Randy Edsall Says Struggling UConn Football Team Lacks Player Leadership (Putterman)

[huskymedic]

Randy Edsall Says Struggling UConn Football Team Lacks Player Leadership

(Yes, there is a hugh softball floating towards the plate waiting to be smacked w/ that title but...)

>>“When we were really good, we had really good leadership,” he said. “We had guys who were going to make sure that things were taken care of. Right now, it’s too much on us as coaches to try to do it.

“We had leaders here who would get up and go challenge people and say, ‘We’re going to finish this thing and we’re going to get a win. We’re going to take these people, and we’re going to bury them,’” Edsall said. “The Alfred Finchers, the DJ Hernandezes, the Tyler Lorenzens, the Desi Cullens, the Anthony Shermans.”<<

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

This bus never seems to stop at the corner of Randy and Edsall. Amazing.

 

[Exasperated]

He's lost it...and lost them.

 

[J187Money]

Sometimes players need to step up. See Chris Sale the other night. It was clear that the UMASS players wanted it more than our players.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Randy Edsall Says Struggling UConn Football Team Lacks Player Leadership

(Yes, there is a hugh softball floating towards the plate waiting to be smacked w/ that title but...)

>>“When we were really good, we had really good leadership,” he said. “We had guys who were going to make sure that things were taken care of. Right now, it’s too much on us as coaches to try to do it.

“We had leaders here who would get up and go challenge people and say, ‘We’re going to finish this thing and we’re going to get a win. We’re going to take these people, and we’re going to bury them,’” Edsall said. “The Alfred Finchers, the DJ Hernandezes, the Tyler Lorenzens, the Desi Cullens, the Anthony Shermans.”<<

I really wish Randy would shut his mouth.

He went into this season playing a 2-deep roster with something like more than 50% true freshmen on defense, and now he's talking about a lack of player leadership, when the team is the worst defense in college football?

The season is a failure right now. Imagine if we didn't get that last stop against URI. We lost to UMass at home. We're argueably the worst team in all of college football.

Randy would be better to just state that he wanted to set the bar low, to measure success next year - and this is his his SECOND year back.

 

[methodology]

That's why the ex regime players need to filter completely out. If Edsall and staff are recruiting players that fit their profile it will work itself out. Tough for freshman who haven't succeeded to take a leadership role. Experience is the best developmental tool for this team until they get better talent brought into the program

 

[Exit 4]

Randy Edsall Says Struggling UConn Football Team Lacks Player Leadership

(Yes, there is a hugh softball floating towards the plate waiting to be smacked w/ that title but...)

>>“When we were really good, we had really good leadership,” he said. “We had guys who were going to make sure that things were taken care of. Right now, it’s too much on us as coaches to try to do it.

“We had leaders here who would get up and go challenge people and say, ‘We’re going to finish this thing and we’re going to get a win. We’re going to take these people, and we’re going to bury them,’” Edsall said. “The Alfred Finchers, the DJ Hernandezes, the Tyler Lorenzens, the Desi Cullens, the Anthony Shermans.”<<

Someone take the mic from Randy. You can't keep talking about the glory days and what worked last time and how these kids aren't those kids. You have beat that to death in public. God, the real problem here is you yourself have miss fired on a few too many of your own recruits thus far. You didn't get the DJ Hernandezes, the Tyler Lorenzens, the Desi Cullens, the Anthony Shermans of the world. I acknowledge its early yet, too early to fully judge, but you can't like the early results.

And as hot as I am about the results, I think it would be more destructive to pull the plug on Randy until he gets his full squad on the field in 2019. Krajewski (or Washington), Black in the backfield, a revamped LB corp and a more seasoned DL line.

The clock on Randy started here with this UMass game.

 

[Dooley]

I'm beyond tired of the excuse wagon. We don't have leaders because we don't have upperclassmen because they've been run out of the program because we want to play Edsall's recruits. STOP MAKING EXCUSES THAT ARE 100% YOUR DECISION, COACH.

Coach games to try to win that game. Coach Edsall owes that much to the kids still in the program. You can't turtle a game away to friggin' UMass because it's raining. Inexcusable.

 

[Exasperated]

That's why the ex regime players need to filter completely out. If Edsall and staff are recruiting players that fit their profile it will work itself out. Tough for freshman who haven't succeeded to take a leadership role. Experience is the best developmental tool for this team until they get better talent brought into the program

The ones who have remained have bought in and are committed to making a difference - despite the blame game. You don't expect the freshmen to show leadership - you expect them to respect and respond. They don't and won't with articles like this.

 

[businesslawyer]

Randy Edsall Says Struggling UConn Football Team Lacks Player Leadership

(Yes, there is a hugh softball floating towards the plate waiting to be smacked w/ that title but...)

>>“When we were really good, we had really good leadership,” he said. “We had guys who were going to make sure that things were taken care of. Right now, it’s too much on us as coaches to try to do it.

