I still strongly believe Edsall is a terrible hire

[UConnfan4ever]

I just don't understand the need to post this negativity. Is so you can say I told you so if it does't work out. I mean really help me out here let me know what is your motivation. I'm not sure how I feel about this hire but I bleed blue and will always remain optimistic.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

On this point I disagree. RE had us headed in the right direction to be positioned well for CR when he left. Of course there were so many other factors out of UConn's control that led to us being where we are now, but had RE stayed and we continued on as a solid 8-9 win team who regularly went to and won bowl games, there's a very strong argument to be made that we'd get in to the ACC over UL or even get into the B1G over RU. We wouldn't have gotten in when Pitt and SU left, but when UL got the lifeboat, we were coming off consecutive 5-win seasons and trending entirely in the wrong direction, making it a lot easier for Clemson and FSU to override the North Carolina basketball schools who wanted us instead.

Completely agree.

The "ceiling" narrative is just so damn lazy and is based off of what? That we reached out apex and then went downhill after the guy everyone says had a ceiling left?

If the Big East hadn't folded, there is no doubt in my mind that with Edsall in charge the ceiling was being consistently one of the best, if not the best team among Boston College, Rutgers, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, USF, UCF, Maryland, UNC, NC State, UVA, Duke and Wake Forest.

Hell, the only ceiling I think we had was consistently being able to beat West Virginia or being on the level of a Virginia Tech and Penn State.

From New England to North Carolina, being one of the better Big East/ACC and being a top 30 program was not out of the question.

We are never going to be Penn State, Ohio State or Michigan, but I don't see how there was this mythical ceiling that could never be broken, considering his last two years, we probably would win the majority of our games against the teams above and were fringe top 30 teams.

We'll see how Edsall does in the AAC, but again, his job is to compete for conference titles. He's won them before and he can do it again.

 

[uconnbill]

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.

He was 59-40 after his first four years at UConn.


He put 25 players in the NFL. Maybe his recruiting was great on the pay sites but it was better than many other schools that have been playing big time ball for a number of years.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

He was 59-40 after his first four years at UConn.


He put 25 players in the NFL. Maybe his recruiting was great on the pay sites but it was better than many other schools that have been playing big time ball for a number of years.

Bingo. Not to mention recruiting is only half the game. Once those kids get there they have to be coached how to play the game at the collegiate level and eventually at the pro level. Randy proved repeatedly that he could coach kids to play well and more than a few well enough to play in the NFL. Yes, he wasn't bringing in top 100 players, but at UConn at that time (and now) that's not expected.

We need a guy here now who can coach kids to play hard, play well, develop, and most importantly return UConn to respectability. We can argue all we want whether someone else would've been able to do that and whether that guy would've had a higher "ceiling" than Edsall, but all of those candidates would've been high-risk gambles. Edsall's track record proves he can do those things, and is as close to a sure bet as there is that he can succeed in those four points.

With potentially the absolute last round of CR coming up in the early part of the 2020s, it's absolutely essential that the program doesn't implode under a THIRD straight coach, thus not gambling on an unproven coordinator or an FCS coach when there's a proven commodity who can walk in on day one and begin righting the ship is fine with me. Edsall is a necessary bandage for the program, he's probably not the solution for the next 15-20 years and not the guy who would be establishing us as the premiere program north of the Mason-Dixon line, but he's the guy who can position us to move into that role down the line.

 

[The Funster]

I don't think Edsall is going to take UConn to dizzying heights. But his emotional ties to UConn football will steady the sinking ship and build a platform for future success. I think he'll be here until he's ready to retire and we'll all celebrate what he did for UConn football.

 

[Adios]

Football drives the bus, other schools seem to understand that and look to hire coaches who will be homeruns. I absolutely believe that UConn should be on top of the list of expansion candidates, but the recurring theme was UConn's football did not offer what the other AAC school's football programs offered. We can't tell the P5 conferences "hey the other schools are racking up 9,10 win seasons and getting top 25 votes but at least we are consistently mediocre"

Yeah, that's why we were high on the Big 12's list. Football.

 

[warbler1055]

To the OP, everybody is entitled to their opinion. Why don't you give it a rest and let the future prove you right or wrong. I personally think that RE is absolutely the right hire at this time for UConn for the many reasons already posted. If you did not see or understand those reasons then we need to agree to disagree.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

AfgHusky15, good post. I think time will prove you correct.

 

[Excalibur]

If the choice was between Bob and Randy -- which I think it was as there was no actual "search" done -- I'll take Randy. I don't get the circle jerk going on here, but to each his own . . .

 

[BNich]

How do we get this thread deleted?

 

[hardcorehusky]

Can those who don't like this hire because Randy isn't a WOW hire please give us the names of who would have WOWed you? Then, as you post it, let us know what were the chances they would come here and what was the % of becoming a WOW and then how long do you think they would stay here?

