Phil Fulmer to Lane Kiffen Kiffin was bad. But for rough transfers of power, this one is more akin to Brutus taking over for Julius Caesar.
Maryland has beaten almost no one since its opener against Miami. The Terrapins stand at 2-6, needing to win their last four games to reach .500 and become bowl-eligible. The multicolored Terps, whose uniforms made such a big splash in their season opener, are now openly mocked, mostly along these lines: “Boy, they sure look good getting their be-hinds kicked.”
Following the mishandled ouster of Friedgen last December, Edsall was in a “Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t” situation, no matter what happened.
If Edsall won big, everyone would have said, “He did it with Ralph’s players. Big deal.” But given the way things have gone so far, the talk is more, “These guys went 9-4 under Ralph last season. What’s this guy doing?”
When it came to luxury suites and selling tickets, Edsall also gets somewhat of a pass here. Bear Bryant reincarnated isn’t going to sell seats for Maryland-Towson in September.
But Saturday’s abject eyesore, where lower-level tickets at Byrd Stadium were going for a penny on StubHub? That’s more than frigid, rotten weather. That’s unacceptable.
You can put only so much on the regression of benched sophomore quarterback Danny O’Brien, who is probably lining up suitors elsewhere like any disenchanted, talented kid might do. The same goes for the season-ending injury to linebacker Kenny Tate.
Something more than injuries and atrocious execution feels afoot.
Edsall as an X’s and O’s guy might yet be a great coach, though his 1-19 record against top-25 opponents hurts an otherwise impressive résumé. But it’s Edsall the Grand Pooh-Bah of Maryland Football that I’m worried about.
He just seems oblivious to the market he is now coaching in.
Rules and restrictions within reason are fine, but this whole “one voice” shtick doesn’t work here.
Kevin Anderson didn’t hire you to coach at the Citadel or VMI or even West Point, the athletic director’s former post. He hired you to coach 20 minutes away from the nation’s capital at a state-funded university, where students are allowed to dress how they like and express themselves individually while still respecting the social mores of the larger college community. Forcing your players to trim their locks and facial hair and hide their platinum ropes and diamond earrings, lest they face punitive measures, is a little too Pleasantville. They’re not selling Italian wool at Brooks Brothers; they’re trying to sell out college football stadiums.
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