A few days later, here are some of my thoughts on the hiring of Randy Edsall:
1) I think a lot of the anger shown by the fan base towards Kevin Anderson was for the wrong reasons. It seemed that fans were disgruntled because Kevin Anderson “fired Fridge to hire Edsall.” This is not the case. Kevin Anderson fired Fridge because he felt it was the right time for Fridge to go. After the 2009 season, most (if not all) agreed that Fridge lacked the interest and enthusiasm for program building and recruiting. I certainly believed that under Fridge the program was going to continue a downward trend. The 9-4 season that followed disproved some of those theories. But does anyone think that one season of success was going to reinvigorate Fridge to do all of the things the fans believed he wasn’t doing after the 2-10 season? It is clear to me that Anderson got rid of Fridge because it was ultimately time to move in a new direction, not because he had to get Randy Edsall. Being upset with Anderson on the premise that he fired Fridge to hire Edsall is unwarranted.
2) That being said, distaste towards Anderson on the grounds that Edsall was not the best hire is more than justified, but more a matter of personal opinion. I am happy with Edsall as the coach but would have been ecstatic if it was Mike Leach. Leach seemed like the obvious pick to me but we may never know the exact reasons why the search committee soured on him. Nonetheless, I have no problem with people who say Anderson made the wrong hire. Only time will tell, though.
3) There are a few reasons why I think Edsall is a good hire, but I want to focus on one specifically. A lot of coaches do their new school some lip-service during the introductory press conference by saying that coaching at the particular school is a “dream job.” In reality, this is often just coach-speak. If Malzahn had been hired, he surely would have called Maryland a dream job. Surely, he would also jump to an SEC head coaching job if he experienced success as a Terp. Edsall was extremely sincere in referring to Maryland as a dream job, though. I always like a coach who is at his “dream job” because it’s not just a job to them; it’s an undeniable passion. Edsall attended his first college football game at Maryland, went to Left Driesell’s basketball camp, and said he wants to spend his career as a Terp. Maybe I’ll be wrong, but I think Edsall sees College Park as a destination, not a stepping stone. Usually coaches who are working at what they consider to be a destination school will be more successful, since they want to stay there for as long as possible.
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