The Edsall Factor

[Birds of B'more]

How many wins does Edsall need next year to keep his job?

I think simply more than 2. Which won't be easy with all of the departures at key positions and lack of experienced players returning. But even if they go, say 4-8, I think that will be enough thanks to his contract and the fact that expectations were low to begin with. 2013 will be his win-or-else season, IMO.

[JohnD]

That's kind of how I see it. The Terps have a crap schedule next year. But UCONN is going to embarrass us.

[Todd-O]

I don't think he cares, either. Or else he would stop doing things that get crap thrown his way. The problem is that if he doesn't get the fans (particularly the boosters) on his side, he's not going to get as long of an opportunity to do things his way; he's going to be the offensive coordinator at Towson or something.

He pretty much has to win now, or he's gone. No one will be willing to fight for him.

I agree with this. The only thing that might save his rear is the fact that the state's finances are in bad shape and they probably won't be able to afford to buy him out.

[Birds of B'more]

I agree with this. The only thing that might save his rear is the fact that the state's finances are in bad shape and they probably won't be able to afford to buy him out.

If he continues to only win 2 games a season, while alienating just about everyone in the process, the money to buy him out will magically appear from somewhere. If the Athletic Dept. can't squeeze enough money to cover the sunken cost (with the belief that it will pay off financially down the road), then some "anonymous donors" might cut a check. Of course if it comes down to the private donors having to do it, then Kevin Anderson can kiss his job goodbye as well.

[Jarman8675]

Saban, Miles, and Meyer?

Please detail what Edsall has done to be mentioned with those names.

Again, MD needs more proof than the hairs on the back of their neck or caterpillars crawling in circles on tree trunks to block DOB from Vandy. You then go through the NCAA and have them remedy the issue.

Tracy Hamilton's stat in this weeks post was the most tell tale. The number of Penn State players that have transferred in the last year: 0

The number of MD players... 25.

You guys act as if the press is out to crucify this guy. They aren't putting the words in his mouth.

Like I said, I've been a fan through the thick and thin.... But this Edsall guy is about as painful as they come.

Sorry I'm hopping in on this late but how about the number of recruits that decommitted to Penn State? I know there were quite a few and especially their top recruits. Maryland has gotten one of their best recruiting classes since I can remember with a 5 star and 4 4 star athletes. When was the last time we did that?? At least 2002/2001 when we had that linebacker kid who left early to be a police officer(forget his name).

I'd be curious to see the Penn State transfer numbers NEXT season as well. Correct me if I'm wrong but I also haven't seen any incoming(class of 2011) freshmen transfer(guys who had the opportunity to choose another school over MD after Fridge was fired).

Personally, its too early to judge this situation and since none of us are affiliated with the program, we don't have an insiders view. In reality, Edsall didn't owe these transfers anything and honestly none of them really played well enough for me to actually care about their departures(would bet none of them go on to the NFL). Fans are like the Roman mobs. He can alienate the crap out of them now, but guess what, they will be back if he turns this team around. I've seen it happen too much with too many pro and college teams. People forget when you start winning and they'll love him for his attitude. Of course this can also go Rich Rodriguez/Charlie Weiss on him too, but we were not a Michigan/Notre Dame caliber before Edsall either....not even close.

I'm not a huge fan of Edsall and maybe its the Orioles fan in me believing in a rebuilding concept, but I'm tired of people acting like he is destroying an already decrepit team. Two years ago we had an offensive line full of walk ons from the fridge and were god awful. For the time being, I'm 100% fine with him "cleaning house" because that team was awful last year and in 2009. We had one good year with these transfers and I'm thinking it was a fluke. I give him 2 more years before I start calling for his head, as by that time it will be "his team and players". If next year 2011 and 2012 recruits start leaving in droves(more than the average 1-2 upset because of playing time transfers), I'll start believing there is a problem. That is what is wrong with sports nowadays, we don't have the patience.

