FHCRE article “I don’t miss it one bit”

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Edsall quiet quit on UConn football. Period end of story.

 

[Rich]

Let us speak of this reprehensible piece of garbage no more. He will be a sad footnote to a program that is poised to enjoy a renaissance.

 

[superjohn]

To me it is a bit unfair to lay everything about the lost decade on Edsall. Pasqualoni started the train down off the tracks, and Diaco didn’t exactly help getting it back with his utterly whacky behavior. Edsall came into a train wreck and couldn’t undo it, though one could make the case that he didn’t recruit so badly since many of the guys Mora used were Edsall recruits. His first time around was good. Second wasn,t. Simple as that.

What he did to Todman and the team was reprehensible. He came back to UConn and totally destroyed what little of the program was left after the Pasqualoni and Diaco debacles. Pasqualoni and Diaco aren't bad people, Edsall is a bad person.

 

[noeynox]

Lest we forget, the reason we got Coach Randy part two is because the team did not want to pay for a coach at the time. He kind of took the job as a favor. You get what you pay for.

MAC Head Coaches routinely make 300k plus or at least were at the time Edsall was brought back. He was paid a million bucks. There is just no way they couldn't have brought someone in WILLING to try and win games. From the get he reduced the playing time of guys like Newsome for guys like Mensah. It was all about developing guys as the team got progressively worse.

 

[Madmannsucks]

MAC Head Coaches routinely make 300k plus or at least were at the time Edsall was brought back. He was paid a million bucks. There is just no way they couldn't have brought someone in WILLING to try and win games. From the get he reduced the playing time of guys like Newsome for guys like Mensah. It was all about developing guys as the team got progressively worse.

No not correct. Diaco was getting over 2 million a year before being let go. So they were looking for a bargain basement coach and that’s what they got.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Randy Edsall left UConn football in 2021. Why he doesn’t miss coaching 'one bit' and is proud of legacy

Which legacy, Randy? The legacy of you leaving after the Fiesta Bowl for Maryland or you in Florida after the football season was cancelled?

Randy, you had a great legacy before you snuck away. If you flew back with the team, told the state that you got an offer at Maryland and say that the team will be in good hands with the next hire - and maybe give them your input, that would be great. Maybe if you told the AD your plans, they could get someone to keep UConn on an upward track, but no, you left in the middle of the night.

 

[freescooter]

We all get that, but remember he was preaching we had to get bigger,stronger, faster, etc etc. Covid gave the team a break to be able to dive in the playbook and get stronger in the weightroom. What it yielded was a loss to holy cross.

Don’t disagree with that but that is different than blaming him for canceling the season. He utterly failed to make the best use of the time.

 

[cullaville]

Which legacy, Randy? The legacy of you leaving after the Fiesta Bowl for Maryland or you in Florida after the football season was cancelled?

Randy, you had a great legacy before you snuck away. If you flew back with the team, told the state that you got an offer at Maryland and say that the team will be in good hands with the next hire - and maybe give them your input, that would be great. Maybe if you told the AD your plans, they could get someone to keep UConn on an upward track, but no, you left in the middle of the night.

Wasn't MAN enough to tell his Team he was leaving yet made Jordan Todman tell the team he was leaving for the NFL right after the Fiesta Bowl Game.

 

[Chin Diesel]

We all get that, but remember he was preaching we had to get bigger,stronger, faster, etc etc. Covid gave the team a break to be able to dive in the playbook and get stronger in the weightroom. What it yielded was a loss to holy cross.

This is where I was at. It was an incredible case study on what happens if you take a team and for a whole year do nothing but lift weights and practice. I wasn't optimistic or pessimistic. I was genuinely curious if it could be done and end up with an improved on field product. Maybe a different staff could have made it work. But, the onfield result was disasterous and RE had to go.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Wasn't MAN enough to tell his Team he was leaving yet made Jordan Todman tell the team he was leaving for the NFL right after the Fiesta Bowl Game.

The Jazz Howard night was the highest of Randy's character. The Fiesta Bowl incident you describe was the lowest. I didn't necessarily have a problem with him marching Todman out, but doing so and knowing he was doing the same thing and not coming clean with the team was pure snake belly crawling.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I'm not sure I'd label Edsall a "bad guy" as their are certainly a lot of our football alumni that are in his corner. With that said, he's absolutely a pr*ck who's results during v2.0 speak for themselves.

Ultimately, he had a chance to build a tremendous legacy at UConn but jumped ship and tarnished how he's thought of at the school where he was in essence the godfather of football.

Does he care? Doesn't seem like it.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

This is where I was at. It was an incredible case study on what happens if you take a team and for a whole year do nothing but lift weights and practice. I wasn't optimistic or pessimistic. I was genuinely curious if it could be done and end up with an improved on field product. Maybe a different staff could have made it work. But, the onfield result was disasterous and RE had to go.

You would think it would have helped with the Physics of football...but they weren't coached to be better at playing the sport. The entire season collapsed during the Fresno game.

 

[Chin Diesel]

You would think it would have helped with the Physics of football...but they weren't coached to be better at playing the sport. The entire season collapsed during the Fresno game.

