Edsall Moves On
Randy Edsall
Head Coach Norries Wilson’s most important mentor is making a big move.
Randy Edsall is leaving UConn to take the helm at Maryland.
The question is whether this move will have any residual effect at Columbia.
Based on this piece in the Hartford Courant, Coach Wilson is at least worth a mention by the local media. And I know there are a lot of Huskie fans who miss Wilson and the impact he had on their offense.
Either way, I would be very surprised if some coach from some Ivy staff doesn’t end up at Maryland, UConn, or somewhere else because of this move. With Yale being right around the corner from UConn, someone from the Eli staff could easily make the jump too.
Also, Edsall may be interested in bringing his favorite troops to Maryland with him.
Logic dictates that Columbia fans must be prepared for at least the remote possibility that some of our coaches could be poached as a result of this decision at Maryland.
Edsall was at UConn for 12 years, and I thought he was doing a super job in his first few seasons as the Huskies made that tough jump from I-AA to I-A college football. But after that initial impressive achievement, UConn seemed to hit a wall. The new head coach will have to deal with criticisms that the program just has too many inherent disadvantages to really go “big time” in the BCS.
Sound familiar?
I hate the “inherent disadvantages” argument whenever it is used for UConn, Columbia, or the Detroit Lions.
The fact is, the right players, coaches and front office/athletic department have a way of hurdling what are supposed to be insurmountable obstacles… and in a hurry too.
Cases in point: the 1995 Northwestern Wildcats, 2004 Boston Red Sox, 2008 Arizona Cardinals, 1994 New York Rangers.
All of those teams shot to the top of their leagues within 1-3 years of new management and coaching.
The right guy could easily come along at UConn and take them to a serious BCS bowl. I truly believe that.
Skelton Watch
Fordham grad John Skelton finished up the season going 14 of 25 for just 92 yads, one TD and one INT in a 38-7 Arizona Cardinal loss to San Francisco. We'll see if he gets a chance to play next year.
posted by Jake @ 8:22:00 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I see Tom Williams as a great fit for U Conn.
Tom Williams is indeed a great fit for U Conn, but as its special teams coach reporting to Harvard's Tim Murphy. Murphy has been in awe of Williams' play calling skills since last year's Harvard-Yale game and will do everything possible to convince Williams to follow him to Storrs including giving him his prized autographed photograph of Marc Zuckerberg.
Very unlikely that any Ivy League football coach will be affected by the coaching changes at Connecticut or Maryland.
No offense Jake, but, you think too highly of the Ivy couches. There are some really good ones, but, I don't see the snatching you are hinting at happening.
I want to meet the athletic director of a university whose football team has just returned from a BCS bowl that has the backbone to introduce as his new head coach a guy from the Ivy League.
It's never going to happen. Any AD who hires an Ivy Leaguer to take over his Fiesta Bowl football team had better update his OWN resume.
Too much is being read into the article. Coach Wilson was listed along with several others coaches who have ties to U Conn. I question if that qualifies as a "candidate" especially in the absence of any information from U Conn itself.
I think Skelton deserves another shot based on his physical attributes. Whether he has the capacity to make the split second decisions at the pro level remains to be seen. Unfortunately, in order to learn this most QB's have to go through some "growing pains." Agree that it is unclear as to whether Arizona has the patience to allow Skelton the time to develop.
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