[Birds of B'more]

Sorry I'm hopping in on this late but how about the number of recruits that decommitted to Penn State? I know there were quite a few and especially their top recruits. Maryland has gotten one of their best recruiting classes since I can remember with a 5 star and 4 4 star athletes. When was the last time we did that?? At least 2002/2001 when we had that linebacker kid who left early to be a police officer(forget his name).

You must have a short memory.

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/118371-Bye-Bye-to-Danny-O-Brien?p=2678138#post2678138

Keith of the Terrapin Times said Saturday that MD would probably block a transfer of DOB to Vanderbilt. He also said the Diggs signing jumped MD's recruiting class from 45 to 35.

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/118371-Bye-Bye-to-Danny-O-Brien?p=2677978#post2677978

2010 (Friedgen's last class) was 36th. Edsall's class last year was 43.

2009 - 26

2008 - 38

2007 - 35

2006 - 29

And so on.

And how you can come on a board full of Orioles fans and preach about lacking patience is beyond me.

[o's fan 14]

I think there are several reasons why fans are so excited about this recruiting class and considering it the best in a while, eventhough it's on par with some of the more recent classes. First it's a miracle they ended up with the 35th ranked class after a 2-10 season. Second, Stefon Diggs may be the highest rated player to ever sign with the Terps. Third, they got Diggs, Mike Madaras, and Wes Brown from Good Counsel, Albert Reid from FCA and a kid from Gilman for the first time in a long time. Those are probably the best football factories in the Maryland / DC area right now so it's good to see the Terps getting kids from those schools. Fourth, they finished the recruiting season very strong bringing in Diggs, Brown, and Abner Logan (4 star linebacker) all after the season ended. Fifth, Mike Locksley. I don't know how he does it (and not sure I want to know how) but the man obviously has earned the trust of players and coaches in DC. Sounds like the Terps will have a legit shot at some more high profile players in the DMV area next year. Without him it seems unlikely that Diggs would be a Terp.

[BaltimoreTerp]

You must have a short memory.

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/118371-Bye-Bye-to-Danny-O-Brien?p=2678138#post2678138

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/118371-Bye-Bye-to-Danny-O-Brien?p=2677978#post2677978

And how you can come on a board full of Orioles fans and preach about lacking patience is beyond me.

It's easy to make statements when you don't bother looking up the facts, isn't it?

And Jarman, you're right about the fans coming back if he wins. However, the point there is IF HE WINS.

He took a nine-win team, made it a two-win team, ended up with two recruiting classes not measurably better than Friedgen's, and lost a lot of talent to transfer including a starting quarterback. He needs to win more than half of his games over the next two years combined to have any shot at keeping his (and likely Anderson's) job for longer than that. That could happen, but right now it doesn't look good.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I think there are several reasons why fans are so excited about this recruiting class and considering it the best in a while' date=' eventhough it's on par with some of the more recent classes. First it's a miracle they ended up with the 35th ranked class after a 2-10 season. Second, Stefon Diggs may be the highest rated player to ever sign with the Terps. Third, they got Diggs, Mike Madaras, and Wes Brown from Good Counsel, Albert Reid from FCA and a kid from Gilman for the first time in a long time. Those are probably the best football factories in the Maryland / DC area right now so it's good to see the Terps getting kids from those schools. Fourth, they finished the recruiting season very strong bringing in Diggs, Brown, and Abner Logan (4 star linebacker) all after the season ended. Fifth, Mike Locksley. I don't know how he does it (and not sure I want to know how) but the man obviously has earned the trust of players and coaches in DC. Sounds like the Terps will have a legit shot at some more high profile players in the DMV area next year. Without him it seems unlikely that Diggs would be a Terp.[/quote']

You're right about all of that looking up. However:

1) Between his almost unholy recruiting abilities and his disaster at New Mexico, Locksley gives me the willies. I'm glad the Terps brought him back in, but I'm constantly worried that I'll log into Google Reader one morning and find stories from the Sun and the Post and CFT and possibly CNN about Maryland recruiting. Then again, I tend to walk a fine line between "overactive imagination" and "I think that black SUV is following me."

