I still believe Edsall is the wrong coach for UConn

[EdgewoodNHV]

So just to be clear in your motivation, it is your intent to turn the fanbase against the coach, right before the beginning of his season season? I just want to be clear.

What does your endgame look like? The entire crowd is booing, Edall is 0-9, Benedicts fires Edsall, you are raised triumphantly on our shoulders, as we start another rebuild by offering a job to Mike Leach and he's like... "nah."

 

[businesslawyer]

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.

Unbelievably stupid post, then and now. He succeeded here. I don't know what better predictor you can want for whether a coach will be able to succeed here than having already done it. Will he succeed again? Who knows. Maybe he's gotten worse. Maybe the AAC is something he can't overcome. But to have that conversation before the players he brought in are upperclassmen is really, unbelievably, stupid.

 

[CL82]

I also believe Edsall team will not win a AAC championship nor be ranked in the top 25. I hope I am wrong

Is wrong that my short term goal is, to paraphrase Red Pants, for the program not to lay "steamers" on the field every Saturday in the fall.

Top 25? Top 25? Are you kidding me? I'm not even on the same planet with that.

As I wrote in another thread, Randy may not be the right guy to make us a national power (or whatever the high water mark you pick) but he is a solid choice as the guy to stop the hemorrhaging. That's all we are talking about. Stabilize the program and get back to being bowl eligible regularly. If he does that a second time, we ought to build a statue for the guy.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

So just to be clear in your motivation, it is your intent to turn the fanbase against the coach, right before the beginning of his season season? I just want to be clear.

What does your endgame look like? The entire crowd is booing, Edall is 0-9, Benedicts fires Edsall, you are raised triumphantly on our shoulders, as we start another rebuild by offering a job to Mike Leach and he's like... "nah."

That was the part that cracked me up....the objective of his post (according to him) is to get more fans to agree with him that Edsall sucks. It sounds to me like he has this thread bookmarked....and he will be waiting all year to have his "i told you so" moment. Let's predict when he posts again....I say after the UCF and Boise games...."see...I told you he was the wrong choice". Sure they are ranked teams, but he should be beating ranked teams by year 2....lol.

 

[AfgHusky15]

That was the part that cracked me up....the objective of his post (according to him) is to get more fans to agree with him that Edsall sucks. It sounds to me like he has this thread bookmarked....and he will be waiting all year to have his "i told you so" moment. Let's predict when he posts again....I say after the UCF and Boise games...."see...I told you he was the wrong choice". Sure they are ranked teams, but he should be beating ranked teams by year 2....lol.

I would be absolutely ecstatic if UConn upsets either UCF or Boise (I am hoping and cheering for both!). I don’t expect UConn to win either of the games and that’s ok, what would not be ok is for UConn to win 3 games or less again this season.

I would love if Edsall is very successful at UConn. For the sake of UConns future I really hope he is successful, but I think he was an average coach in first stint at UConn and the game has moved passed him to the point he has become a below average coach.

I could care less about an I told you so moment, the Yard ain’t real life (even though some posters treat it as so) and sports in general should not be taken that seriously. All I want is for UConn to turn into a fantastic football program. Other programs in the AAC have been able to do so and there is no reason that UConn can’t do so either.

I just hope UConn does not suffer from 5 years of below-mediocre football. Attendance and interest in UConn football is declining and that is painful to see.

Anywho I will refrain from commenting any further on Edsall, unless it’s positive, for the remainder of the season.

Once again I really hope we come up with a W against eother UCF or Boise, if we don’t its not a season killer, I just hope we can get at least 5 wins. 3 wins or less would be a complete failure.

 

[AfgHusky15]

So just to be clear in your motivation, it is your intent to turn the fanbase against the coach, right before the beginning of his season season? I just want to be clear.

What does your endgame look like? The entire crowd is booing, Edall is 0-9, Benedicts fires Edsall, you are raised triumphantly on our shoulders, as we start another rebuild by offering a job to Mike Leach and he's like... "nah."

Come on man, was your second paragraph really necessary? There is no chance that Edsall gets fired before the end of the 2019 season even if he were to go 0-12 this year.

I just hope, that if we endure two more consecutive bad seasons, enough of the fan base will put the pressure on the AD to find a new coach and not wait out the full length of his 5 year contract. We will need those two years for hopefully an upcoming bright OC to come in and build a winning and exciting brand of football.

Have a good day all.

 

[kemba]

I can't get over the "Well UConn basketball landed one of the most sought after coaches, so why doesn't football just go and do that" comment.

 

[Nextmanup]

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.

The goal of my post is to have more fans recognize and acknowledge why Coach Edsall is the RIGHT coach for this program.. your post is really just an edsall bashing.. so me thinks..