For example,

Les Miles 80%, 2 years

This way we can see what you are thinking.

 

[whaler11]

I don't think the OP is unfair but...

The money came from someone who wanted Edsall. There aren't exactly a bunch of slam dunk candidates interested in the job (there are literally none).

You can't get to the top til you get to the middle.

 

[gars44]

Can those who don't like this hire because Randy isn't a WOW hire please give us the names of who would have WOWed you? Then, as you post it, let us know what were the chances they would come here and what was the % of becoming a WOW and then how long do you think they would stay here?

For example,

Les Miles 80%, 2 years

This way we can see what you are thinking.

I can't do that because I'm just not that knowledgeable about the business of football and available candidates. So I can't speak to that. But, your post accurately addresses the structural issues facing Uconn football. I can't speak for DB. I don't know who he contacted, or what his "feelers" were telling him. He made a decision; we live with it as always. However, it would have been a pleasant surprise to hear the selection was someone other than a virtual outcast in the coaching profession, now an "adviser" to a pro team in a made-for job, who had been unceremoniously thrown overboard by his last gig midseason, and who quite literally has no where else to go. Like "Officer and a Gentleman" level "no where else to go." As much as it sounds the opposite, I come not to bury Randy Edsall. I don't mean to disparage him. I don't. All I'm saying is it would have been "pleasant" to hear something different. Pleasant.

 

[whaler11]

Like "Officer and a Gentleman" level

This would have killed on the women's BB board.

 

[GiladKatzDeli]

Great win Geno had last night.

Maybe we should just have Geno coach all of the teams. Could solve some problems.

 

[gars44]

This would have killed on the women's BB board.

That got me laughing! LOL. btw, I never go on the women's board, I promise. But I have to admit I love that movie. . .. . .

 

[whaler11]

That got me laughing! LOL. btw, I never go on the women's board, I promise. But I have to admit I love that movie. . .. . .

It pretty likely most people here didn't even understand the Simpsons version.

 

[Dove]

This would have killed on the women's BB board.

 

[BlueDogs]

You have no idea how far we are from where we were do you. We were a highly competitive football program by 2009. That's light speed as we are learning after the fact with 6 years of continual decline. 2 coaches couldn't sustain or recover to a level anywhere near the level of play we had when he left. In retrospect, we were gluttons of our own success and many (me included) wanted even better. We were a hair's breadth from being a top 25-30 team on a consistent basis if we had continued the trajectory. I'd kill to be anywhere near that conversation.

 

[jpm25]

Love the career sub .500 coach line, especially considering it's false when you take out his Yankee Conference years and the pre-Rentschler transitional years. Heck, if you include the last two transitional years, one of which was at Memorial, it's even more wrong.

oh, Jesus

Yes, take out all of the losses that for some reason don't count. But then let's take out the FCS wins. But then should we count the FCS losses as double? And then let's divide the ranked team losses by 1.5x, because he was in trailers! and then let's multiply the ranked team wins, I mean win, by 5x, because he was in trailers!

Apologista in overdrive. You have gone off the deep end.

 

[Woof 101]

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.

So

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.

So who do you have genius? Taking in the total picture of the UConn situation what would you have come up with better? As for the last sentence you really dropped the ball. Randy will be finishing up with the Detroit game on Sunday and that will conclude his position there. He has already hit the ground running here.

 

[weyuo]

So who do you have genius? Taking in the total picture of the UConn situation what would you have come up with better? As for the last sentence you really dropped the ball. Randy will be finishing up with the Detroit game on Sunday and that will conclude his position there. He has already hit the ground running here.

Your saying even if the Lions make the playoffs Edsall's last day with Detroit is Sunday? I didn't see that anywhere. Hoping that it's true though.

 

[jpm25]

So who do you have genius? Taking in the total picture of the UConn situation what would you have come up with better? As for the last sentence you really dropped the ball. Randy will be finishing up with the Detroit game on Sunday and that will conclude his position there. He has already hit the ground running here.

fact check

 

[hjoerring]

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.

Perhaps the President has thrown in the towel. He is not going to get a free hand in lessening the recruitment standard he once cried over, so we will see. Who knows, the AD may have also punched his ticket as Warde did before him. That being said, it's clear that both the coach and school are in the same black hole at this time in their history: the past shines brighter than the future. Personally, I think the AD has asked for time by punting because the President told him-- 3 years and we are DONE.

 

[Devland]

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.

I think there were two options here. One option was to keep Diaco because at this point UConn could not afford his buyout plus the $2 million a year minimum to hire the P-5 level coach not named Randy Edsall. The other option was to fire Diaco and hire Edsall relatively cheap at one million a year with the hope of returning the program to the level it was at when he left. To me it was an easy choice. I think David Benedict was in a position where he had a coach he wanted to fire but was unable to do so for financial reasons. He went out and found a solution. Props to David Benedict.