2) Diggs is a fantastic get, but despite all of the players you mention he is the sole reason the class jumped to #35 from the mid-forties. One of Friedgen's (and his staff's) strengths was bringing in lower-ranked athletes and turning them into top-flight NFL prospects, but it remains to be seen if Edsall can do the same thing.

[o's fan 14]

You're right about all of that looking up. However:

1) Between his almost unholy recruiting abilities and his disaster at New Mexico, Locksley gives me the willies. I'm glad the Terps brought him back in, but I'm constantly worried that I'll log into Google Reader one morning and find stories from the Sun and the Post and CFT and possibly CNN about Maryland recruiting. Then again, I tend to walk a fine line between "overactive imagination" and "I think that black SUV is following me."

2) Diggs is a fantastic get, but despite all of the players you mention he is the sole reason the class jumped to #35 from the mid-forties. One of Friedgen's (and his staff's) strengths was bringing in lower-ranked athletes and turning them into top-flight NFL prospects, but it remains to be seen if Edsall can do the same thing.

Oh no doubt Locksley is a huge risk, but so far so good. The way I like to think of it is if Locksley was going to get busted for some recruiting violation I'd think it would have been at Illinois when he was able to get Arrelious Benn to go out there from DC as well as some other really good players or when he was at New Mexico and was getting local kids to go out there. Heck, it was last year or two years ago when that offensive tackle from DeMatha who was a top 5 player in the country had New Mexico in his final top 5.

[Todd-O]

Maryland has gotten one of their best recruiting classes since I can remember with a 5 star and 4 4 star athletes. When was the last time we did that??

Do you have Alzheimer's?

Fridge landed four recruiting classes in the top 30... in '04 and '05 he had the 16th and 17th ranked class... and all of his other classes were in the 30's with the exception of one. And yes, one year they landed two 5-star recruits (Alaeze and Gaither) although Alaeze had academic issue and had to commit the following year.

None of that happened that long ago.

This year's class is rather on par with the average that Maryland gets. Diggs is nice... but we will need to wait to see the kid in a college game before we anoint he a true super star.

I think it's great that some fans have this coach's back. He needs it. But I can't believe there are fans out there ok with the blabber he's been spewing for the last 10 months...

[Todd-O]

And how you can come on a board full of Orioles fans and preach about lacking patience is beyond me.

For some us, O's fans, Skins fans, and Terps fans. You throw all 3 in there and you redefine patience!

[Jarman8675]

You must have a short memory.

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/118371-Bye-Bye-to-Danny-O-Brien?p=2678138#post2678138

http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php/118371-Bye-Bye-to-Danny-O-Brien?p=2677978#post2677978

And how you can come on a board full of Orioles fans and preach about lacking patience is beyond me.

Thanks doc, i was always told i had a pretty good long term memory, but i appreciate the diagnosis. Yeah it's probably alzheimers/short term memory loss, but I guess we all suffer from it a bit, cause the 9 win 2010 team fridge had was also part of a 2-10 season team in 2009.... The fridge that every other season was a losing season, that guy?? Also who are these marginal nowNFL stars we are talking about??? Enlighten me.

Also, these draft class rankings are perspective. Dependent on the talent level output that year. The year we recruited Alaeze and Campbell was also the year we recruited a dozen two star athletes. This year after a 2-10 season we recruited 3 4 stars, and one 5 star who is also tops in the country and less of our two stars after one of our worst seasons this century. To me that's a pretty good draft class.

Finally, where did I "preach" about patience? I just stated I am holding out hope just like I do with the orioles. Either way I'm done with this thread.

[allstar1579]

Thanks doc, i was always told i had a pretty good long term memory, but i appreciate the diagnosis. Yeah it's probably alzheimers/short term memory loss, but I guess we all suffer from it a bit, cause the 9 win 2010 team fridge had was also part of a 2-10 season team in 2009.... The fridge that every other season was a losing season, that guy?? Also who are these marginal nowNFL stars we are talking about??? Enlighten me.

Also, these draft class rankings are perspective. Dependent on the talent level output that year. The year we recruited Alaeze and Campbell was also the year we recruited a dozen two star athletes. This year after a 2-10 season we recruited 3 4 stars, and one 5 star who is also tops in the country and less of our two stars after one of our worst seasons this century. To me that's a pretty good draft class.

