Only one
other school besides the University of Connecticut has moved up from Division I-AA to
Division I-A
(Football Bowl Subdivision) and
earned an AP ranking
faster. Only five times has a team ascended from Division I-AA to Division I-A
and produced a .500 or better season in each of its first three years at the
highest level of collegiate football and UConn is one of those programs.
The Huskies’
continue to climb in a BCS Conference and much of the credit for this remarkable
ascension is due to Randy Edsall who is the third winningest coach in school
history and stands at an impressive 41-31 (.569) in
the school’s first six Division I-A seasons.
In
2007, the Bryant and Munger Award finalist helped guide UConn to a share of its
first-ever BIG EAST Championship in a season where the Huskies were picked
to finish seventh in the league. The Huskies are playing in their second bowl
game in four years.
UConn
joined the BIG EAST Conference in 2004, finishing just one win shy of tying for
the conference championship. The Huskies led the conference in total defense
each of their first two years in the league, and, during their debut season in
2004, led the BIG EAST in both total offense and total defense.
During
this span, UConn has finished in the national top 20 for total offense (2003,
2004) and total defense (2002, 2005). Under Edsall's guidance, the Huskies have
defeated members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12 and
Conference USA during their brief Division I-A tenure.
In
addition to the great success on the field, UConn has performed admirably in the
classroom under Edsall. In three of the past five years, including 2007, UConn
was recognized by the American Football Coaches Association for its high
graduation rate. In 2003, UConn was the only public I-A school to graduate at
least 90 percent of its football players and in 2005, UConn was one of only
eight schools to both graduate 70 percent and win a bowl game.
In 2007,
the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) for the UConn football team was an
impressive 963, which placed it higher than the national Bowl Subdivision
average of 934 and among the top 20 percent of all football programs in the
country. UConn was one of just seven teams in 2007 to earn a bowl bid while
posting a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) above 80-percent for both its Caucasian
and African-American student-athletes.
Edsall
guided the 2002 team to a 6-6 record in its first year with a full Division I-A
compliment of 85 scholarships. UConn ended the 2002 season impressively with
four-straight wins to reach the .500 mark, including season-ending road wins at
Navy and at bowl-bound Iowa State of the Big 12 Conference.
"This was
the day that the man on the street connected with UConn football," proclaimed a
Connecticut sportswriter after the win. "It's his team, and by gawd, he's going
to cheer for it."
UConn's
.500 season was its best record since the squad won 10 games in 1998. The
Huskies' six wins were more than the Huskies posted in 2000 (three) and 2001
(two) combined. The Huskies were the most improved Division I-A team in the
country in 2002, according to preseason and postseason ratings by College
Football News.
The
excitement for Edsall and his team continued to swell in 2003 as the Huskies
moved into their new home, Rentschler Field, and enjoyed the nation's largest
attendance increase with a gain of 21,252 fans per game.
Finishing
with a 9-3 record, many national media outlets, including Bristol-based ESPN,
proclaimed that UConn should have received a bowl berth, a feat highly-uncommon
for an independent team other than Notre Dame.
With their
membership in the BIG EAST for the 2004 season, another strong campaign by the
Huskies resulted in a bowl berth. UConn went 8-4 against a challenging slate
that fall as the program gained its highest ever level of exposure with four
nationally televised games on the ESPN family of networks, three of them in
prime time. UConn used one of those opportunities to defeat eventual BCS
participant Pittsburgh, 29-17, before a rowdy sell out crowd at Rentschler
Field. The Huskies capped their historic season with a resounding 39-10 win over
Mid-American Champion Toledo in the Motor City Bowl.
The 2007
season witnessed a new level of excitement in Storrs
as the Huskies earned their first ever national rankings, peaking at No. 13 in
the BCS standings.
Only Marshall has ever cracked the national polls faster after moving up from
I-AA. UConn became just the second BIG EAST team
to ever go 7-0 at home and defeated three teams there which were ranked in the
Top 10 at some point during the season. For his efforts, Edsall was named the
New England Division I Coach of the Year by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston.
When UConn
announced its plans to join the Division I-A ranks, these were the moments that
were dreamt of, but they came sooner than almost anyone besides Edsall may have
anticipated.