1- you have some personal vendetta against Coach Edsall
2-you were a recruit that wasnt offered by edsall or the staff
3- your a die hard fan of a competing program
4-you emptied your 6 pack, got bored, decided to visit the boneyard and go on a dumping spree on Edsall.

So here are the facts as I see it.

1-the kids have bought into the program this year
2-we are getting better recruits and commits
3- the team has a genuine love for the coach and want to do their best to win games
4-the position coaches are really teaching their groups the fundamentals and correct techniques to win
5-the boys say they can beat UCF or make it a competitive game=positive thinking and attitudes of the players
6-development of each player into respectable adults.. just ask the former players who were coached under Edsall and now are coming back to speak about their time here when he was their coach..

That’s enough for me to believe this year will be better under Coach Edsall and will continue every year from now on.. and that’s why I’m NOT disappointed with our Coach!!

 

[CL82]

I can't get over the "Well UConn basketball landed one of the most sought after coaches, so why doesn't football just go and do that" comment.

'UConn MBB won 4 national championships, why doesn't football win one of those?'

 

[SubbaBub]

I didn't enjoy UConn FB 2016, the first time. Why did this happen?

 

[Husky25]

This lede is from a 2014 Bleacher Report slideshow, but it probably still holds mostly true today.

"Did you know that of the 128 FBS head coaches, only 14—or 11 percent—have a career winning record against Top 25 teams?

Not only do 89 percent of the top level of college coaches have a losing record against ranked opponents, but 51—or 40 percent of the field—have never won a single game against a Top 25 team."

Edsall is absolutely featured under the "Struggling category, however, "What’s worth mentioning is that six of the eight ranked opponents Edsall has faced while at Maryland have been ranked in the Top 10. So it’s not like he has been dropping games to No. 23 NC State or No. 19 Cal. Instead, it’s been No. 8 Florida State, No. 9 Clemson and No. 8 West Virginia."

UConn has hardly ever been among "others receiving votes," let alone been ranked in the top 25 and I dare say that UConn has never been favored vs a top 25 team (their highest rank since returning to the higher tier is 16). So to expect more than the few wins they have is a somewhat arbitrary metric.

UConn's Top 25 losses under Edsall include:
(9) Virginia Tech - 2001
(1) Miami -2002
(5) Virginia Tech 2003
(17) West Virginia-2004
(16) Georgia Tech -2005
(18) West Virginia - 2005
(16) Louisville - 2005
(4) West Virginia - 2006
(16) Rutgers - 2006
(6) Louisville - 2006
(4) West Virginia- 2007
(23) Pittsburgh - 2008
(19) North Carolina - 2009
(22) West Virginia - 2009
(4) Cincinnati 2009
(9) Oklahoma -2010
(14) UCF - 2017

8 of the 17 games listed above were vs top 10 teams, 5 were against the Top 5.

 

[hardcorehusky]

I would be absolutely ecstatic if UConn upsets either UCF or Boise (I am hoping and cheering for both!). I don’t expect UConn to win either of the games and that’s ok, what would not be ok is for UConn to win 3 games or less again this season.

I would love if Edsall is very successful at UConn. For the sake of UConns future I really hope he is successful, but I think he was an average coach in first stint at UConn and the game has moved passed him to the point he has become a below average coach.

I could care less about an I told you so moment, the Yard ain’t real life (even though some posters treat it as so) and sports in general should not be taken that seriously. All I want is for UConn to turn into a fantastic football program. Other programs in the AAC have been able to do so and there is no reason that UConn can’t do so either.

I just hope UConn does not suffer from 5 years of below-mediocre football. Attendance and interest in UConn football is declining and that is painful to see.

Anywho I will refrain from commenting any further on Edsall, unless it’s positive, for the remainder of the season.

Once again I really hope we come up with a W against eother UCF or Boise, if we don’t its not a season killer, I just hope we can get at least 5 wins. 3 wins or less would be a complete failure.

Do you realize he took a 1-AA program to 1-A and made it a consistent winner? Sold out a stadium for years? Sent tons of guys to the NFL? and it all started out of a trailer?

With all that Randy built and when we were still considered competitive, 2 guys came in here and killed it. Destroyed the fan base, recruited 1AA players and almost tanked us for good? What Randy Edsall did his first time around was pretty amazing. And I appreciate much more every time I see 15K at the Rent and wonder where the other 25K went. I appreciate it more when we are getting drubbed by Temple or South Florida, teams we regularly beat or at least were competitive with. Randy was a miracle worker his first time around and even he realized this was the right fit. Maryland wasn't and he might never had gone there had Jeff Hathaway not driven him insane. If Susan had been a little more "tactical" in her admissions priorities.

