Hey Pete,

I am willing to bet that Ralph will land on his feat somewhere. I know before the Buccaneers had the “Joy” of hiring Jon Gruden they were considering Ralph Friedgen as their head coach. Maybe Ralph could land back in San Diego as the offensive coordinator. I know that might be a crazy idea since Dean Spanos said AJ Smith and Norv Turner would be back. As for me that idea of status quo in San Diego is insane. They need to shake things up to say the least. My suggestion would be to hire Jon Gruden as head coach, hire Fridge as the OC and bring in Wade Phillips for a return as the DC. Phillips is a terrible head coach, but a very good defensive coordinator. I know you’re not happy that Ralph is gone, but if he lands on his feet in San Diego that would be a good thing. Dean Spanos cannot bring those two birds back(Smith & Turner). That is a failed partnership that needs to end. Smith is not a people person and Turner is an awful head coach. Also, Gruden needs to get out of the booth! A.) He’s much too young to be doing that B.) It’s my opinion that he’s put on a lot of weight. He needs to get back onto the field and start coaching again, while bringing the Fridge with him

Apparently Friedgen was right, and the MD administration wasn't willing to take the steps to make them a better program.

Hopefully it will work out ok over time, but it doesn't seem like he will have an immediate impact. Good news is that with returning talent, Randy won't be inheriting a clunker. As for Ralph landing on his feet, I hope he does as a coach. Financially he should have been on solid footing for quite a while.

This guy can't even do what Ralph did. He's no improvement. Anderson is a liar and should be fired.

I agree. Edsall seems like a capable coach and a good man. He has more character than a lot of the names that were being thrown around, and it's good to see that he genuinely wants to coach at Maryland, instead of riding the good young talent we have to a few good years and then jumping to a more prestigious gig. As well, it is impressive that he took a program out of nowhere to the point where they were getting 8 and 9 win seasons and qualifying for bowl games.

My problem is: everything I just said above applies just as well to Coach Friedgen. Why did Anderson and Loh put the school, fans, and alumni through all of this; why did they agree to absorb a $2M cost to push Friedgen out early (surely that money could be better spent elsewhere), and why are they risking disrupting a solid young team that was poised to shake things up next year- all for a change that seems like a lateral move?

Anderson and new UMD President Loh come out of this having lost a lot of credibility and goodwill with Maryland stakeholders. This was poorly managed from start-to-finish (counter to Anderson's relentless promotion of himself as some kind of enlightened management thinker), and against all odds they managed to take a situation that could have done well left alone, and turn nearly every MD fan and alum against them. Half (including myself) were disgusted by the disgraceful way the school pushed Friedgen out, and the half that were willing to accept that are now calling for Anderson's ouster for not hiring Leach, the one candidate who would have met Anderson's stated goal of selling tickets/suites and rekindling excitement around the program. Three months into the job and he's managed to p*ss off every fan and alum; well done Mr. Anderson. Definitely management best practice.

I understood wanting to make a change to Leach... Friedgen's getting older, lost his coaching staff and would've had to start over. But to trade in the Fridge for this guy? The Fridge was a better version of this guy and an alum who loved UMD.
I'd of been excited by Leach and would've been motivated. Now, I'm more disappointed and would have preferred Ralph to stay. As a fan of the team I am much less likely to follow the team next year than if the Fridge or Leach had been coach.
You think attendence / interest was bad last year?
This new guy better win and quickly or it'll be lights out at Byrd.

You think attendence / interest was bad last year?

This guy better win quickly. I'd take the Fridge any day over this guy. The Fridge had true love for UMD as an alum.

Leach would've been exciting and made the Terps a must follow team. Now we're stuck with an unknown Fridge lite.

If Cam doesn't return to the Ravens next year, what about the Fridge for OC?

The bigger Question is who gets the Blame for Anderson.

Awful pick. Simply the pits.

I'm sure Edsall is a nice guy and maybe even a competent coach. But he is in no way a match for what the Terps need. It's a lousy marriage.

