Recruiting analyst: Edsall commands 'respect'
Bob Lichtenfels might not have completely understood Maryland's decision to dismiss Ralph Friedgen. But the Scout.com football recruiting analyst does think the Terps got it right by tabbing UConn's Randy Edsall as the veteran coach's replacement.
Lichtenfels, a Pennsylvania-based reporter, said Monday that Edsall is a “very straight-edge guy” who “doesn’t BS” recruits. Lichtenfels likened Edsall’s no-nonsense, motivating approach to that of a Fortune 500 CEO.
“He delegates, but he’s very hands-on,” Lichtenfels said. “‘This is how I want it done, this is how it’s going to be.’ He has full control over his program and what he wants his guys to say. He’s probably one of the best coaches in the country for getting more with less. In this day and age, it’s hard to be under the radar. But he takes kids that other schools don’t know about, don’t recruit and has them play for him. You have to show up to work.”
Recruiting players to UConn – a program with no Football Bowl Subdivision history before Edsall and with a stadium 40 minutes away from campus – wasn’t easy. Lichtenfels said Edsall had to rely on identifying local players early and unearthing unknown prospects with potential.
“Randy will find a kid – say an, Aaron Hernandez – and then three months later, Urban Meyer’s recruiting him,” Lichtenfels said. “So now that he’s at Maryland, it’s a high-profile job. It’s going to be a change for him. He’s going to be in there with the big dogs in recruiting, with all the other big BCS schools. It’s going to be interesting. He’s a real straight edge and a lot of those assistants are grinders. Like [Huskies offensive coordinator] Joe Moorhead, he’s one of the hardest-working guys in the industry. At Akron, he used to take kids from Pittsburgh, Penn State and West Virginia. He’s a guy who goes out there and gets it.”
Lichtenfels said there’s a “nice little buzz” surrounding the Terps with junior recruits at the Under Armour All-American Game combine in St. Petersburg, Fla. While Friedgen and his staff laid solid groundwork with younger prospects, it’ll be up to Edsall and company to seal the deal. If Edsall has a chance at bettering Friedgen’s success in College Park, Lichtenfels said he’ll have to improve the Terps’ in-state recruiting.
“Maryland struggled the last four or five years keeping the kids in state,” Lichtenfels said. “If you can’t keep kids in your state, nobody is going to deem you a success. Maryland has to be able to get the Good Counsel kids and the DeMatha kids. He has to get those kids. I think perception-wise, just make sure that in your own state, you’re the team. … That was the biggest deficiency in the program – an inability to keep kids in state. Granted, a lot of those kids [that left the state] failed. But the perception when Penn State takes seven or 10 of those kids, that hurts. So that’s definitely the first thing Randy has to do. He’s got to win the coaches over in Maryland.”
Lichtenfels thinks Edsall’s decision to leave Connecticut for Maryland was probably due in part to the strength of the ACC versus the Big East. The opportunity to compete for conference championships is there, but he’s also walking in to a delicate situation by following Friedgen.
“It’s always a gamble,” Lichtenfels said. “I think Friedgen was an underrated coach for what he did at Maryland. When I talk to a lot of college coaches or high school coaches, they look at what he did [and say] ‘what are the expectations at Maryland that this guy was a failure?’ So it’s a tough spot for Randy because if Randy gets them next year to 6-6 or 7-5, people are going to say, ‘why did we get rid of the guy we had?’”
Comments
The hiring of Edsall over proven winners in major conferences is an extremely naive and weak move. PC all the way. Edsall's record was average and his "talk" won't buy you much (if anything) long term when competing on the big stage. A very poor decision for the Terps in my opinion.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 3, 2011 3:04 PM
So as people in Connecticut try to pick up the pieces and stabilize a ship now without a captain, I’d like to suggest that UConn goes after former Miami coach Randy Shannon, who was let go by the Hurricanes earlier this season.
http://philiptortora.blogspot.com/2011/01/with-edsall-gone-uconn-should-target.html
Posted by: Philip Tortora | January 3, 2011 3:16 PM
No recruits worth a damn are going to want to play in this offense. Why would they? Go look at the recruiting sights...most potential recruits were excited at the thought of playing in a high flying offense. Edsalls offense ranked lower than MDs this year. How is that an improvement?
Posted by: joey | January 3, 2011 3:34 PM
Why does every negative comment refr to offense?? We play both sides of the ball & the Md defense under Fridge has been terrible for 5 or 6 yrs finally rising to mediocre this past year. Let Edsall build a defense as is his forte
& with better players than @UConn suspect our offense will be OK. Stop moaning about the Fridge - he's been barely over 500 the past 7 yrs even with 2 patsies scheduled ea year. His ship has sailed -give the new guy a chance!!
