OT - Under Armour’s CEO asks Maryland fans to support Edsall

[huskymedic]

Friends in high places or protecting investment?

Note writer slap @ UConn towards end.

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...urs-ceo-asks-maryland-fans-to-support-edsall/

By Ben Kercheval Jun 11, 2012, 6:33 PM EDT

... "Speaking to the Baltimore Sun over the weekend, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank said fans of the program need to give Edsall time."

“Randy Edsall is a good, strong, decent man who is working his tail off on behalf of the University of Maryland,” Plank said. “And there are more people who want to spend their days burning things down than building it up. At least just stop rooting against him. You know, give the guy a chance.“I don’t speak for the university, but he’s our coach. He’s our coach and we should get behind him and support him.”

..."Which leads me to the point many had a year and a half ago: Maryland replaced Ralph Friedgen… with Randy Edsall. At the risk of sounding like a complete hick, giving Edsall the keys to Maryland’s new image is like putting a restrictor plate on a stock car. That’s not to say Edsall isn’t a good coach — I don’t believe you take any team, let alone UConn, to a BCS bowl without being pretty darn good at your job — but he’s not the right fit for what the Terps need right now."

"Unless Edsall starts winning while his teams average 40 points a game, he’s not going to get the chance Plank says he deserves."

 

[BlueMAB]

Got another email from the UConn athletic department today regarding season tickets. They're slowly starting to get it. You can't just build it, you have to market it to get people to come.

 

[businesslawyer]

1. Randy who?

2. It's not a bad piece. Recognizing that Edsall is a good coach, but wondering if he was the right fit for what UMD needed, is a balanced view.

3. Not one person not a UConn fan views that statement as a "slap" against UConn. Everyone else in the college football world views it as a statement of reality..

 

[Srqhusky]

Just a sponsor doing what he has to. They probably had input in the coach selection. Between the coach, the uniforms and now the field. This shows Exactly why boosters should let the teams decide how to run things

 

[sdhusky]

1. Randy who?

2. It's not a bad piece. Recognizing that Edsall is a good coach, but wondering if he was the right fit for what UMD needed, is a balanced view.

3. Not one person not a UConn fan views that statement as a "slap" against UConn. Everyone else in the college football world views it as a statement of reality..

How about recognizing that Edsall isn't a good coach, but a mediocre one based on his results, as a balanced view?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

How about recognizing that Edsall isn't a good coach, but a mediocre one based on his results, as a balanced view?

Do you think a mediocre coach could've taken UConn where we've been in such a short amount of time? Edsall is a good coach, not a great coach. He certainly has his warts which are now being exposed at Maryland.

I already regret posting this response.

 

[Adios]

Thank you, UMD!

 

[businesslawyer]

How about recognizing that Edsall isn't a good coach, but a mediocre one based on his results, as a balanced view?

Why would you want us to make the same arguments again? Do you have something new to say? Honestly, for the life of me I can't understand why you'd want me to repeat what I've said to you before.

 

[Palatine]

No one states the obvious.

It is easier to win at UConn than to win at Maryland.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

No one states the obvious.

It is easier to win at UConn than to win at Maryland.

I'm hesitant to ask.......but......why is that again?

 

[Palatine]

I'm hesitant to ask.......but......why is that again?

First, College Park is a war zone. No one goes there if they don't have to. Maryland is a perennial also ran in their conference. Makes it a tough place to win. Always has been. Fridge was a miracle worker.

UConn has better facilities, a better profile in their conference, it's a much better situation than at Maryland.

 

[mattp]

First, College Park is a war zone. No one goes there if they don't have to. Maryland is a perennial also ran in their conference. Makes it a tough place to win. Always has been. Fridge was a miracle worker.

UConn has better facilities, a better profile in their conference, it's a much better situation than at Maryland.

if you're going to try to argue that UConn had a better profile when we joined the Big East, moving up from 1AA just years before, i don't know what to say to you until i get my English-to-Ridiculous Dictionary

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

First, College Park is a war zone. No one goes there if they don't have to. Maryland is a perennial also ran in their conference. Makes it a tough place to win. Always has been. Fridge was a miracle worker.

UConn has better facilities, a better profile in their conference, it's a much better situation than at Maryland.

Weren't you the guy that coined the phrase....."We used to be in trailers"?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

if you're going to try to argue that UConn had a better profile when we joined the Big East, moving up from 1AA just years before, i don't know what to say to you until i get my English-to-Ridiculous Dictionary

Well, in fairness, at least he didn't try to sell us that we are in a much better recruiting area in a much more stable conference.

 

[Palatine]

if you're going to try to argue that UConn had a better profile when we joined the Big East, moving up from 1AA just years before, i don't know what to say to you until i get my English-to-Ridiculous Dictionary

UConn has won two conference championships and been to a BCS Bowl game in the last five years, so yeah, we have a better profile.

One of the reason that I was so upset with P. last yaer is that he threw away a number of games. He could have had 8 or 9 wins. Should have in my opinion.

