I still believe Edsall is the wrong coach for UConn

[Chief00]

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.

Agree, he will upgrade the program from the ashes. I have seen young DL’s I haven’t seen in years at UConn and speed registering on the eye test meter during practices this August. These are good signs but only the beginning. UCF, USF, Houston and Memphis will have speed every year - so having some just makes us competitive.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

How did this thread get to 5 pages?

 

[businesslawyer]

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.

Maybe you're more expert than I am, but if players are getting blown off the line of scrimmage because they are opposite players with 2 and 3 more years of college weight training -- or WRs who are unable to get separation because they are just too much slower than the opponents covering them -- most of us aren't going to be able to tell if the schemes would be working if the players were physically talented enough and properly motivated. I'd love to see improvement on defense this year, but this year is not going to tell us much about the direction of the program, other than that we cleaned house and are trying to rebuild it from the ground up. If you seriously aren't patient enough to understand Edsall's goal, and accept it, please just leave those of us who are committed alone for the next two years.

 

[J187Money]

...still salty about this loss.

I think we just had another punt blocked.

 

[Chief00]

I think we just had another punt blocked.

Chief did not see any bucket hats at any of the practices Chief attended - good sign - LOL

 

[huskymedic]

Chief did not see any bucket hats at any of the practices Chief attended - good sign - LOL

Well...

 

[Chief00]

Well...

LOL - I stand corrected - time to panic.

 

[Excalibur]

Good lord this thread makes my eyes hurt, between the OP and a full page of reliving the Diaco disaster . . .

I didn't like bringing back Edsall, but two things were clear even after an awful record last year -- We were more competent than we were under Diaco, and most of the players were buying in. That's an admittedly low bar, but trying to spike the football on your position that he won't succeed here at this point shows a total lack of appreciation for how bad things were. If, in 2-3 years, Edsall can make us a top half team in the AAC, I'd define that as success. It's unclear a this point if he'll be able to do it.

It's not easy to say "I don't know", but some of us really need to try it once in a while . . .

 

[uconndogs]

It's not easy to say "I don't know", but some of us really need to try it once in a while . . .

Why would I say that when I know everything?

 

[Block C]

Agree, he will upgrade the program from the ashes. I have seen young DL’s I haven’t seen in years at UConn and speed registering on the eye test meter during practices this August. These are good signs but only the beginning. UCF, USF, Houston and Memphis will have speed every year - so having some just makes us competitive.

Also those teams are in states that are loaded with recruits that help them

 

[champs99and04]

Maybe you're more expert than I am, but if players are getting blown off the line of scrimmage because they are opposite players with 2 and 3 more years of college weight training -- or WRs who are unable to get separation because they are just too much slower than the opponents covering them -- most of us aren't going to be able to tell if the schemes would be working if the players were physically talented enough and properly motivated. I'd love to see improvement on defense this year, but this year is not going to tell us much about the direction of the program, other than that we cleaned house and are trying to rebuild it from the ground up. If you seriously aren't patient enough to understand Edsall's goal, and accept it, please just leave those of us who are committed alone for the next two years.

You're letting your distaste for the original post cloud your interpretation of my position. I'm certainly not more of an expert than you, but I'd be willing to bet that the folks in Vegas are. Last I checked, UConn was about +125 to win four games.

Does that mean the season is an abject failure if we win one or two games? Certainly not. It's dependent on a whole host of other variables as well.

Keep in mind that, as I've acknowledged, my patience really has nothing to do with it. There's no danger of him - or me - going anywhere if they have a bad season or two.

But that doesn't mean my confidence won't waver based on results. Everyone has a handicap, so while it's true that schemes are tough to evaluate against athletes that outclass us, we still have to draw the line somewhere. We have to ask whether we're on schedule, whether the staff has imparted some discernible vision on the players. That can mean small things - competing during blowouts, adapting to the overloads of information that will be thrown at them, demonstrating good football instincts, etc. These are the checkboxes that will suggest promise, irrespective of how much they can lift or how fast they can run the 40.

 

[LoyalFanCT]

Rather than question if Edsall is the wrong pick, I am concerned about Pindell as QB. I hope I am totally wrong and he excels as the starter.