"I pride
myself on taking advantage of opportunities and attacking challenges head on,"
says Edsall. "I see this as a great opportunity. An opportunity to take a
program to the Division I-A level and being able to put my stamp on it, along
with Jeff Hathaway and everyone else here, and building it into something that
the entire University and the state of Connecticut can be proud of."
Edsall has
done just that after being named the 27th head football coach at the University
of Connecticut on December 21, 1998.
"Randy
Edsall has done a tremendous job of transforming our football program over the
past nine years," says UConn Director of Athletics Jeffrey Hathaway. "He has
proven to be the perfect fit for our school and our team. He has drawn well upon
both his NFL and collegiate experiences to rapidly develop this program and
prepare it for BIG EAST competition."
Edsall
brought 19 years of previous coaching experience to the Husky program, including
15 seasons at the Division I-A collegiate level and three seasons in the
National Football League.
Edsall
joined the Huskies after completing the 1998 season as the defensive coordinator
at Georgia Tech, where he helped the 14th-ranked Yellow Jackets complete a 9-2
campaign and earn a New Year's Day win in the Gator Bowl over Notre Dame.
Georgia Tech finished 7-1 in the ACC and earned a share of the league
championship with Florida State.
Prior
to joining the staff at Georgia Tech, Edsall spent three seasons as the
secondary coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League. In
his three seasons on Tom Coughlin's staff, Edsall was a part of one of the most
successful expansion franchises in the history of the NFL. The Jaguars reached
the playoffs in 1996 and 1997, including a berth in the AFC Championship Game in
1996. During that 1996 playoff run, Edsall's secondary allowed an average of
only 217 yards passing to three of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, New
England's Drew Bledsoe and NFL Hall of Famers Jim Kelly of Buffalo and John
Elway of Denver.
Edsall
began his coaching career in 1980 at his alma mater, Syracuse University. A
former quarterback for the Orangemen, Edsall started as a graduate assistant
from 1980-1982. In 1983, coach Dick MacPherson named Edsall running backs coach.
He coached the running backs for three seasons at Syracuse (1983-84 and 1986)
and coached the tight ends in 1985 before making the switch to the defensive
side of the ball. He coached the Syracuse defensive backs from 1987-1990 and
during that period the Orangemen were ranked amongst the National Division I-A
leaders in pass defense.
In 1991,
Edsall moved on to Boston College and joined the staff of Coughlin. He coached
the Eagle defensive backs for three seasons (1991-1993) and had his secondary
ranked among the national top 20 in pass defense in two of those three seasons.
He moved with Coughlin to the NFL in 1994.
Success
has followed Edsall at every stop along his playing and coaching journey. He has
been a part of 10 different teams (nine as a coach) that made bowl appearances
and came away with a victory seven times.
The
Jacksonville Jaguars advanced to the NFL Playoffs in two of his three seasons,
including an AFC Championship Game appearance in 1996. From 1985 to 1993, Edsall
was a part of seven teams that made bowl appearances and in 1993, Boston College
upset three top 10 teams on the road in Notre Dame, Penn State and Syracuse.
Edsall was
a three-year letterwinner in football, basketball and baseball at Susquehannock
High School in Glen Rock, Pa. He was an all-state selection in all three sports
in his senior season and has been inducted into the York Area Sports Hall of Fame. He then went on to Syracuse,
where he was a member of the football team and earned one varsity letter as a
quarterback for the Orangemen. He was a member of the Syracuse squad that
captured the 1979 Independence Bowl title under head coach Frank Maloney.
Edsall is
a native of Glen Rock, Penn., and earned a bachelor's degree in physical
education from Syracuse in 1980 and added a master's degree in health and
physical education in 1982 from Syracuse.
Edsall
also is the honorary chairman of the Southern New England Arthritis Foundation
Gridiron Gala. He is on the advisory council of The Children's Home in
Cromwell, Conn., a center for over 100 neglected and abused children. Edsall
also partakes in several other charitable endeavors including serving as the
honorary chairman of the Greater Hartford American Heart Association Walk in
September 2002. He is a member of the York Area Sports Hall of Fame.
He and his
wife, Eileen, a former basketball and volleyball letterwinner at Syracuse, have
a daughter, Alexi (17), and a son, Corey (15).