 

[uconndogs]

For the umteenth time I'll simply say that I think Edsall did a hell of job getting this program going. And he did it with had working, tough, athletic kids.

That said, there is little doubt in my mind that he took the wrong approach with the Terps. There is absolutely no reason to believe that thing was broken, but it appears that is exactly the approach he took. Unfortunately, people (very reasaonable people in my mind) are going to accuse him of breaking it. He's put himself right in the hotseat with that approach.

His players told him last season to "go duck* himself" and in the last game of the season they did it in style. If he doesn't win those kids over this summer that team is looking at another 2-3 win season and he won't be there when the Terps kick-off in 2013.

Again, I think Randy is a good coach, but I think he is also thick headed to the extreme and has an a**hole for an agent.

 

[Palatine]

Joe Krivak 1987-1991 20-34-2 .375
Mark Duffner 1992-1996 20-35-0 .364
Ron Vanderlinden 1997-2000 15-29-0 .341

Those are the three coaches before Fridge. We saw how the coach who came after Fridge is doing. Very few coaches in Maryland football history had winning records. Its a tough place to win.

 

[ZooCougar]

Well if Maryland fires Randy Edsall then at least he will be able to find work on TV. ESPN is always looking for telegenic old coach with a great personality.

P better beat Maryland this year, good grief.

 

[mattp]

UConn has won two conference championships and been to a BCS Bowl game in the last five years, so yeah, we have a better profile.

One of the reason that I was so upset with P. last yaer is that he threw away a number of games. He could have had 8 or 9 wins. Should have in my opinion.

you said it's easier to win at UConn than UMD, and that's why Edsall appeared to be a good coach here, when in fact he is not. now you're using Edsall's wins as reasons he had an easier time winning here? what kind of gorilla logic is that? most people would have compared UConn when Edsall started to UMD when Edsall started, but i guess that would make too much sense. now you're comparing UConn in 2011 after Edsall helped build it to Maryland in the '80s and '90s, but you know what? Edsall didn't take over UMD after the '80s and '90s. he took them over last year. if you're going to say it's easier to win at UConn than UMD as a reason he didn't win at UMD you have to compare the schools when he started there, not just arbitrarily pick two dates in time

i agree that it's easier to win at UConn today than at UMD, but that's a testament to the work Edsall did here, not ammunition that he sucks.

 

[Palatine]

you said it's easier to win at UConn than UMD, and that's why Edsall appeared to be a good coach here, when in fact he is not. now you're using Edsall's wins as reasons he had an easier time winning here? what kind of gorilla logic is that? most people would have compared UConn when Edsall started to UMD when Edsall started, but i guess that would make too much sense. now you're comparing UConn in 2011 after Edsall helped build it to Maryland in the '80s and '90s, but you know what? Edsall didn't take over UMD after the '80s and '90s. he took them over last year. if you're going to say it's easier to win at UConn than UMD as a reason he didn't win at UMD you have to compare the schools when he started there, not just arbitrarily pick two dates in time

i agree that it's easier to win at UConn today than at UMD, but that's a testament to the work Edsall did here, not ammunition that he sucks.

I never said Edsall sucks. I think he is a solid coach. But he has some real problems. He is stubborn as a mule (see blocking on punts), he surrounds himself with guys who don't challenge him, he blames players for loses, he left in the shabbiest and most classless of fashions.

The bottom line is we will never know if another coach would have done better or worse than Edsall. It's unknowable. He did a good job at UConn , that much is irrefutable.

 

[pj]

If it's so much easier to win at UConn than Maryland, why was Maryland Edsall's dream job? Why did he leave?

Maryland has its defects but it's a huge advantage to be in the ACC and in the middle of a fertile recruiting area. UConn has its advantages over Maryland - facilities, absence of competing professional teams - but I don't think Edsall went there thinking that it was going to be a more difficult place to win.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Edsall was a good coach until the moment he took another job. Then he's just another ex and you know what? I don't have to be nice to my exes who dumped me. I can wish them health and happiness, but I don't have to write poems about missing them.

That's how I feel about Edsall. I appreciate what he did, but I don't have to pretend to like him.

 

[whaler11]

Well if Maryland fires Randy Edsall then at least he will be able to find work on TV. ESPN is always looking for telegenic old coach with a great personality.

P better beat Maryland this year, good grief.

They do put Bob Davie on TV.....

And yes, I don't want to imagine what this place looks like if they open 1-2.

 

[Adios]

Joe Krivak 1987-1991 20-34-2 .375
Mark Duffner 1992-1996 20-35-0 .364
Ron Vanderlinden 1997-2000 15-29-0 .341

Those are the three coaches before Fridge. We saw how the coach who came after Fridge is doing. Very few coaches in Maryland football history had winning records. Its a tough place to win.

UMD does have at least one national championship in football.

 

[mattp]

Well if Maryland fires Randy Edsall then at least he will be able to find work on TV. ESPN is always looking for telegenic old coach with a great personality.

P better beat Maryland this year, good grief.

wouldn't it be poetic justice if the coach that cost so many other coaches their jobs when they lost to UConn also lost his job by losing to UConn