn Dan]

I liked Edsall while he was our coach. He built this program from the ground up -- another UConn story. He always got the most out of players and I have much respect for how he handled Mr. Howard's untimely death (RIP Jazz).

I thought he'd be a Calhoun or Auriemma type and stick with the program he built even after a first brush with success. Those guys didn't love Hathaway either, btw.

The way he left has been discussed ad nauseum -- it was just a terrible way to go out. At the time (before the conference realignment apocalypse), I thought Maryland was at best a lateral move and should be no ones dream job.

I would NOT want him back as coach if he were to be available again.

I hope we beat him in 10 days and finally, I hope that's the last we'll have to talk about him for a long, long time.

 

[willie99]

I appreciate what he did for UConn football, bringing the program to a respectable level and doing so rather quickly. I loved the fact that we had solid line play on both sides of the ball, a solid defense and we could run as well. That style of play made us competitive, gave us a chance to win and the team was fun to watch. Everything he established, PP destroyed. The current team is very hard to watch.
Having said that, the way Edsall left the program is hard to overlook. He preached family and trust and honor, he left his kids like a an undignified weasel. Randy could have followed in the footsteps of Jim and Geno and become a legend in Connecticut, now it appears he'll be moving his young family again when his tenor at Maryland has run it's course. He may never get a second chance at such job security.

 

[PRHusky]

Edsall is a good, not great, coach, who did a lot of good things while here. He did an outstanding job with the I-AA to I-A transition. However, the fact that he could not recruit a legitimate QB other than DanO is something that I will never be able to understand. Furthermore, it seemed that even he recognized that he could not do any better than 8-5/9-4 here. Plus, it was pretty evident he hated being here towards the end. Having Hathaway as an AD should not be an excuse; Geno and JC could not stand the guy, but they never let that get in the way of how they felt about UConn. Edsall acted like a mercenary towards the end and I guess that is what most college football coaches are. Glad he is no longer here. Sure 8-5 seasons are much better than 5-7 seasons, but I am certain that people would want Edsall gone almost as much as they want P gone now had he never left.

 

[NickyNewark]

The job Edsall did was incredible. When he got to UConn, the football program was being run out of trailers, and I imagine they must have been there a long time because 10 years later he was still talking about the trailers. I think he is underrated as an offensive innovator too. Chris Ault invented the Pistol and Rocky Long invented the 3-3-5, but Randy Edsall invented the inside handoff on 2nd and 10 and no one can match that kind of innovation.

Kidding aside, Edsall was the master of making mediocrity look like success. During the 6 years that UConn was a member of the reconstituted Big East, from 2005 to 2010, only Syracuse was worse than UConn. People on this board act like the Edsall years were some kind of golden era of UConn football. Edsall won the league title once through a three way tiebreaker, and that 2010 Big East was probably the worst conference in the history of the BCS era. In some of the better years the league had, like 2006 and 2009, UConn struggled. He was an average coach, and in hindsight it is inarguable that UConn would have been better off if he had left earlier.

As a neutral observer following RE while in the BE I found him chilly,hotheaded and not much of a recruiter but who was best at getting UR recruits and getting the most out of them but at UConn I felt he "peaked"!?!He leaves UConn for a sideways move(at the time) and immediately antagonized the Md players of whom many transfered out including All-ACC LT RJ Dill who started for RU last year and an All ACC QB who transfered to Wisky and couldn't get recruits to come until the MD AD was forced to hire "blackballed" Mike Locksley to bail him out as RE had a "mutiny" on his hands in his 1st year and they couldn't afford to eat his contract!!He reminds me of a Doug Marrone type who will get the most out of UR and 2* recruits and make a team adequate,efficient and competitive but not great!Why get rid of Fridgeon for RE?I'll never figure that out?They were starting something good at MD before RE but Locksley's recruiting touch may be RE's saving grace and UConn's problem this year with there young QB's healthy and Stefan Digg's emergence as a playmaker!This game should be great and a great W for UConn to give RE everything he deserve's as a final parting gift!