I'm sick and tired of mediocrity. There is no reason in the world that we should not be one of the perennial BCS big boys. Instead, we'll get more of the same old, same old.

If we wanted ordinary, we may as well have kept Ralph. But in reading the sports today, I see where Michigan ia pursuing Jim Harbaugh. Why aren't we? Marvin Lewis is pretty much done with Cincinnati. Why aren't we calling?

What in the world is wrong with these people? This is what happens when you ignore the people who know and let the suits make the decisions.

For once, I actually agree with the majority of the commenters. I am very displeased with this hire. Not saying that Edsall can't be the coach to take us to the next level -- but I really expected us to go big with this hire. The hiring of Leach would have put butts in seats...guaranteed. If this move fails, Andersen needs to be shown the door immediately. We can't risk having an incompetent AD ruin one of the nation's top sports programs.

The only "positive" I have come away with is this: I wasn't really jumping for joy when the Ravens hired Harbaugh. It seemed like a stretch and a lateral move at best. Three years later, the Ravens have become a more consistent franchise. Let's hope Edsall can come in here and do the same. I have my reservations however.

Not sure what I'm missing. I think this is a GREAT hire for MD. Edsall will bring a new energy to the program (which it desperately needed) he is an outstanding coach and has integrity. (Something I have serious doubts about in connection with the other coaches MD looked at.)

The thing is that this is a long term play. Not a win today play but a win a lot over a number of years.

So, if the goal was to upgrade the Terps football, mission accomplished.

Please don't talk trash before you give this guy a chance. Ralph was a good coach, Randy will prove to be better. No BCS for Maryland since Fridge's first year,if your being real with yourselves there was just a bunch of mediocricy. Ralph was just like a pair of old slippers, you get comfortable with them and except them and never really want to get a new pair, you have a guy that now WANTS to be here, and has limitless aspirations for the program, as did Gary, as did Brenda so I say let's sit back and see. If you are a true Terrapin fan then your hope and confidence in the program should have peaked with this hire, no disrespect to Fridge but we are going upward. (Just a little reminder: Their a coach playing for the National Championship that a lot of fans didn't want down there in Auburn)

I much prefer the selection of Edsall over Leach. Leach's ego and self-promoting ways might have been useful in the short term but over the long term I think he would be a detriment to the program. Like others, I think Edsall is the "safer" alternative. My hope is that he might have better luck recruiting here in this local area than Ralph did.

We had a good coach with a 75-50 record and 7 bowl appearances. We fired him by leaking to ESPN we would fire him BEFORE he even coached our bowl game. Then we proceeded to say it was because we were going from "good to great." Then they floated Leach's name, fans got excited and boom, Edsall at 74-70 in the Big East becomes our coach. Sorry, but I just don't see how this anything better than before if not worse!

@CA Terp Fan: "New energy", huh... Mark Duffner had ENERGY!! Remember him? Remember how hyped he was? Where is he now (seriously, I honestly don't know)??

Yeah, this Edsall guy does seem to be an energetic enough fellow - BUT CAN HE TAKE THE PROGRAM TO THE NEXT LEVEL??!! I mean, why should MD be content to be lumped in with the ACC also-rans year after year?

Peter, I'm with you about the image of the program thing... The ADs at UMD historically are more concerned with keeping everything neat and even keel, and the controlled mayhem that comes with Mike Leach was too threatening... But the excitement he would've generated - HE WOULD'VE GOTTEN BUTTS IN THE SEATS!! I would've seriously considered season tickets next year; now, not so much... I'll wait and see how this Edsall does before I go putting my heart on the line for MD football again.

Jeremy
The Fridge ship has sailed, get over it!! Forget the 75-50 built the 1st 3 yrs on VanderLinden's players. He was 44 & 42 the past 7 yrs, with
mediocre recruiting & had just lost his best recruiter possibly due to his own fault. He's part of deal with Yow on a coach in waiting plan, then as soon as Yow leaves, he decides he won't retire after all, then hits the new AD with a extension request thru the media. After all that, I'm willing to see what Edsall brings to the table!!

