Lots of well connected people are saying Edsalls name.

[Sports Guy]

Ill tel you one thing: Anderson better not make the basketball hire. Alums may want someone like Jay Wright but Anderson would probably hire Mike Brey.

Who is a guy that many MD fans wanted to run Gary out of town for...Good thing the MD decision makers ignore the fans.

[waroriole]

You could say the same for Edsall

I don't know much about Edsall, but i guess it's possible.

I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but I think any coach who goes to MD is probably looking at bigger and better things down the road. Unless of course he is a MD alum, like Fridge.

[PaulBako]

Who is a guy that many MD fans wanted to run Gary out of town for...Good thing the MD decision makers ignore the fans.

Yeah I don't even know why I wanted him in the first place. It would be his dream job though.

[PaulBako]

I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but I think any coach who goes to MD is probably looking at bigger and better things down the road. Unless of course he is a MD alum, like Fridge.

It all depends on the money really.

[OregonBird]

Well, I'm stunned.

I was a fan of Leach getting hired but I can see where some might have seen him as a bad fit for the university for the reasons mentioned.

I'm very curious as to why Edsall. Yes, he's turned UCONN into a solid program. However, there is nothing about this hire that excites me. It seems like a safe, risk averse hire.

1. Did his teams run a prolific offense? No.

2. Did his teams have suffocating defenses? No.

3. Did he guide/mentor/develop players that eventually became stars in the NFL. No.

4. Is he known for being a masterful recruiter? Eh, don't know.

I would rather have had Malzahn as a 2nd choice but he's likely holding out for a better gig. There are many top assistants out there, most of which are excellent recruiters, I wonder if any were considered.

Heck, I might have been able to talk myself into Rich Rod but I just can't find anything to get excited about re: Randy Edsall.

[PaulBako]

Thinking outside the box here, but maybe MD was worried about Leach leaving in a couple years for a bigger more respected school. Just a thought. BTW i was hoping for Leach too.

Leach never left Texas Tech, and that was with an awful contract. Wherever he goes he will stay, but Im not sure he will ever get a major job with every school turning him down.

[ilbm88]

Can people stop crying and whining. Let the guy have a year or two to recurit. And enough of this guy isnt exciting enough, if he wins and takes us to bcs bowls, thats exciting enough for me.

[BaltimoreTerp]

There are two issues at play here. There is the move that was made, and there is the reasoning behind it.

The move itself is probably a good one. Edsall, as mentioned, took a program from I-AA status to I-A, then to the top of a BCS conference. That's difficult to do in a short period. Boise State was mentioned, but they moved up in 1996 and played in a conference that doesn't even sponsor football anymore before switching to the WAC. So they did have an easier path than UConn coming into a competitive Big East.

New England also isn't exactly Texas, or even Maryland, when it comes to recruiting territory. And if we think Maryland is a basketball school, what does that make UConn. He helped them build and fill a new stadium, and he obviously got some talent to go there.

He'll need four years or so, to get past Friedgen's recruits, before we can see how he's really doing here. But he's at least the safe hire.

And that's where the problems start.

If this was this date last season and Maryland was making the switch, it would be far easier to understand. Friedgen was coming off a terrible season, and at least you could say that bringing in a "better version" of him that could improve on what he did during his entire tenure would make sense.

But this year, things are different. The team had a good season and Friedgen won COY. Things seem to be getting better again. So why would you go through what they did to forcibly remove Friedgen only to replace him with someone who appears to be this similar? If you want to keep doing the same thing, give Friedgen a short extension with easy buyouts and retirement clauses, let him build a staff with some manner of security and hope he is pulling things back together.

If the stated goal is to bring in a coach who will get people interested in the program again, and if you are actually going to say that you want it to come sooner rather than later, you go for the name. You hire Leach, with the pirate theme and explosive offense. You hire Locksley, the local kid with the silver tongue and major authority issues. You give a blank (Under Armor) check to Malzhan, the hot coordinator for a potential national champion with the fast rise and popular scheme.

All of those would have got people talking about the program in a way that suggests something different would be coming than what has been seen the past few years. Instead, you get people worried about more of the same.

In one of the reports (I think it was a Jeff Barker tweet today), I saw a mention that some of the "higher-ups" in College Park may have got cold feet over Leach and his controversies. If that's the case, that is very disturbing because it makes me wonder who is in charge? I think it will be curious what we do or do not hear from Kevin Plank or Steve Bisciotti or "supporters of the program" on what went on over the past couple days, in addition to "athletic department officials who wished to remain anonymous".

This may be a good move long-term, but it was obvious from the start that the school wanted to win the short-term. That, they failed miserably.

