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Back in December 30 2016, I made a post detailing why Edsall was a terrible hire (I copied and pasted my original post below since the thread is now locked). After the 2017 season I feel even more strongly that Edsall is not the right coach for UConn. All of the facts show this yet a large portion of the fan base continues to believe otherwise.
Last year, UConn had only 1 win against an FBS opponent with a winning record, and lost their last 5 games of the season. UConn's 2017 recruiting class was ranked 101st in the country (based on 247), the excuse was that Edsall didn't have the full time to put a good class together, unfortunately UConn's 2018 class is ranked even worse at 105th in the nation. The 2019 class is ranked 136th so far (sure this will rise but probably not above 100th).
Yea the batman signs on his twitter page are cute, but he is not getting it done in recruiting. Last season was a disaster, the only bright spot was the signifiant improvement of our offense, and the OC left after one season with Edsall, if that is not a red flag then I don't know what is.
The point of my post is not to say I told you so, the point is to reiterate how clear it was that Edsall was a terrible hire. I hope that I'll be proved wrong starting this season. My hope is to see a great and winning football product at UConn, the fans and the state deserve nothing less. I hope Edsall can get us to a bowl game this season and turn UConn into a powerhouse program, but it is so obvious that he is not a good football coach. It hurts to have to endure his below-average coaching after going through PP and Diaco.
The goal of this post is to have more fans recognize and acknowledge Edsall is not the right coach, and after another expected terrible season I hope most of the fanbase will put him squarely on the hot seat going into the 2019 season.
Once again I really hope that UConn has a fantastic season. I would love nothing more than for UConn to upset UCF and Boise to start the season (wow that would great!) or even if UConn were to get to a bowl game. However it seems UConn football will not become what it can be (based on great fanbase, best FBS program in northeast, good high school talent in northeast, level of school and state investment in the program) under Edsall.
Below is what I posted soon after Edsall was hired outlining why Edsall was a terrible choice, and all of the points continue to be true, and to an even larger degree, after the 2017 season:
I still strongly believe Edsall is a terrible hire, and much of it has nothing to do with the way he left. I don't care too much about how he left, I care more about how good of a coach he'll be and everything points to him being a below average coach thats on the decline.
Here are the facts:
1) Edsall is a career sub-.500 coach
2) Edsall in 16 years of coaching only has 1 win against a ranked team (1-26 overall record, one of the worst records amongst active coaches)
3) Edsall was a poor recruiter. Based on rivals class rankings here is where UConn ranked from 2007-2011:
- 2007: 68th
-2008: 73rd
-2009: 82nd
-2010: 93rd
-2011: Not even ranked in the top 100
He was a poor recruiter who was getting worse overtime while at UConn.
4) The whole "winningest coach ever at UConn" doesn't mean anything when he's also lost more games than any other coach at UConn
5) Based on his past, his ceiling is producing mediocre teams, and that was in a different era. The power run game will not be as successful in this day and age as it was 10 years ago.
6) Look at who the other AAC schools have hired as coaches. They routinely hire guys who are successful and play an exciting brand of football, so successful that the AAC overall has been coaching factory for top P5 schools. While we continually fire our coaches.
7) Edsall failed during his time at Maryland, and no other school wanted him, except of course UConn.
8) Being better than Diaco should never ever be the standard we should judge a hire on because any person who knows anything about football would be a better coach than Diaco.
So here we are, other schools in the AAC whose AD budgets are no where near as large as ours look to hire coaches that will get their football programs to not only play well but grab national attention while we are enthusiastic about a coach who can possibly get us back to .500 team.
The main reason why I am so disappointed with this hire is because this will cement our football team being behind the likes of UH, Cincy, UCF, USF and even Temple in the next conference realignment talks. We could go no worse than the Diaco era so Benedict had the perfect opportunity to go for an upcoming offensive guru, instead he went backwards.
Benedict needed to hit a homerun with this hire, and instead he bunted for a single.
I really hope that I am wrong but when we stop looking backwards and stop immersing ourselves in the nostalgia of previously having an 8-5 team, viewing the hire through an objective lens shows Edsall is a terrible hire.