“We had leaders here who would get up and go challenge people and say, ‘We’re going to finish this thing and we’re going to get a win. We’re going to take these people, and we’re going to bury them,’” Edsall said. “The Alfred Finchers, the DJ Hernandezes, the Tyler Lorenzens, the Desi Cullens, the Anthony Shermans.”<<

Edsall is who he is. He is too free to tell us about what others aren't getting done and for those who care what coaches say he will always be hard to listen to after losses.

That having been said, I don't doubt the truth of his point. The name I'd have on that list that he left off was Dan Davis (aka the Beast). Remember Davis yelling at the locker room on our way to the bowl in Charlotte after we beat Louisville in the false fair catch game? Shown on ESPN until games started the next day? Teams who have leaders like that that they believe in win games like Saturday. Fair to criticize the decision to put our passing game in a safe and lock it up before kickoff, but also true that even with that decision the game was more than winnable. We just didn't take care of business on the field in the 4th Q the way UMass did.

 

[businesslawyer]

I'm beyond tired of the excuse wagon. We don't have leaders because we don't have upperclassmen because they've been run out of the program because we want to play Edsall's recruits. STOP MAKING EXCUSES THAT ARE 100% YOUR DECISION, COACH.

Coach games to try to win that game. Coach Edsall owes that much to the kids still in the program. You can't turtle a game away to friggin' UMass because it's raining. Inexcusable.

We led the game for over 50 minutes. There is a difference between being wrong as to a strategy -- perfectly fair criticism -- and pretending that the bad strategy call made the game unwinnable. That game was perfectly winnable without being able to throw the ball downfield.

 

[Dooley]

We led the game for over 50 minutes. There is a difference between being wrong as to a strategy -- perfectly fair criticism -- and pretending that the bad strategy call made the game unwinnable. That game was perfectly winnable without being able to throw the ball downfield.

I didn't agree with the strategy but I do agree with you, the game was definitely winnable regardless of our predictable and way too cautious approach. I think Randy was out coached in every facet of the game though, not just strategy. Whipple had his team ready to go, emotionally invested for 60 minutes (even when losing) and playing their guts out all afternoon. Some of that falls on our players too - you have to be able to be self-motivated at this level. And the timeout at the end of the game because of defensive sub confusion falls squarely on the coaching staff.

I admit that I did feel good for Bryce McAllister after a few plays. He came off the field after a few tackles and must've felt like the King of the Rent. Really seemed like their defense rallied around him. A great example of leadership that Edsall is talking about.

 

[huskymedic]

We don't have leaders because we don't have upperclassmen because they've been run out of the program because we want to play Edsall's recruits.

Help me out here... what upperclassmen leaders has RE run out of the program? I’m struggling for names. Maybe McAllister because had eligibility left?

 

[Dooley]

Help me out here... what upperclassmen leaders has RE run out of the program? I’m struggling for names.

Look at our roster construct. We're far more weighted with FR/SO than experienced upperclassmen. I understand the reasoning - Randy wants to get "his" recruits playing time and experience. But he can't cry foul when he has more lower classmen than upper classmen when it's his decision to play mostly FR, RS FR, and SO.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Randy being so insistent on living in the world of UConn 15 years ago is going to be what dooms him to failure this time around. He can't wrap around his head the fact that none of these players care about Alfred Fincher or the 2007 UConn Huskies. It's 2018 and it's time to stop waxing poetic over something that is long, long gone. The world has changed, and Randy must change as well. He's grasping at the glory days, and that's never a good look. Good coaches will create a present that is worthy of discussion rather than constantly harkening back to times past.

 

[huskymedic]

Look at our roster construct. We're far more weighted with FR/SO than experienced upperclassmen. I understand the reasoning - Randy wants to get "his" recruits playing time and experience. But he can't cry foul when he has more lower classmen than upper classmen when it's his decision to play mostly FR, RS FR, and SO.

You were talking about no upperclassmen leaders because he ran them out of the program - I didnt take that to mean who he’s playing each week. I was trying to come up w/ names who were arguably leaders and had eligibility left that are no longer here since 2017.

 

[Carl Spackler]

You were talking about no upperclassmen leaders because he ran them out of the program - I didnt take that to mean who he’s playing each week. I was trying to come up s/ names who were leaders and had eligibility left that are no longer here since 2017.

I remarked earlier in this season that I was shocked to see the roster makeup, and in a way, glad that I hadn't been following as closely because it would just tick me off.

I don't have a problem with Randy recognizing that there is a lack of team leadership right now. It's patently obvious that there is a lack of team leadership, and most people with any knowledge of football could have easily predicted, that with a weekly 2-deep roster playing a nauseating amount of true freshmen in September, that in late October, there would still be a lack of team leadership from players.

I mean, Randy should really shut up and just teach blocking and tackling and game planning. It's not like there was team leadership from players in September, that somehow has been lost now in October.

Leave the questions about plans for the future, to the people that matter in such things. The President, the BOT, the provost and Athletic Director.

