Reading the SU board

[sdhusky]

What word do you use to describe what Edsall did at UCONN? Outstanding? Extraordinary? I think you are splitting hairs in this post as to what qualifys as exceptional. To change a program the way he did in such a short amount of time, imo, cannot be called just average.

As to the reason he was passed over for so many other jobs is some of the criticisms that most people on this board have. 1. He never seemed to compete with big time programs for recruits. 2. He never really developed a qb after Dan. 3. The simpleness of his offense. 4. His bend dont break defense. I think many, like myself believed that these attributes showed he had a ceiling on how far he could take a program. I think PP has already shown a better job doing these things and is the reason so many folks here are excited for what lies in store for UCONN football.

The best you can say about Edsall is that he didn't suck. He could have been Terry Shea or GROB. He wasn't. He walked into a program that was in the process of spending $100 million upgrading to div I and didn't suck. Even after having the facilities built and being in a BCS conference, he never finished higher than 35, he was the epitome of mediocre.

 

[whaler11]

The best you can say about Edsall is that he didn't suck. He could have been Terry Shea or GROB. He wasn't. He walked into a program that was in the process of spending $100 million upgrading to div I and didn't suck. Even after having the facilities built and being in a BCS conference, he never finished higher than 35, he was the epitome of mediocre.

Yes there is no middle ground between Edsall, Shea and Robinson. 4 straight bowls including a BCS game is not really better than 1-10 every year.

 

[CTMike]

I know that duck gets automatically translated "fecundity"... can we set up some way that when someone types "Edsall" they get an automatic 24 hour ban from the Boneyard?

 

[Carl Spackler]

.....a mediocre Yankee Conference (fine, Colonial) team......


I think there's a Big East conference head coach in Florida, and a whole bunch of football coaches around the country, some in the NFL now, some in college at division 1-A, and a whole bunch of players that might take offense to that little piece of this 6 page ridiculousness.

The 1994 recruiting class has the third highest 5 year winning percentage in the 113 year history of uconn football, (behind 1986 #1, and 2007 (#2).....but that mediocre yankee conference program......still owns title to the only 10 win season in history so far. I read somewhere that Blidi has said that the goal now, is to be the first UConn program to win the big east title outright. Awesome goal......got to work for it though.....92 days until college football season starts.


ok.....back to the ridiculousness.

 

[sdhusky]

Yes there is no middle ground between Edsall, Shea and Robinson. 4 straight bowls including a BCS game is not really better than 1-10 every year.

he got to the BCS game, yes. But UCONN was no where near the calibre of a typical BCS team. they went in because the BE sucked just like winning the southwestern conference doesn't make you one of the top 64 NCAA BB teams, but you get to play.

When I hear BCS, I think top 10 type team. That team was more like top 35. BIG difference. Edsall's summit was top 35. Not impressed. But you are right, its better than GROB.

Did Edsall do something amazing? How about Schianno? How about USF? or UCF? or Temple last year? Programs get turned from terrible into mediocre all the time. Big deal.

 

[uconndogs]

We were not terrible, we we NOT in BCS. The programs you reference we're all playing at that level for years (except for USF) and we have outperformed all of them. If you are waiting for PP to take us to a top 10 program on a consistant basis any time soon you are going to be one very unhappy fan.

 

[Pudge]

Did Edsall do something amazing? How about Schianno? How about USF? or UCF? or Temple last year? Programs get turned from terrible into mediocre all the time. Big deal.[/quote]

Then ... with ALL due respect ... I have to say that YOU lack the capacity to understand what Edsall accomplished. I think many of us in the Northeast remember where UConn football was. Edsall did a great job. And, that is also coming from a mutual view that WE got to be a fairly regular top 35/40 Program. We weren't terrible; we were NOWHERE. No recruiting base. Little facilities. No real fanbase. No support. We are talking the building of a complete Infrastructure. Is there like-Program building? Sure (USF ... maybe UCF ... Boise ... NOT RU (different circumstance entirely ... and I am not saying it was easier))

I suppose in your world these things are easy. They aren't. And, I end this with the same stance as others here: We have thankfully moved beyond Edsall to someone with a different set of priorities. Unlike our Observer friend, I see things PP is doing & like what is going on.