Finally, where did I "preach" about patience? I just stated I am holding out hope just like I do with the orioles. Either way I'm done with this thread.

Fridge's record at MD. EVERY other season was a losing season? Really?

2001 Maryland 10–2 7–1 1st L Orange† 10 11

2002 Maryland 11–3 6–2 T–2nd W Peach 13 13

2003 Maryland 10–3 6–2 2nd W Gator 20 17

2004 Maryland 5–6 3–5 T–8th

2005 Maryland 5–6 3–5 T–4th (Atlantic)

2006 Maryland 9–4 5–3 T–2nd (Atlantic) W Champs Sports

2007 Maryland 6–7 3–5 T–5th (Atlantic) L Emerald

2008 Maryland 8–5 4–4 T–3rd (Atlantic) W Humanitarian

2009 Maryland 2–10 1–7 6th (Atlantic)

2010 Maryland 9–4 5–3 T–2nd (Atlantic) W Military 24 23

There have been more than 32 NFL players from Fridge's teams. (Kris Jenkins and Lamont Jordan left the year he got there) Of those players:

Vernon Davis

Dominique Foxworth

Josh Wilson

Jared Gaither

Stephon Heyer

EJ Henderson

Erin Henderson

Shaun Hill

D'Qwell Jackson

Darius Heyward-Bey

Torrey Smith

Shawn Merriman

Nick Novack

Adam Podlesh

Lewis Sanders

Rob Abirimiri

Kevin Barnes

Dan Gronkowski

Madieu Williams

are some of the best.

Edsall gets no credit for draft classes, Locksley is the recruiter, and the sole reason for most of those guys. From what I've heard the team purposely limits the amount of contact Edsall has with parents unless a "firm, disciplinarian" is someone the parents are looking for.

[o's fan 14]

Fridge's record at MD. EVERY other season was a losing season? Really?

2001 Maryland 10?2 7?1 1st L Orange? 10 11

2002 Maryland 11?3 6?2 T?2nd W Peach 13 13

2003 Maryland 10?3 6?2 2nd W Gator 20 17

2004 Maryland 5?6 3?5 T?8th

2005 Maryland 5?6 3?5 T?4th (Atlantic)

2006 Maryland 9?4 5?3 T?2nd (Atlantic) W Champs Sports

2007 Maryland 6?7 3?5 T?5th (Atlantic) L Emerald

2008 Maryland 8?5 4?4 T?3rd (Atlantic) W Humanitarian

2009 Maryland 2?10 1?7 6th (Atlantic)

2010 Maryland 9?4 5?3 T?2nd (Atlantic) W Military 24 23

There have been more than 32 NFL players from Fridge's teams. (Kris Jenkins and Lamont Jordan left the year he got there) Of those players:

Vernon Davis

Dominique Foxworth

Josh Wilson

Jared Gaither

Stephon Heyer

EJ Henderson

Erin Henderson

Shaun Hill

D'Qwell Jackson

Darius Heyward-Bey

Torrey Smith

Shawn Merriman

Nick Novack

Adam Podlesh

Lewis Sanders

Rob Abirimiri

Kevin Barnes

Dan Gronkowski

Madieu Williams

are some of the best.

Edsall gets no credit for draft classes, Locksley is the recruiter, and the sole reason for most of those guys. From what I've heard the team purposely limits the amount of contact Edsall has with parents unless a "firm, disciplinarian" is someone the parents are looking for.

Why are you jumping on the guy for saying Friedgen had a winning season every other season? In his 10 years he had 6 winning seasons and if you look at his last 6 seasons every other season was a winning season.

How much credit do you give Friedgen for his first three seasons which were excellent but some people say he did it with Vanderlinden's players? In those last 7 years where Friedgen and his staff had their own players they were completely average. Yes, they have sent a lot of guys to the NFL which makes me wonder how come they weren't better with all these NFL players?

I'm not sure you can say Edsall gets no credit for some of these recruits. Edsall hired Locksley so he deserves at least a little credit.