Jeremy
The Fridge ship has sailed, get over it!! Forget the 75-50 built the 1st 3 yrs on VanderLinden's players. He was 44 & 42 the past 7 yrs, with
mediocre recruiting & had just lost his best recruiter possibly due to his own fault. He's part of deal with Yow on a coach in waiting plan, then as soon as Yow leaves, he decides he won't retire after all, then hits the new AD with a extension request thru the media. After all that, I'm willing to see what Edsall brings to the table!!

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!!!

Dream Job...? Edsall saw TCU coming to the Big East next year and knew he would never get another sniff at a BCS bowl.

Very vocal opponent at UConn about the university's new higher admissions requirements for athletes coming next year...

Carpetbagger...should have kept the Fridge if this was all you could manage...

i have to say i'm upset, and the more i read the more dissapointed I am. But also at the same time i am hopeful, maybe more discipline is what we need. I hope we get a good oc under edsall and keep don brown. Here's hoping (as much as i dislike him right now) anderson looks like a genius in 2 years.

Just finished watching the replay of today's press conference at UMD. Find myself on the fence. But I will say I found both Anderson's and Edsall's response to a question about getting butts in the seats at Byrd comical. Edsall held up the selling of 40,000 seats at UConn's stadium at Storrs as an example of what he can do. Really, Storrs - what else is there to do in Storrs? It's in the middle of nowhere!This is a whole new world Edsall. We have 2 NFL teams (one good, one bad), 2 MBL teams, a terrific NHL team and a lousy NBA team. Lots of other places for people to spend their money! UMD football and Edsall have a big hill to climb to start selling out games.

And if his lousy offense screws up this current team, I am going to be so angry! I have been going to MD football games no matter what (through the good, the bad, and the indifferent), but if Edsall messes up this team in the fall, I may actually be done.

I happen to be a UCONN alum, diehard follower of UCONN sports as well as a diehard Oriole fan. Thought I'd see the reaction to Edsall's hiring with the Schmuck. Up here in CT it's not a shock that he left, but mildly surprising that it's not more of an upgrade for him - UCONN to MD? Why? You will like him, he'll do a good job with the program. What he's done here in a relatively short amount of time is impressive. HOW he left is despicable; to fly directly from the Fiesta Bowl to go interview, and not travel home with a team that just died on the field for him (in more ways than one) is truly pathetic. I find it hard to believe he really had to rush to College Park to interview the day after the Bowl, and not respect the kids in a deeper way. Truly a classless final act.

Like a few have said, I'm not sure what I am missing here. I think this is a GREAT hire. This guy took a team from division 1AA to the fiesta bowl in about 10 years.

For all you FRidge supporters - this team was on a clear downward slide for the past 7 years. He was great his first few years, and then...not so much. And face it, he was not fired for his lack of coaching ability. he was fired because 1) He's unable to recruit (by the way, that's pretty critical to being a good college FB coach) 2) He had a bad habit of starting slow, which did not help the interest in the team (they were rarely ranked, early losses do that to you) 3) They did not seem to win the "big" games in recent years 4) I am guessing there were other factors involved that most of us won't know much about anytime soon.

Fridge won't be getting any BCS conference head coaching offers, you can count on that. He's probably better suited to the NFL as an assistant.

Personally, I am interested in Maryland FB again, and I might renew my season tix. I had lost almost all interest towards the end of the Fridge era. Last year's 2-10 embarrasment was not forgotten this fall in my living room

The Terps were 8-4 in the regular season and got the Military Bowl. I don't pretend to know the inner-workings of college athletics beyond clipboards, whistles and keeping players eligible, but something needed to change.

Maybe the way it was initially handled was unfortunate for a straight-up guy who obviously bled, well, all those colors that make up the Maryland flag carried by Testudo. And I can't begin to have an opinion if Edsall is the right person for the job. I can only hope that he is.