He already has started off on the wrong foot by stating he will be splitting his time between Detroit and UConn, great sign for a guy who is really "invested" at UConn. A key recruiting time will begin in a few weeks and he won't even be here full time.
Last year, UConn had only 1 win against an FBS opponent with a winning record, and lost their last 5 games of the season. UConn's 2017 recruiting class was ranked 101st in the country (based on 247), the excuse was that Edsall didn't have the full time to put a good class together, unfortunately UConn's 2018 class is ranked even worse at 105th in the nation. The 2019 class is ranked 136th so far (sure this will rise but probably not above 100th).
Yea the batman signs on his twitter page are cute, but he is not getting it done in recruiting. Last season was a disaster, the only bright spot was the signifiant improvement of our offense, and the OC left after one season with Edsall, if that is not a red flag then I don't know what is.
The point of my post is not to say I told you so, the point is to reiterate how clear it was that Edsall was a terrible hire. I hope that I'll be proved wrong starting this season. My hope is to see a great and winning football product at UConn, the fans and the state deserve nothing less. I hope Edsall can get us to a bowl game this season and turn UConn into a powerhouse program, but it is so obvious that he is not a good football coach. It hurts to have to endure his below-average coaching after going through PP and Diaco.
The goal of this post is to have more fans recognize and acknowledge Edsall is not the right coach, and after another expected terrible season I hope most of the fanbase will put him squarely on the hot seat going into the 2019 season.
Once again I really hope that UConn has a fantastic season. I would love nothing more than for UConn to upset UCF and Boise to start the season (wow that would great!) or even if UConn were to get to a bowl game. However it seems UConn football will not become what it can be (based on great fanbase, best FBS program in northeast, good high school talent in northeast, level of school and state investment in the program) under Edsall.
Below is what I posted soon after Edsall was hired outlining why Edsall was a terrible choice, and all of the points continue to be true, and to an even larger degree, after the 2017 season:
I still strongly believe Edsall is a terrible hire, and much of it has nothing to do with the way he left. I don't care too much about how he left, I care more about how good of a coach he'll be and everything points to him being a below average coach thats on the decline.
Here are the facts:
1) Edsall is a career sub-.500 coach
2) Edsall in 16 years of coaching only has 1 win against a ranked team (1-26 overall record, one of the worst records amongst active coaches)
3) Edsall was a poor recruiter. Based on rivals class rankings here is where UConn ranked from 2007-2011:
- 2007: 68th
-2008: 73rd
-2009: 82nd
-2010: 93rd
-2011: Not even ranked in the top 100
He was a poor recruiter who was getting worse overtime while at UConn.
4) The whole "winningest coach ever at UConn" doesn't mean anything when he's also lost more games than any other coach at UConn
5) Based on his past, his ceiling is producing mediocre teams, and that was in a different era. The power run game will not be as successful in this day and age as it was 10 years ago.
6) Look at who the other AAC schools have hired as coaches. They routinely hire guys who are successful and play an exciting brand of football, so successful that the AAC overall has been coaching factory for top P5 schools. While we continually fire our coaches.
7) Edsall failed during his time at Maryland, and no other school wanted him, except of course UConn.
8) Being better than Diaco should never ever be the standard we should judge a hire on because any person who knows anything about football would be a better coach than Diaco.
So here we are, other schools in the AAC whose AD budgets are no where near as large as ours look to hire coaches that will get their football programs to not only play well but grab national attention while we are enthusiastic about a coach who can possibly get us back to .500 team.
The main reason why I am so disappointed with this hire is because this will cement our football team being behind the likes of UH, Cincy, UCF, USF and even Temple in the next conference realignment talks. We could go no worse than the Diaco era so Benedict had the perfect opportunity to go for an upcoming offensive guru, instead he went backwards.
Benedict needed to hit a homerun with this hire, and instead he bunted for a single.
I really hope that I am wrong but when we stop looking backwards and stop immersing ourselves in the nostalgia of previously having an 8-5 team, viewing the hire through an objective lens shows Edsall is a terrible hire.
He already has started off on the wrong foot by stating he will be splitting his time between Detroit and UConn, great sign for a guy who is really "invested" at UConn. A key recruiting time will begin in a few weeks and he won't even be here full time.
