Edsall: ‘I’ve been through this before’

When Randy Edsall took over as coach at Connecticut in 1998, he found himself in a unique situation.

The Huskies were entering their final season in Division I-AA, and Edsall was tasked with shepherding the program's move into Division I-A competition.

The transition wasn't always smooth — the Huskies won a combined five games in their first two seasons at college football's highest level — but he ultimately groomed Connecticut into the 2010 Big East champion.

Fast forward 11 months, and Edsall's now comparing the transformation he led in Storrs, Conn., to his situation in College Park, where the first-year coach's tenure has gotten off to a rocky 2-7 start.

"I've been through this before," Edsall said. "I know how to handle it. I know what to do. There is no panic. It was like this the first year when we put the team together in Jacksonville. ... It's Connecticut all over again, 13 years ago. Jacksonville Jaguars all over again. It's going to Boston College when we were there. I've been through all of this."

Only the dismal years everywhere else were expected. The Eagles were rebuilding their program from the ground up when Edsall arrived, and the Jaguars were entering their inaugural season in the NFL.

The Terps, in contrast, entered this season coming off a 9-4 season in the ACC and had 14 starters returning from last year's squad.

Most never expected a rebuilding process, and Edsall said as much, proclaiming lofty expectations for an ACC Championship throughout preseason camp and early parts of the season.

Orange Bowl hopes, though, have since morphed into an apparent overhaul.

Athletic Director Kevin Anderson, in announcing the ouster of longtime coach Ralph Friedgen last December, described the move as an effort to push "the program from good to great."

But with Edsall's first season beginning to mirror the Terps' forgettable 2009 campaign — when they finished at 2-10, one of the program's worst-ever records — the coaching switch is beginning to draw the ire of an already restless and increasingly fickle fanbase.

In Saturday's 31-13 drubbing to Virginia, sections of a sparse Byrd Stadium crowd intermittently chanted "Fire Edsall" beginning in the first quarter.

It's highly unlikely Edsall will be removed anytime in the near future, especially considering the cash-strapped athletic department would have to buy out the remaining $10 million on the coach's contract.

Still, while the sample size remains too small to fairly judge Edsall in College Park, it's impossible to ignore the differences between the Terps and the programs Edsall was previously a part of. The programs he managed in Connecticut, Jacksonville and Boston College had only minimal expectations.

The expectation for him in College Park, though, was to win now and win often.

Nine games into the year, and the season's already seen as a wash, a black mark in the program's history. The Terps have no chance at a bowl game and will play their final three games with the hope of saving face and improving for next season.

"This isn't earth-shattering," Edsall said. "It doesn't have me discouraged. I have a vision of what we're going to do, and I know we're doing things the right way."

He may not be discouraged, but plenty of others are.

cwalsh@umdbk.com