Posted by: Don I | January 3, 2011 3:57 PM
I think UCONN should take a good look at this Friedgen guy from Maryland. Took their sorry program and took them to bowls and was pretty good.
Posted by: terphilus | January 3, 2011 3:59 PM
Bracken, stop trying to put a postive spin on this, This was a horrible move
You have Leach, Willingham, and so many others available and you pick a coach from a Big east school, not well know one at that, you should have kept the Fridge for all of that.
Cracy
Posted by: Bmore | January 3, 2011 4:10 PM
Bmore -- My opinion on how Maryland handled this coaching transition isn't anywhere in this blog. It's simply Lichtenfels' take on Edsall as a recruiter.
Posted by: Matt Bracken | January 3, 2011 4:27 PM
All I can say is WOW! Edsall seems like a nice guy but .....if your goal is to bring an exciting brand of football and put butts in seats and create a revenue stream then your decision here is not logical. And stop trying to promote Edsall as a good recruiter, check out that below average recruiting class they have coming in next year on rivals.com. pathetically worse than MD's. How do you fire a loyal alumn for a lateral move AT BEST????? Mr. Anderson, Mr. Eaton, Mr. Loh and Mr. Kirwin -- YOU FAILED and you will actually lose money on this move. Good luck to you Coach Edsall but I will not be re-upping my tickets next year. This administration fails to recognize the buying public. Seems like scholars are as good at making business decisions as attorneys are at being politicians. JUST WOW!!!
Posted by: Danny | January 3, 2011 5:18 PM
How bout we all shut up and see what Edsall has to offer.. If we would have the big name coach such as Leach the outcomes might not have been the same just look at the whole Michigan / Rich Rodriguez deal. The only thing that matter is winning hopefully Edsall can bring that.
Posted by: RavenFan | January 3, 2011 5:53 PM
Edsall is a great hire. This program has talent and opportunity - Edsall will get the most out of the moment. Leach would have been exciting - he also would have been gone in 3 years.
Posted by: kevin | January 3, 2011 6:48 PM
what does everyone think about Esdall's chances of keeping recruits such as Cheeseboro and Malleck who are thinking about jumping ship. Malleck had already announced that he would take another official to Uconn since the firing of Friedgen and Uconn was also in his final 3 before his original decision.
Posted by: terp fan | January 3, 2011 6:52 PM
Its pretty clear from the presser that RE was NOT KAs first choice..they both seemed uncomfortable up there and KA could not articulate the reasons he hired him other than some vague generalizations about body of work, and the highest graduation rate of african americans who attended a state school and went to a bowl game..finally summarizing everything by saying hes a damn good football coach.....I think its pretty clear that KA is stretching to justify this hire.....he clearly planned on Leach and someone at UMD put the kabash on it and told him to hire RE......Even when he was asked, he wouldnt directly answer the question.......so here we are...prematurely fired Fridge without a backup plan...needed a coach by 1/4 and RE is only one in the room.....probably a decent coach but I have seen no evidence that he is even remotely superior to Fridge in any way. People want to see an exciting offense and this guy doesnt seem to have it...his O was rated in the bottom quarter of all BCS schools for 7 out of the last 8 years and his team closed out the last 3 games of this year without an offensive TD
Posted by: Scott | January 3, 2011 6:56 PM
ok geniuses .... we all know this was a "Business Decision". Hell Fridge should have been gone last year after taking the program to a historic low!!!! It is what it is Ralph is gone and Randy is here, so quit your crying and threats about dropping your tix, go get Raven and or Redskins tix at 2-3 times the price.
Posted by: keith heagey | January 3, 2011 7:44 PM
I was a little disappointed when Edsall was named as MD's new head football coach instead of Mike Leach. Still, you look at a team like Ohio state that hired Jim Tressel..who really wasn't the #1 guy that the boosters wanted, and all he's done is win. Conversely, Michigan hired Rich Rod, a big name, and that hasn't worked very well for them. So, Let's give Edsall a couple of seasons, and then we'll know whether this was a good hire or not.
Posted by: jimmy g | January 4, 2011 7:31 AM
The upshot of the article posted by Matt is that Edsall is a respected, hard working recruiter. Connecticut is an incredibly difficult place to recruit. There is no football tradition there, virtually no talent, and the team plays in a weak conference. Yet, despite these hardships, he built a consistent winning team and, more relevant to this article, was able to recruit good athletes to come and play there. Given the larger talent pool in the Mid Atlantic, the better conference, the improved facilities, the better weather, and the better fans, the expectation is that he will be able to bring in high quality kids and teach them how to win. Frankly, I think that is all you can ask for. Also, imho I'd rather have a coach who is trying to prove himself then one who believes the world should bow down and kiss his ring.
Posted by: CA Terp Fan | January 4, 2011 12:11 PM