It’s Time to Talk About Randy Edsall

This is the article I had hoped to never have to write. From the moment that he first stepped foot onto campus at the University of Maryland, I’ve been one of his most vocal supporters. Through the 2-win season in 2011 that saw about 20 different players leave the program, through the 4-win season in 2012 that saw every single scholarship quarterback suffer a season-ending injury. All the way through an extremely disappointing loss to Bowling Green earlier this year, I supported him. But after the Terrapins suffered a 45-6 loss to West Virginia last week, it’s finally time to talk about Randy Edsall.

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Why I Stuck With Him

My support was not blind in nature, I had my reasons for supporting Edsall as long as I did. I’m probably one of the biggest Maryland football fans you’ll ever find, and all that I want for the program is for it to succeed. Until last week, I still believed that Coach Edsall was the man to lead this program to the promised land.

Recruiting is the obvious strong-point of Edsall’s coaching game. Despite a number of poor seasons on the field, he has put together some strong recruiting classes. His staff features a large number of prominent recruiters, including Offensive Coordinator Mike Locksley, Tight Ends coach/Recruiting Coordinator John Dunn, and Director of Player Personnel Cory Robinson. Edsall put this staff together, and gets full credit for their recruiting success. Recruits like Edsall, as do their families. His pitch works. He truly cares about his players’ livelihoods on the field, off the field, and after they leave his program. He has also forged strong relationships with local high schools, something that former head coach Ralph Friedgen struggled mightily with.

Edsall’s other biggest strength is his ability to build up a program. As the head coach at Connecticut, he led their football program from FCS to FBS status, and eventually to a BCS bowl game. He is not one who rebuilds programs quickly, but plays the long game, and it paid off with the Huskies. He is still in the process of rebuilding Maryland’s football program. While many fans see the Terrapins’ 9-4 (5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) record in 2010 and claim that rebuilding wasn’t necessary, the team had won just 2 games in 2009, and the program had become a bit stale. Athletic director Kevin Anderson’s “good to great” comment gets a lot of negative play among fans, but that is what Edsall is still working towards. There is no doubt that the program is headed in the right direction. Recruiting is certainly on an up-swing, and we are just months away from when construction will begin on the team’s new indoor practice facility. The move to the Big Ten Conference is also paying off in the form of better conference opponents and higher ticket sales.

These are two main reasons that I stuck with Edsall as long as I did. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel for the Maryland football program, and I believed that he was the man to lead the team all the way through to that light. But after losing to an unranked West Virginia team by 39 points in his fifth year at the helm, I can’t support him any longer.

Why He Needs To Go

One thing that no one will ever get me to say is that Coach Edsall did a poor job as Maryland’s head coach. I believe that he did a very good job, especially with the two things that I mentioned above. He has set up the Maryland football program for success, he just isn’t the man to lead them through to that success.

It has become clear to me that game preparation is one of Edsall’s biggest weaknesses. Under his leadership, the Terrapins have never beaten a ranked team. In fact, his teams are generally very overmatched when they face off against a ranked opponent. Some of this is due to personnel, but it is also due to poor game preparation. While Edsall is not calling plays during games or making individual positional adjustments, he is the leader that players look to before, during, and after games. Game-plans are only a portion of the battle, the other portion is instilling confidence in your players. Obviously, none of us can speak to Edsall’s demeanor or leadership abilities unless we’ve personally witnessed him in the locker room or on the sidelines. However, something has to be said about a team coming out completely flat in a rivalry game against West Virginia last week.

When And How To Fire Him

The only questions that seem to remain regarding Edsall’s tenure at Maryland is when and how he will be fired. As reported by Dave Tucker of Testudo Times, it would cost the school $2.6 million if they fire him before January, 2017. If they fire him after that period, it would cost them $500,000. It is certainly reasonable to make the argument that the program can’t wait until after the 2016 season to fire him, and that $2.6 million is a figure low enough to make it worthwhile. I would tend to agree with that sentiment. The program is headed on the right direction, but it’s fairly clear that Edsall is not the right man to be the team’s head coach.