We are lucky he came back, and AD Benedict has seen that Randy is doing this the right way. His way takes time, but when it jells, it is fun to watch. Top 25 is the last thing anyone is worried about right now. Enjoy the climb from hell, it will be one step forward and two back- but we will rise again to the point that the Rent will be at least 30k and we will be bowling. All under Randy

 

[Adios]

'UConn MBB won 4 national championships, why doesn't football win one of those?'

#savenelson

 

[raf46]

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.

Don't confuse the best out there, for the best we were able to get. UCONN football is not a plumb job. Could be a career killer. Of course I hope that is not the case.

 

[John]

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.

If the ship is going down, I'd rather it go down with HCRE at the helm than some other anonymous schlub.

 

[jimva]

I believe this board needs a breathalyzer, such that no one can post after consuming too much, except after games where the armchair QB commentary is priceless. So, please stop censoring stuff after it is posted, but start screening posters before they post!

I don't agree. So many mornings I wake up, check the board and see all these 1:00, 2:00, 3:00 am posts. Your idea could eliminate my early morning entertainment. Then I would be stuck with Golf Channel or CNBC.

 

[champs99and04]

I thought the OP made some valid observations. Most of the responses have been legitimate as well, and I think a lot of the backlash is a reflection of questioning the bride on the eve of the wedding more so than it is his actual argument. If we had hired a different head coach and he had posted that same record, I bet a lot of people would dismiss the idea that we should have hired Edsall instead.

I'm fine with the job Edsall did last year, but I also find the idea that you can't evaluate a coach until year three to be one of the more tiresome cliches in sports. People pedaled that argument with KO even as conflicting evidence continued to club us over the head - the bottom line is that if you can coach, it's going to be self-evident fairly quickly. That doesn't mean 8-4 right away, but it does mean signs of promise - which he showed.

This year will be a tougher test. The bar is higher and he lost some key players. We have to be able to recognize those challenges without allowing our own impatience - which is warranted - to distort our evaluation.

Beyond that, it's hard for me to comment without knowing who else would have been available. My hunch is that if you're in UConn's position, you want to either aim for a coach that can recruit above his weight class or a guy who has proven to outperform his class ranking. Edsall has shown some signs of being the second guy - couple that with his history here, and the incompetence of the last two coaches, and the hiring has been good enough for me so far.

 

[businesslawyer]

I thought the OP made some valid observations. Most of the responses have been legitimate as well, and I think a lot of the backlash is a reflection of questioning the bride on the eve of the wedding more so than it is his actual argument. If we had hired a different head coach and he had posted that same record, I bet a lot of people would dismiss the idea that we should have hired Edsall instead.

I'm fine with the job Edsall did last year, but I also find the idea that you can't evaluate a coach until year three to be one of the more tiresome cliches in sports. People pedaled that argument with KO even as conflicting evidence continued to club us over the head - the bottom line is that if you can coach, it's going to be self-evident fairly quickly. That doesn't mean 8-4 right away, but it does mean signs of promise - which he showed.

This year will be a tougher test. The bar is higher and he lost some key players. We have to be able to recognize those challenges without allowing our own impatience - which is warranted - to distort our evaluation.

Beyond that, it's hard for me to comment without knowing who else would have been available. My hunch is that if you're in UConn's position, you want to either aim for a coach that can recruit above his weight class or a guy who has proven to outperform his class ranking. Edsall has shown some signs of being the second guy - couple that with his history here, and the incompetence of the last two coaches, and the hiring has been good enough for me so far.

Don't compare basketball. You can repair a basketball team in two classes even if you were left total crap. You can't repair a football team in 2 years if you were left total crap. If you were left good talent and the coaching was the primary problem, then you can. But Edsall was left way below average AAC talent. It is going to take time. It would take Urban Meyer time.

 

[uconndogs]

We lost almost three entire years of recruiting with Diaco. The depth chart on Sunday will make that very clear. Many of us scratched our heads as he brought in "prototype" after "prototype" and feared we had kids who didn't run well. There is little doubt in my mind that is exactly what happened.

The counselor is right. This is not a second year fix to a bowl.

 

[Adios]

At least Diaco's Wikipedia page acknowledges he is the worst UConn head coach since 1920.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Don't compare basketball. You can repair a basketball team in two classes even if you were left total crap. You can't repair a football team in 2 years if you were left total crap. If you were left good talent and the coaching was the primary problem, then you can. But Edsall was left way below average AAC talent. It is going to take time. It would take Urban Meyer time.

That’s why the comparison to UCF’s turnaround isn’t fair. That team had talent, they just quit on O’leary Oh....and they are in Florida...you can get top talent there quickly.