One thing everyone in change management will tell an organization is when change is implemented you need some small victories early on.

In this case the immediate on field results were disasterous and all the players knew all the stuff they were sold over the previous year was BS.

 

[cohenzone]

Not dismissing RE1, but i don’t think he was as good as he thought himself. He was ok, but no world beater. He struck gold when Dan O stayed home and that helped make his team competitive sooner than anyone imagined. He never again came within Dan O shouting distance at QB. He reeled in some terrific TB some very good players at other positions. But even his Fiesta Bowl team squeaked in on a great game winning kick in a mediocre Big East year. He felt unappreciated and the way he left showed.it.

When he came back (I thought at the time it a crappy hire) we were in the run and gun AAC where his bend but don’t break D schemes were bound to fail. And epically so. His ego is much bigger than his ability. My seasons tickets were pretty worthless.

 

[hardcorehusky]

RE was an old school ball coach when he took over from trailers to today's practice facility. It's his design, and no matter what, he helped build the physical infrastructure that is here today. V1 ended poorly. We expected more of him based on how he and the team reacted to the Jasper Howard events.

V2 had the right intentions. However, the game changed and he never should have been considered. The school was looking to cut costs and then the conference change really took him out of it. One of two of his biggest problems 2nd time around was poor assistant coaches versus V1. That and his model of jettisoning anyone from the previous regime, not utilizing the portal and trying to develop kids when that model was dead. Killed him. Recruiting started to get better and still some of his kids are our best players today!! So, he could still recruit. I just feel there was a lot more going on that affected him that he is blamed for. 2nd time around, he still doesn't have any self awareness on how to get out gracefully. Did he take the money, I guess. Bad hire, absolutely.

 

[Waquoit]

After he didn't get the GaTech job he said, "I'll be here for as long as you'll have me." I know some will give him a pass for coach-speak, but I won't. He didn't have to say that. It goes to character, imo.

 

[Guru13]

Don’t disagree with that but that is different than blaming him for canceling the season. He utterly failed to make the best use of the time.

I agree can’t blame him for the canceled season, but no improvement for a whole year and seem like we regressed was awful.

 

[Twill]

My son was on that Fiesta Bowl Team, and I can tell you firsthand the players were totally shocked when they saw the story on ESPN after they landed from their flights home. HCRE didn't have the guts to tell them after the game in person. Would they have won that game? Probably not, but at least he could have given a 100% effort instead of having one foot out the door. He was a total hypocrite.

 

[Bongo Fury]

I actually do blame him for the canceled season. They didn’t practice. The didn’t play and took a step back. Some will argue the value of only a few exhibition games but I view him as a quitter who was afraid of people seeing how young and unimproved the team was. Phoned it in for another year.

 

[UDann]

After sitting through that Holy Cross loss it was obvious he had lost interest in coaching way before that!

 

[freescooter]

I suspect that if UCONN had gone 6-6, 7-5, 8-4 during Edsall 2 the Maryland thing would have been a minor blip. I think there were many reasons why his 2nd go-round was a total mess. Most were on Randy but some were not. I think the team he inherited and the year1 recruits were pretty weak. Mostly borderline 1A players at best. Just as 1 example. And the Indy/Big East move without even consulting him hurt. As did budget limitations. I mean just look at what Mora has. Assists to the assistant videographer, for heaven’s sake. Edsall pays his OC out of his own pocket. On the other hand his own stubbornness was also an issue as was his failure to grasp the portal.

 

[History Geek]

I suspect that if UCONN had gone 6-6, 7-5, 8-4 during Edsall 2 the Maryland thing would have been a minor blip. I think there were many reasons why his 2nd go-round was a total mess. Most were on Randy but some were not. I think the team he inherited and the year1 recruits were pretty weak. Mostly borderline 1A players at best. Just as 1 example. And the Indy/Big East move without even consulting him hurt. As did budget limitations. I mean just look at what Mora has. Assists to the assistant videographer, for heaven’s sake. Edsall pays his OC out of his own pocket. On the other hand his own stubbornness was also an issue as was his failure to grasp the portal.

I think this is a fair assessment, Free.

 

[History Geek]

For the Fresno game, I found a sports bar to watch it in. Had my UConn Football t-shirt on, got the bar patrons to watch it with me. Excited to see how a year of development would come to fruition. Left embarrassed. After that shellacking in The Valley, I remember telling people at the pre Holy Cross tailgate that if we did not with convincingly, Randy’s days were numbered. I still couldn’t believe after a year of maturing they still couldn’t beat up a semi-good FCS team. You know the rest.

 

[jdb50]

Edsall was happier to play golf than be a good football coach in his second stint at UConn. Just a total mail it in performance. Goodbye forever.

 

[SubbaBub]

RE is a perfect case study for multiple things being true at the same time, but in total, his first stint was a tremendous boost to the program, the second time through the game changed, he did not and wasn't ever going to. He did have a very strict philosophy on how to run a program, "the right way," and that was something to be proud of. It also possible to do that and still win games because legalized 'cheating" isn't cheating anymore.

Everything else is just projection of people's emotions about his tenures.