 

[CTMike]

*hitting myself for jumping in to this, but oh well*
Sorry, SD - if your goal was Top 10's, or even regular Top 25's, in the timeframe that Edsall (dammit, I just banned myself) had, with the tools that he had - you are smoking some good ish and I'd like a hit. Edsall did a REALLY good job of maximizing the talent on hand, and you don't go from D-II talent to D-I Top 25 talent overnight. There are barely a handful of coaches who would have gotten similar results, all other things being equal. That doesn't make him perfect, or a saint, but he got us farther, and in a shorter amount of time, than almost ANYONE thought was possible when this journey started. To think otherwise is revisionist history. It's much more ridiculous that we didn't flounder.

To ignore where this thing started and immediately start comparing him to every other established program/coach makes zero sense. This was a building project, and He Who Shall Not Be Named built us one fine foundation. We're ready for our next step forward.

Now let's drop this stupid topic.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Few look at a nice house being built and say hey, that a great foundation!

 

[CTMike]

Few look at a nice house being built and say hey, that a great foundation!

 

[Carl Spackler]

[/quote]Then ... with ALL due respect ... I have to say that YOU lack the capacity to understand what Edsall accomplished. I think many of us in the Northeast remember where UConn football was. Edsall did a great job. And, that is also coming from a mutual view that WE got to be a fairly regular top 35/40 Program. We weren't terrible; we were NOWHERE. No recruiting base. Little facilities. No real fanbase. No support. We are talking the building of a complete Infrastructure. Is there like-Program building? Sure (USF ... maybe UCF ... Boise ... NOT RU (different circumstance entirely ... and I am not saying it was easier))

I suppose in your world these things are easy. They aren't. And, I end this with the same stance as others here: We have thankfully moved beyond Edsall to someone with a different set of priorities. Unlike our Observer friend, I see things PP is doing & like what is going on.[/quote]


i agree with most of that, well all of it after the first sentence. The core ticket buying fan base was less than 20,000 people. Significantly less. Facilities made single A baseball look good. When the name that shall result in banning for 24 hours was hired. But to say that the name that shall result in banning for 24 hours accomplished all of that 'infrastructure' change? Nope. I disagree. He had quite a bit of input into the design and architecture of the current facilities. He implemented a plan to build a football program that had his team 9-24 in 3 years....the WORST three year stretch of uconn football since the early 1970 - let that sink in for a second, the guy had the worst 3 year stretch to start his career at uconn - in almost 40 years now, and not ONCE was in danger of losing his job......BECAUSE of all the other stuff that was happening around the football program that he had nothing to do with.....that by 2003....would hand him the hard products that are just now in the past year and a half......being displayed the way it should be and used the way they should be.....in the college football world.

 

[UConnDan97]

Few look at a nice house being built and say hey, that a great foundation!

...until the foundation cracks and they head to the Home Depot to figure out what a "sump pump" is...

 

[sdhusky]

There are barely a handful of coaches who would have gotten similar results, all other things being equal.
Now let's drop this stupid topic.

I don't know. Did UCONN do so much better than USF or UCF or Rutgers or Temple or Navy? They all started from terrible places and had nowhere near the facilities that Edsall got.

I just don't see it. He wasn't a disaster, but I don't think he was special.

 

[jrazz12]

I don't know. Did UCONN do so much better than USF or UCF or Rutgers or Temple or Navy? They all started from terrible places and had nowhere near the facilities that Edsall got.

I just don't see it. He wasn't a disaster, but I don't think he was special.

Are you sure you're a UConn fan?

ALSO, someone please shoot this thread in the head

 

[CTMike]

I don't know. Did UCONN do so much better than USF or UCF or Rutgers or Temple or Navy? They all started from terrible places and had nowhere near the facilities that Edsall got.

I just don't see it. He wasn't a disaster, but I don't think he was special.

