 |
| Kevin Anderson and Randy Edsall at Press Conference |
The press conference was attended by Terp luminaries from Gary Williams to Danny O’Brien along with media folks from across the DC/Balt region. Coach Edsall seems to be a good guy. He could be as good a coach for the Terps as Ralph Friedgen was for the past ten years. The presser went well.
In Terpland, there has been unbridled outrage over the hire that Kevin Anderson made on Sunday. Kevin promised that he was looking to take the Terps football team from “good to great”. Terp Nation expected a real prominent hire, Mike Leach, formerly of Texas Tech. (You can count me as one of the outraged.)
Instead we get Randy Edsall. A traditional football coach. Seemingly a good man and someone who wanted to be the coach at Maryland. In the world of college football, I don’t think there are too many who would say that College Park is their dream job. In fact, we may have corralled both of them, Ralph and Randy.
In my opinion, we went from “good to good”. Maybe not a step up, but not a step down either. I question whether it was worth firing Ralph Friedgen to get to Randy Edsall.
The Long View
In longer form, on Sunday I was seriously upset that the Terps did not get Leach. Sure, he came off as a bit of a nut, but he would sell tickets. The Terps need to sell seats and suites. We had a chance to be great, we had to take the chance.
Over the past few weeks, the “made for tv” drama in College Park was a central part of my existence. I know several other Terp fans that were also hanging on every tweet and Terrapin Times board posting. We were all waiting for the Mike Leach circus to begin.
A few days ago, we also learned that Rich Rodriguez (Rich Rod aka DickRod) was also in the mix. He of the jilted WVU and failed campaign in Michigan was on the Terps short list. There were also rumors of Gus Malzahn, currently the offensive coordinator at Auburn, as the next Terps head coach.
Kevin Anderson promised a decision by January 4th. So as it turned from 2010 to 2011 we knew the hire would be made soon.
It was no surprise that the hiring of the little known Edsall came as a letdown. Now that it has happened, we have to rally behind our team and look forward to a great 2011.
My Junior Staff
The littles don’t know what to think. They were excited to hear about Mike Leach and thinking about the “air raid” offense. In reality, Ralph is Maryland football to them. It does not seem possible that anyone else can coach the football team.
To the littles, Ralph did not have a job at Maryland. He was Maryland.
We are all sad to see him go and hope that there is some way that he can stay connected to the program, team and stadium that he helped to make relevant again.