So if you know that right now, he should probably start packing his bags before the 2015 season ends. If the program does decide to fire Edsall before the end of the 2015 season, they’ll need one of his assistant coaches to become the interim head coach until they can find a permanent replacement during the off-season. Lyndon Johnson would be the clear choice here, as he currently serves as Edsall’s assistant head coach, and has essentially held every possible assistant coaching position under him both at Connecticut and at Maryland. This would also allow offensive coordinator Mike Locksley and defensive coordinator Keith Dudzinski to remain in their current posts. Making a change before the season ends would allow the search for Edsall’s replacement to begin a few months early, and would signal a clear change in direction for members of the 2016 recruiting class.

Who Replaces Him?

This is the fun part. There are a number of very exciting candidates to be Maryland’s next head football coach. I have a very specific criteria that I’m looking for in a coach, which I will lay out and follow up with candidates who fit that criteria. I will keep this realistic and reasonable. I should also mention that I strongly favor younger coordinators over older head coaches. I think that Maryland needs a young, exciting candidate who brings energy and life both to the program and the recruiting trail.

In choosing a head coach, I believe that it’s crucial to consider the schemes and systems that will work best considering what type of players you are able to recruit. The DMV area is known for its athletes. Maryland’s roster is full of talented running backs, wide receivers, linebackers, and defensive backs. The weakness of the DMV area is that it is typically not known for producing quarterbacks or linemen. Keeping these factors in mind, what offensive and defensive schemes have the best chance of succeeding at Maryland?

Offense: Up-tempo Spread Option
So you have a roster full of talented running backs and wide receivers, but you’re a bit weak on your offensive line. You also have a quarterback who is very mobile, but without the arm talent to run a bunch of complex patterns. The up-tempo spread option is the offensive system for you.

This system is based on one simple principle: spread the field with 3-4 receivers in order to run the ball with both your quarterback and your running backs. From there, the offense will try to get the ball into the hands of its talented receivers by using play-action passes and screens. The offense will also use a high tempo to keep the defense on their heels. This may seem like a “gimmick” offense, but if you’ve ever watched Oregon, Notre Dame, or Ohio State play, this is exactly what they run. I fully believe that this is the best offensive system to run in College Park.

Defense: 3-4
Seem familiar? This is what the Terrapins ran for the majority of Edsall’s time in College Park under former defensive coordinator Brian Stewart. It had decent success, but the team moved to a 4-3 scheme this season due to personnel changes. However, with the talent that the DMV area produces, the 3-4 is the best scheme for the Terrapins to run. Linemen are very tough to recruit in the DMV, and an even-front scheme is completely reliant on strong defensive linemen. Conversely, the 3-4 scheme is reliant on strong linebackers. It has been said many times that finding strong exterior defensive linemen is the toughest thing to do in college football. The 3-4 eliminates that problem.

The DMV area is full of talented linebackers, making an odd-front scheme ideal for a team in this region. It is a more versatile scheme, since blitzes can come from any number of different places. And for those who say that a 3-4 scheme can’t work in the Big Ten Conference, take a look at the Wisconsin Badgers.

Now that I’ve established what I believe are the ideal offensive and defensive schemes for Maryland’s next head coach to run, let’s take a look at some names.

Scott Frost – Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Oregon Ducks
He’s the first name on this list because he’s my number one choice. By a lot. Frost is young (40 years old) but has already accumulated a wealth of coaching experience at the college level. He has been a member of Oregon’s coaching staff since 2009, and has been calling plays for head coach Mark Helfrich since 2013. Before that, he was an assistant coach with Northern Iowa, Kansas State, and Nebraska. He played quarterback at Stanford under Bill Walsh, and at Nebraska under Tom Osborne. He also played in the NFL under Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, and Jon Gruden.

He runs one of the most prolific offenses in college football at Oregon, dialing up plays more quickly than just about any coordinator in the country. As the Ducks’ quarterbacks coach, he tutored Marcus Mariota to his Heisman Trophy victory in 2014. Over the past few years, he has been approached by non-Power 5 teams about head coaching positions, but has always turned them down. He was widely considered to be the front-runner for Nebraska’s head coaching vacancy last season, but that job was surprisingly filled by former Oregon State head coach Mike Riley. He’s ready to take a job at a Power 5 program, and with Maryland being on the up-swing, this could be a perfect match.