USF is a nice story. Comparable bowl wise, but no championships yet. Play it down all you want, but we do have that. We absolutely have grown more in a similar amount of time.
UCF barely registers, but I wish them well.. 2 CUSA championships... I'd argue that our shares of the Big East championships were more significant.
Rutgers is a 143 year train wreck, but kudos for Schiano for getting them respectable again. They are in our peer group, but there is no debating that we have accomplished WAY more in WAY less time than they ever have. And they know it.

Basically, same with Temple and Navy. Not that these teams haven't had some measure of success lately, and good on them. But I'd rather have UConn's last 10 years than any of them.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Did Edsall do something amazing? How about Schianno? How about USF? or UCF? or Temple last year? Programs get turned from terrible into mediocre all the time. Big deal.

Then ... with ALL due respect ... I have to say that YOU lack the capacity to understand what Edsall accomplished. I think many of us in the Northeast remember where UConn football was. Edsall did a great job. And, that is also coming from a mutual view that WE got to be a fairly regular top 35/40 Program. We weren't terrible; we were NOWHERE. No recruiting base. Little facilities. No real fanbase. No support. We are talking the building of a complete Infrastructure. Is there like-Program building? Sure (USF ... maybe UCF ... Boise ... NOT RU (different circumstance entirely ... and I am not saying it was easier))

I suppose in your world these things are easy. They aren't. And, I end this with the same stance as others here: We have thankfully moved beyond Edsall to someone with a different set of priorities. Unlike our Observer friend, I see things PP is doing & like what is going on.[/quote]

To even pretend that UConn and Boise are alike in their program building is absurd. Boise consistently wins 11+ games a year, and is ranked in the top 10 almost all the time. When they play the big "boys", they usually beat them.

UConn hasn't been close to being as successful as Boise.

Not to mention, Boise State was a former community college in Idaho with basically no substantial recruiting base. When Edsall took over UConn was already a national brand athletically because of basketball.

Other than that, I agree with your post completely.

 

[Nostical]

Most Boise St players would never be accepted as students at UConn. If UConn could recruit the same caliber of student, we could win 10 games too.

 

[sdhusky]

Are you making my argument? The jobs done at RU and Temple and USF and UCF are comparable to what Edsall did. Come on, top 35 is really good enough for heaps of praise?

I can understand appreciating he didn't kill the program before it started. But that's it. He didn't suck.

 

[UConnDan97]

Umm....yes, actually, people would want to go to study psychology at Harvard because they have a great Law school. So it is not "beyond stupid." It is about name recognition! The chances are very good that if Harvard has a great law school, that their psychology degree brand name would also be worth a great deal, even if their psychology department is not well known (I don't know if it is or isn't, but maybe that in and of itself supports my point....the high probability that it is a great program even though I don't know anything about it). If a kid gets a visit from RichRod from Arizona to play football, you don't think that it matters any that the team has built their name recognition through basketball?? How about a visit from Kansas? You don't think they get any name-value from basketball either.

In my opinion, it is "beyond stupid" to believe that the concept of name recognition doesn't matter. In almost every aspect of life, it DOES MATTER!

 

[UConnDan97]

Are you making my argument? The jobs done at RU and Temple and USF and UCF are comparable to what Edsall did. Come on, top 35 is really good enough for heaps of praise?

I can understand appreciating he didn't kill the program before it started. But that's it. He didn't suck.

In order to be "fair and balanced", yes, being top 35 IS REALLY GOOD ENOUGH FOR HEAPS OF PRAISE! That means that you are in the top third of all of FBS football. That means that you are better than half of all the BCS conference football teams. So yeah, for a team that is a little more than 10 years old at the FBS level to be better than half of the other BCS teams, that is worthy of praise.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I can guarantee you that every single kid that UConn has recruited knows who UConn is. At the start, that was due to basketball. It's all about name recognition. Herbsteit and Rece Davis even said the same thing last year on ESPNU. UConn has a step up on all of the new Big East schools because the school is very well known, mostly due to basketball.

 

[Hoophound]

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