Thursday, January 6, 2011

Washington Post column - In Randy Edsall, Maryland takes safe route; will it also be scenic?

The following is an article for The Washington Post ----------

After spending two weeks getting through the embarrassing way Ralph Friedgen was kicked to the curb, Maryland football fans braced themselves for his replacement to be named and were greeted by . . . Randy Edsall.

Randy Edsall?

No one is saying Edsall can't coach. Clearly he can. As Maryland Athletic Director Kevin Anderson said in his introductory remarks, Edsall took what was a division I-AA program and built a solid, consistent winner at Connecticut. He graduated a majority of his players and he took U-Conn. to a BCS game (where it got blown out) this season.

Edsall is a solid, safe hire someone who should be successful, given the good players Maryland has.

But is his resume much different than Friedgen's? Edsall is just about everything Friedgen was except for being 11 years younger and considerably trimmer. He's not going to sell tickets with his personality no matter how many Terrapin Clubs across the state he speaks to, and he probably has a lot of players wondering what Life After Fridge is going to be like after he ordered them to take off their caps and do-rags in their first meeting Sunday night.

Maybe Anderson got confused and thought he was back at Army when he hired Edsall. There is no do-rag issue there.

Click here for the rest of the column: In Randy Edsall, Maryland takes safe route; will it also be scenic?

3 comments:

bstraub said...

Hey John. Agree with you on almost everything -- including the Mets -- but I think you pulled your punches on Kevin Anderson today. Edsall is a very good coach but the man he replaced was a Maryland grad who returned to his alma mater during troubled times and stayed out of loyalty. As far as abilities, there is little if any difference between Friedgen and Edsall. There's no reason to believe Edsall is going to draw the crowds that Fridge couldn't. Anderson committed a grave disservice to an honored and loyal alumnus for absolutely no reason.

Momus said...

Instead of hiring Randy Edsall, I still don't understand why Kevin Anderson couldn't have just called Ralph Friedgen into his office about three weeks ago ...

"Ralph, first of all, congratulations on the turnaround this year and winning the ACC coach of the year. I also share your happiness that we no longer have the albatross of a "coach-in-waiting" that my predecessor stuck us both with. As far as your future, Ralph, I understand why you need a contract extension in order to recruit, so here's the deal we are prepared to offer you. We will give you a 3-year contract extension beyond next year. However, realistically, you should consider yourself on a year-to-year basis. Our expectation is that you will win a minimum of 8 regular season games a year, and that the team will be competitive in the race for ACC championships, in order for you to continue in your position. If this should not occur, we would expect that you will do the right thing and retire on your own volition. Otherwise, we will not hesitate in terminating your services as head football coach. If it should come to that, the University will undoubtedly receive some negative publicity for firing an alum who has had some good years. Even so, the reality is that this school stuck by you and has already given you a get-out-of-jail free card after your 2-10 season last year, a fact that we will emphasize when making our announcement. Besides, unless I'm missing something, I don't think that at this point in your career, you are fielding too many offers coming your way from other NCAA programs or NFL organizations for you to be their head coach. Bottom line from my standpoint -- whatever leverage you think you might have in these contract negotiations is about nil as far as I'm concerned. So it's your choice Ralph -- take it or leave it."

Kevin Kaczmarek said...

I think Maryland should have hired Momus...