Frost runs a spread-option offense which runs the ball about 60% of the time. As I mentioned above, his offenses typically rank as some of the fastest in college football. If he were to become a head coach, he would likely keep the offensive play-calling duties. For most of his time with the Ducks, former defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti was running a very unique 3-4 defense. It is very possible that he would bring in someone who could run that system.

Mike Norvell – Deputy Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach, Arizona State Sun Devils
If you thought Frost was young, wait until you meet Mike Norvell. The 33-year old has been in charge of Arizona State’s potent offense since 2012, and also served as Pittsburgh’s offensive coordinator in 2011. Before that, he had assistant coaching positions with both Tulsa and Central Arkansas. He was a wide receiver for Central Arkansas from 2001-2005, and is the school’s all-time receptions leader.

Much like Frost, Norvell runs a spread-to-run offense that uses high tempo and puts up a lot of points. One difference is that Norvell’s offenses are always very balanced, and always feature a nearly 50/50 split between the run and the pass. During his time with the Sun Devils, they have run a very unique 3-3-5 defense, and it’s very possible that he would run that system as a head coach. Like Frost, he’d likely call the offensive plays as a head coach.

Kirby Smart – Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Alabama Crimson Tide
Breaking away from my offensive-based coach list, Smart is also young (39-years old), but has run Nick Saban’s defense at Alabama since 2008. He has worked with Saban since 2004, when he served as LSU’s defensive backs coach. He was also the Miami Dolphins’ safety coach in 2006 during Saban’s brief stint in the NFL. He has also held assistant coaching positions at Georgia, Florida State, and Valdosta State. He played defensive back for Georgia from 1995-1998.

Smart runs my preferred 3-4 defensive scheme, and it is widely considered to be the most complex defense in college football. It has produced a very large amount of NFL talent, especially among the linebackers and defensive backs. Unlike Maryland’s system under Stewart, it is based on building a wall along the defensive line, and executing solid coverage behind that. It is not pressure-based, but rather is built on gap discipline and solid execution. The down-side for me is that Alabama’s preferred offensive scheme is a one-back pro-style system, though current offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has brought a few up-tempo spread concepts to their offense.

Brent Venables – Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach, Clemson Tigers
Venables’ solid defensive coaching ability and excellent recruiting makes him a solid option. He has been the man in charge of Clemson’s defense since 2012, serving as Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator from 1999-2011. He also served as an assistant coach for Kansas State from 1993-1998. He played for both Garden City Community College and Kansas State from 1989-1992.

The down-side for me is that Venables runs a 4-3 defensive scheme, but it has served him very well with the recruits that he has been able to get with the Tigers. On the plus side, head coach Dabo Swinney has always run a spread-to-run offense that has consistently ranked as one of the more prolific in the country.

P.J. Fleck – Head Coach, Western Michigan Broncos
You’ve probably heard of Fleck, and how crazy is that? Here is a guy whose youth, energy, and recruiting prowess have made Western Michigan relevant in the college football world. He is the youngest head coach in college football at 34-years old, and has done very well for himself with the Broncos over the past 3 years. Before that, he served as the wide receivers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has also held assistant coaching positions with Rutgers, Northern Illinois, and Ohio State. He played wide receiver for Northern Illinois from 1999-2003, and in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers from 2004-2005.

He runs a multiple offensive scheme that is a mix between a pro-style West Coast attack and a spread-option. The down-side for me is that he runs a 4-3 defensive scheme.

Dino Babers – Head Coach, Bowling Green Falcons
This one hurts a little bit. Babers led the Falcons to an embarrassing 48-27 victory over the Terrapins a few weeks ago, sending the team into a downward spiral. However, Babers is a very impressive coach who is likely ready for a Power 5 head coaching job. He has been Bowling Green’s head coach since 2014, and held the same job at Eastern Illinois from 2012-2013. He has held assistant coaching jobs at Baylor, UCLA, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, Arizona, San Diego State, Purdue, Northern Arizona, UNLV, Eastern Illinois, Arizona State, and Hawaii. He played defensive back and running back at Hawaii from 1979-1983.

As you can imagine from his list of stops, Babers is the oldest coach on this list at 54-years old. His Bowling Green team runs a prolific spread offense, and is one of the faster ones in the country. However, his Bowling Green team also runs a 4-3 defense, which is a down-side for me.