But a change was necessary.

(Funniest tag line I have seen so far: Maryland needed a Corvette, but got an Edsall. Okay, joking is done. Good luck, Randy.

Up here in CT. Well, they got to the Fiesta Bowl because the Big Least got themselves the automatic BCS berth.

Got waxed in the bowl game, as this UConn team, as all of his other versions, never had the talent at the skill positions to compete at that level. And quite frankly, most likely never will. Storrs CT will never be a destination for top level recruits, not even for the top in-state players. Its just not a big time football situation at this time.

At the end of the day, I think the guy did as good a job as he could with the UConn program, considering the level of recruit he was stuck with. His teams played hard, he got the most out of their talent, and the players just plain loved the guy.

Hopefully you will get to see what kind of coach he can be and what he does with better talent against better competition week in and week out.
Best of luck...

Actually, the UConn home football games are played at an off campus facility in East Hartford.

http://www.rentschlerfield.com/

Edsall did his share of griping about the CT football fans. I mean, he's a football guy and CT is a basketball state.

That griping about Penn State at his press conference probably has something to do with the scheduling of the UConn-Notre Dame game series.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/191408-uconn-fb-should-back-out-of-football-series-with-notre-dame

probably more than you needed to know, but there's a bit of insight as to why he really liked the MD job. Besides the money.

HA!
Come on Twerps! What a classic college Athlectic Program Director mistake:
Fire the decent and reliable coach who is doing well for a replacement that is nothing more and maybe less than the previous coach.
Still doesn't beat NC State firing Herb Sendek for Sidney Lowe. NCAA tournament 5 years in a row, a NC state record and they fire him for Sidney Low...

Hell yea I'm a state fan and alumni boy and dont ya'll ferget it! Nothing get's me madder than thinking about good college coaches fired. I hate you Lee Fowler. Begone from Raleigh and the WolfPack State!!!!!

By the way I am from Meeerland and am a Terps fan, but ya know... Go PACK

Pete -- I can't believe how many people are ready to write off Randy Edsall before he's done anything with the Terps. They're mimimizing a really significant accomplishment: He took Connecticut from being an FCS school to a winning Big East program in less than a decade, culminating in it's playing in a BCS game last season.

What concerns me is this. The hiring came too close to the beginning of recruiting. Edsall is a great defensive coach, but the team now needs a high-profile offensive coordinator ASAP so as not to lose some of the better prospects, as well as to get some excitement generated in the fan base.

...............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Ken, I'm not writing him off. He's a very good coach. I think there's still some leftover hurt feelings over Fridge, but that will pass. Edsall wasn't the sexiest hire the school could have made, but he was among the top candidates.

Why not see if Leach would be the OC?
Look, ya wasted 2M to unload the Fridge, and wake up people, blame James Franklin's bolt to Vandy for being the major factor in his firing, that and a horrible home schedule that included Florida Int'l and Morgan State. WE ALL LOVED THE FRIDGE, but the program was going nowhere, merely treading water. Pete per usual is spot on here. While Edsall may not be a Ferrari, his resume speaks to more than being the equivalent of a volvo, menaing he is not only a safe bet to succeed, we just may find out he will blossom into a 5 or 7 series Beamer. Speaking of Fridge's good buddy, how'd the Hokies look last night folks? Which bings me back to my opening point. I'm cool w Edsall not that I've gotten over the classless dumping of our Alumni coach. To me however, the most important hire is yet to come. James Franklin's replacement.

If the University of Maryland intends to go to the next level, they should have hired an AD with that experience. The Army athletic program is not a big time program. To see how a big time program operates under adversity, study the University of Florida.

My prediction: UM and UConn spend a few undistinguished years middling around ,going 8-4 or so, and actually meet up in the Kim Kardashian Bowl, the 28th BCS bowl game of the 2015 season.

no offense but the MD program is lucky to get Edsall. C-mon -- you're a season removed from a 2-win campaign in a second tier football conference! Edsall is your ticket to consistent success.