Because we have a problem. I've stated it clearly many times today already.

 

[HobokenHusky]

This guy is truly insufferable. Never liked him as a person even when we were winning, and completely lost respect for him after Fiesta Bowl. Of course he claimed to have been humbled and changed by Maryland firing, but it was lip service. Has no problem demanding loyalty and accountability from everyone but himself. Guy is a defensive coach trotting out the worst defense in division 1.

I don't care "whos players" they are - he took a job, and it's his job to coach them. If he can't get through to them, then that's on him. Adapt.

 

[Dooley]

You were talking about no upperclassmen leaders because he ran them out of the program - I didnt take that to mean who he’s playing each week. I was trying to come up s/ names who were leaders and had eligibility left that are no longer here since 2017.

If you were a JR/SR with only 1 or 2 years of eligibility left, would you stay and watch FR play from the sidelines? I wouldn't. I would transfer out like McAllister did to a place where I feel like I can play. The UMass sideline looked like they were playing hard for him on Saturday.

Again, I have no problem with playing as many FR/SO as we do. But Edsall can't complain about lack of leadership when he does. The two don't go hand in hand. Most leaders at the collegiate level are upper classmen. When we play as many FR/SO as we do, the upper class leaders won't emerge for another 3-4 years. If there aren't any leaders in 2021 from the group getting the majority of playing time today, then we have a problem and Edsall can wail about it to some extent.

 

[Waquoit]

HCRE showed no leadership last Saturday. It's insulting that he picked this week to demand it from his players.

 

[Exasperated]

I would presume that the older guys who haven't left remain for a number of reasons, among them: personal pride, a no-quit attitude, commitment to the program, honoring their scholarship contract, relationships with their team mates and other friends, an enjoyable college life away from the football field, the value of a UConn diploma, and the ability to tap into the vast alumni network to help with the job search. Seems to me that these are many of the qualities you would expect from any leader - college age or otherwise.

 

[Husky68]

To quote (sort of) HCRE2.0: "Don't pick on coaches and players, it's all on me". Leadership starts with the Head Coach. Are 20 games into HCRE2.0 era, when are the issues going to be on him? He picked the council leaders (rather than captains), he sets the internal communication standards, he picks who plays, etc.
He thinks Pindell's hands are too small to pass in rain, Pindell (per what he said) doesn't think he has problem throwing in rain. Did HCRE2.0 and/or Dunn talk game plan with Pindell before game telling him "if it rains we are going almost exclusively with the run, what do you think?"; if not and got results of Saturday how much leadership/buy in does HCRE2.0 expect. Avoid pass for almost 57 minutes and then panic, low % pass play call when a cool head and 1st downs are needed.

 

[businesslawyer]

Randy being so insistent on living in the world of UConn 15 years ago is going to be what dooms him to failure this time around. He can't wrap around his head the fact that none of these players care about Alfred Fincher or the 2007 UConn Huskies. It's 2018 and it's time to stop waxing poetic over something that is long, long gone. The world has changed, and Randy must change as well. He's grasping at the glory days, and that's never a good look. Good coaches will create a present that is worthy of discussion rather than constantly harkening back to times past.

Time will tell on your point, but that certainly is possible. Frankly, one can look back at P's two plus years and draw the same conclusion -- that he failed because he thought what worked at one point at Syracuse was the recipe for his job at UConn.

 

[huskysupporter]

If you were a JR/SR with only 1 or 2 years of eligibility left, would you stay and watch FR play from the sidelines? I wouldn't. I would transfer out like McAllister did to a place where I feel like I can play. The UMass sideline looked like they were playing hard for him on Saturday.

Again, I have no problem with playing as many FR/SO as we do. But Edsall can't complain about lack of leadership when he does. The two don't go hand in hand. Most leaders at the collegiate level are upper classmen. When we play as many FR/SO as we do, the upper class leaders won't emerge for another 3-4 years. If there aren't any leaders in 2021 from the group getting the majority of playing time today, then we have a problem and Edsall can wail about it to some extent.

This is fair.

 

[huskysupporter]

I am just of the position that HCRE should be judged on his recruits. Is year 3 of the regime early? Probably, but he needs to show some results next year. Year 4 of Edsall recruits will be most telling is version 2.0 was just as good as 1.0.

One thing is absolutely certain - there are still a ton of talent holes on defense. Specifically linebacker and secondary. I have never seen a line backing corps insistently fail to get off blocks, until watching this team. It’s pretty horrifying. I do not see instincts, almost like their feet are in cement. By the time they start moving there is already an o lineman engulfing them. And the secondary in addition to a lack of talent, has shown a lack of effort. And the lack of effort is not on the players, it’s on the coaches. If someone is standing around waiting for someone else to make a tackle, then that player needs to stand on the sideline. I don’t care what the depth situation is. Losing by 40 doesn’t sting any less than losing by 30. Start teaching some lessons.