Geniuses In College Park Throw Coach Fridge Under The Bus For A Newer Model From A Basketball School

No offense to Randy Edsall, who by all accounts is a good football coach, but Maryland put Ralph through all this so they could hire the coach from UConn – a Big East basketball school…?

Evidently.

Edsall spent the last 12 years taking the University of Connecticut from Division I-AA status (now FCS) to five bowl games, including a BCS contest (the Huskies got squashed last night by Oklahoma), has been named Maryland’s head football coach, director of athletics Kevin Anderson announced Sunday evening.

Edsall, who will be introduced Monday during a news conference, guided the Huskies to a pair of Big East Conference titles (2007, 2010) and postseason appearances in each of the last four seasons, including the 2011 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

The 2010 Big East Coach of the Year has led the Huskies to eight or more wins in each of the last four seasons as the Huskies successfully made the ascent from Division I-AA.

Prior to his stint in Storrs, Conn., Edsall, a native of Glen Rock, Pa., spent one season (1998) as the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech and four years (1994-97) as a defensive backs coach with the Jacksonville Jaguars who went from expansion team to the AFC Championship game during his tenure.

According to sources, the interview process with former Texas Tech coach Mike Leech went well, but that Maryland “chickened out.”