 

[Scrutineer]

I hope man, it would be awesome to ruin their season and destroy their reputation right off the bat. I wouldn't mind beating boise the week after either lol. You think we would have a shot a getting ranked if we he went 2-0 vs ucf and boise?

Probably make the "also receiving votes" with Syracuse and Rutgers........oh wait.

 

[Madmannsucks]

When RE was brought back, I was not thrilled. Mainly because of the way he left. He did not have highly rated recruiting classes but did a good job of developing great players who were not highly recruited. He has had far more success than any coach in Uconn history. This year I would like to see significant overall improvement. NEXT year for me would be the key. If he doesn't turn the program around by next year, I will agree with your premise.

 

[Slick]

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.

This is just plain stupid to post

 

[gioff23]

This is just plain stupid to post

I do not believe that to be the litmus test for posting. You know what they say about opinions

 

[BlueDogs]

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.

Scott Frost would disagree.

 

[businesslawyer]

Scott Frost would disagree.

BS. Scott Frost did a great job. He inherited football players who were bigger and faster than what Edsall did. College football is not a video game. You can't just take the controller from the loser who had it and start beating everyone on day one if you don't have the players.

 

[jdb50]

Agree with BL. No way we had the horses last year if they had only been coached up differently.

 

[06029]

I was not a fan of the hire but also understand why he was one of the better choices at the time especially after the failure of the Boyle award winner hire before him. While I liked a couple of assistants and FCS coaches a lot, they were too risky and RE was safe and his style is not foreign to the media or the fans. I just wonder how much fire he has left and how long it will last. This is his last job.

Things you know you have with RE:
A staff that will not kill players
A head coach that will not tolerate abusers
A stubborn and traditional approach to how a program should be built and run with very few JuCos
Average recruiting with good growth for at least 35% of the players
No tolerance for players that do not have 100% buy in
No tolerance for players that do not want to be in class

All of that is good. I just don’t know if he can catch lightning in a bottle again. Maybe 7-5 seasons and stability is the goal and the next coach when he retires kicks it up to championship level.

 

[metsfan2323]

Maybe 7-5 seasons and stability is the goal and the next coach when he retires kicks it up to championship level.

No, the goal is to win AAC championships with Randy and he has already laid the foundation for a run at it and he has done it in just 20 months which is nothing short of incredible.

 

[Woof 101]

BS. Scott Frost did a great job. He inherited football players who were bigger and faster than what Edsall did. College football is not a video game. You can't just take the controller from the loser who had it and start beating everyone on day one if you don't have the players.

Agree with BL. No way we had the horses last year if they had only been coached up differently.

The old cupboard left bare syndrome, many of us bought into the hype of the recruits by PP and Wacky Bob. RKG etc, well we have true freshman starting ahead of JRs and seniors on a D1 team. That fact alone should wake most up to what Randy came back to.
RESPECT ( RIP ARETHA ) is on the way but it is not going to come overnight. That pertains to any coach who came here, this mess is not an overnight fix.
No attack on the OP (or bizlaw ) but a street corner lawyer could refute most every stat listed on why Randy was a bad choice. It should also be somewhat considered when posting comments like this who one would prefer for the job also. That and if they were available or interested in the job.

 

[06029]

No, the goal is to win AAC championships with Randy and he has already laid the foundation for a run at it and he has done it in just 20 months which is nothing short of incredible.

Did I fall asleep and it’s 2020? Have there been two winning seasons I missed?

Until this team is on the field against top conference opponents, there is no way to validate the foundation that has been laid. They look great versus each other. They look faster against each other. I expect improvement, but to get to competitive and a winning record is still at least one year away. The early schedule this year is brutal and there is not enough depth right now to withstand more than 1 or 2 missed games by starters. He needs 4 years for a solid foundation.

 

[buddy]

I didn't know there was a Boyle award.

 

[metsfan2323]

Did I fall asleep and it’s 2020?
.

If you believe Travis, and Kevon Jones, along with Krajewski and the other freshmen and redshirt freshmen will compete for an AAC championship in 2020 then that foundation has been laid.

BTW if Travis Jones lives up to the hype he won't be here after 2020, so lets hope that's the year.

Imagine what our front seven on Defense will look like in 2020. They will dominate.