 

[champs99and04]

Don't compare basketball. You can repair a basketball team in two classes even if you were left total crap. You can't repair a football team in 2 years if you were left total crap. If you were left good talent and the coaching was the primary problem, then you can. But Edsall was left way below average AAC talent. It is going to take time. It would take Urban Meyer time.

Not comparing. My point is that there's the objective evaluation and then the subjective one. I think we're all fully aware that he inherited a disaster, which makes more than 3 or 4 wins this season unlikely. But how they play those games is important - under KO, you could tell there were red flags even before they fell off a cliff. In hindsight, the Navy game with Diaco should have been a red flag even though things seemed to point up at that juncture.

It's mostly besides the point since Edsall is going to be here for at least three more years barring a catastrophe, but I think we'll start to get an idea of whether he can bring us back to respectability by the end of this season.

 

[gioff23]

Not comparing. My point is that there's the objective evaluation and then the subjective one. I think we're all fully aware that he inherited a disaster, which makes more than 3 or 4 wins this season unlikely. But how they play those games is important - under KO, you could tell there were red flags even before they fell off a cliff. In hindsight, the Navy game with Diaco should have been a red flag even though things seemed to point up at that juncture.

It's mostly besides the point since Edsall is going to be here for at least three more years barring a catastrophe, but I think we'll start to get an idea of whether he can bring us back to respectability by the end of this season.

Not sure which Navy game you refer to, but it was obvious to all that he lost the team after the Navy game where he blew it at end and then threw everyone else under the bus. I think up until then he actually had the kids fighting for him - that was there wake up call.

 

[CL82]

Not comparing. My point is that there's the objective evaluation and then the subjective one. I think we're all fully aware that he inherited a disaster, which makes more than 3 or 4 wins this season unlikely. But how they play those games is important - under KO, you could tell there were red flags even before they fell off a cliff. In hindsight, the Navy game with Diaco should have been a red flag even though things seemed to point up at that juncture.

It's mostly besides the point since Edsall is going to be here for at least three more years barring a catastrophe, but I think we'll start to get an idea of whether he can bring us back to respectability by the end of this season.

The Navy game still seems like a kick in the nuts. It was a great day up the few minutes of stupidity.

 

[Afroabe224]

This lede is from a 2014 Bleacher Report slideshow, but it probably still holds mostly true today....

(19) North Carolina - 2009
.

...still salty about this loss.

 

[weyuo]

If Randy Edsall isn't the coach, then who should be? A burnout like Coach Paul Pasqualoni? A largely untried person like Bob Diaco? Often, a school like UConn if it is successful will be the target for more successful teams to hire away the coach. Randy knows the community, culture and what needs to be done to turn the program around. I don't think he would be hired away too quickly given his age.

And the fact that he already had his chance to prove he could build a big time D-1 program at Maryland and laid an egg there. This is Edsall's last, best chance and for the state of Connecticut a bargain. Lets see how much he improves this program from trying to cleanup Diaco's mess last year. If they go bowling this year then give the guy a well deserved pat on the back. If they go 3-9.....

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

I don’t post too often anymore (yes I know insert post that says “keep it that way”) and I was not looking forward to making this post because I knew Edsall is still viewed very favorably by most of the Yard. I did so because I thought it was very clear Edsall was not a good choice and yes the 2017 only made my belief stronger.

Your point about UConns choices being limited due to financial considerations at the time is very valid, but I still believe it was a perfect time to hire an up incoming offensive coordinator. Look at the hires made by UCF, UH, and Memphis. Great young hires that turned programs around really quickly. If those schools can find great up in coming offensive coaches then so can UConn.

The fact that you used the phrase "up in coming" says more about you than either post. Thanks for wasting our time for the second time (wondering why your thread was locked?) with your drivel. Seriously. Substance over nonsense. Grammar is not your Grampa's wife.

 

[Alibi Ike]

As a Tennessee football fan I can feel the pain of UCONN fans being in the dumps about their team.

Tennessee has had FIVE head football coaches in ten years. Let that sink in.

 

[champs99and04]

Not sure which Navy game you refer to, but it was obvious to all that he lost the team after the Navy game where he blew it at end and then threw everyone else under the bus. I think up until then he actually had the kids fighting for him - that was there wake up call.

2nd & Goal at NAVY 1
(0:17 - 4th) Ron Johnson run for no gain to the Navy 1

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

As a Tennessee football fan I can feel the pain of UCONN fans being in the dumps about their team.

Tennessee has had FIVE head football coaches in ten years. Let that sink in.

While I appreciate your attempt at empathy....there really is no comparison to where Tennessee is versus UConn. Even in your worst case scenario, you still collect SEC checks in the millions. UConn football program is fighting for its existence.