[Birds of B'more]

Also, outside of Crabtree, did his offense produce a lot of pro players? I don't recall hearing a lot of Texas Tech guys going pro but maybe I am wrong about that one...and yes, that is important to recruits.

Wes Welker is the only other name that comes to mind.

[Orioles1954]

There are two issues at play here. There is the move that was made, and there is the reasoning behind it.

The move itself is probably a good one. Edsall, as mentioned, took a program from I-AA status to I-A, then to the top of a BCS conference. That's difficult to do in a short period. Boise State was mentioned, but they moved up in 1996 and played in a conference that doesn't even sponsor football anymore before switching to the WAC. So they did have an easier path than UConn coming into a competitive Big East.

New England also isn't exactly Texas, or even Maryland, when it comes to recruiting territory. And if we think Maryland is a basketball school, what does that make UConn. He helped them build and fill a new stadium, and he obviously got some talent to go there.

He'll need four years or so, to get past Friedgen's recruits, before we can see how he's really doing here. But he's at least the safe hire.

And that's where the problems start.

If this was this date last season and Maryland was making the switch, it would be far easier to understand. Friedgen was coming off a terrible season, and at least you could say that bringing in a "better version" of him that could improve on what he did during his entire tenure would make sense.

But this year, things are different. The team had a good season and Friedgen won COY. Things seem to be getting better again. So why would you go through what they did to forcibly remove Friedgen only to replace him with someone who appears to be this similar? If you want to keep doing the same thing, give Friedgen a short extension with easy buyouts and retirement clauses, let him build a staff with some manner of security and hope he is pulling things back together.

If the stated goal is to bring in a coach who will get people interested in the program again, and if you are actually going to say that you want it to come sooner rather than later, you go for the name. You hire Leach, with the pirate theme and explosive offense. You hire Locksley, the local kid with the silver tongue and major authority issues. You give a blank (Under Armor) check to Malzhan, the hot coordinator for a potential national champion with the fast rise and popular scheme.

All of those would have got people talking about the program in a way that suggests something different would be coming than what has been seen the past few years. Instead, you get people worried about more of the same.

In one of the reports (I think it was a Jeff Barker tweet today), I saw a mention that some of the "higher-ups" in College Park may have got cold feet over Leach and his controversies. If that's the case, that is very disturbing because it makes me wonder who is in charge? I think it will be curious what we do or do not hear from Kevin Plank or Steve Bisciotti or "supporters of the program" on what went on over the past couple days, in addition to "athletic department officials who wished to remain anonymous".

This may be a good move long-term, but it was obvious from the start that the school wanted to win the short-term. That, they failed miserably.

Leach and Malzahn also instituted systems that have never been used in the ACC. While they may only be offensive masterminds, it's not as if anyone in the ACC has such an overpowering offense that MD's defense would be immediately suspect. I'm not going to say it's a bad hire, but on the surface it seems like treading water with no valued added for the Maryland fan. Was the motive to get butts in seats or to choose a superior coach? We know Edsall is a big fat 'no' on the first count....not sure on the latter.

[J.D.]

Wes Welker is the only other name that comes to mind.

Zach Thomas, but I'm pretty sure he's pre-Mike Leach.

[carolinaoriole]

I am not a fan of Maryland football, I think they made a good solid hire that in the long run will prove to be prudent. Leach would have had the bigger splash and there would have been an uptick in ticket sales. He is a good recruiter and a very good evaluater for the type of athlete that fits his system. The offense would have been exciting and the defense would have made the opposing teams offense look exciting. The media would soon get tired of his arrogance with them and the university would not have been happy with dealing with his ego on a daily basis. He is a great coach.

What Edsall did at UConn is amazing ,making the change to a big time college football program and getting them to a bcs bowl shows what a great job he has done. Also last year one of his players was killed tragicly and he was able to balance the needs of winning games and the reality of his players dealing with the death of a team mate in a very sensitive way. He is rock solid and maryland fans will be happy with the teams that he will produce. He was able to recruit at UConn he will definately recruit well at Maryland. He will be a great coach.

[Birds of B'more]

Zach Thomas, but I'm pretty sure he's pre-Mike Leach.

He is. Leach's 1st season at TT was 2000. Thomas was already in his 5th NFL season. And honestly, Leach had so little to do with the defense and special teams, that I would pretty much limit it to offensive players.

That said, it was Leach's premise (because he said so himself) that he didn't need the blue-chip recruits or future NFL'ers in order to make his offense work. Basically, all he wanted were kids that were very fast, because you can't coach that. But as long as he had speed, he felt his scheme could do the rest, and the numbers would seem to prove him right.