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http://www.ajc.com/gatech/content/sports/gatech/stories/2007/11/30/gtfoot_1201.html
Edsall's stint with UConn earns respect
Candidate for Tech job known as tireless worker
By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/01/07When Randy Edsall heard some Connecticut football players bought beer on the eve of last season's game at South Florida, he didn't suspend them for a half or a week or a month. He kicked five players off the team.
Their teammates backed him. The reasoning: We've all worked too hard to tolerate anybody who might jeopardize what we're trying to accomplish.
Edsall's credibility came from his reputation as the hardest worker of all.
That's how he took UConn from a Division I-AA program in 1999 to within one victory of a Big East championship in 2007. And that's how he earned an interview to replace Chan Gailey as coach at Georgia Tech.
Officials at Tech and UConn on Friday did not return calls seeking comment about the interview or Edsall's chances, but others spoke by phone about what he is like as a coach.
"He works non-stop seven days a week," said Matt Bonislawski, one of Edsall's starting quarterbacks in 2005 and 2006. "He'll be in the office at 4 a.m., and he won't leave until 10 or 10:30 p.m.
"You can't help playing hard for him. He cares so much about it and puts so much time in."
When Bonislawski arrived in Storrs, Conn., the Huskies' stadium seated 16,000 and the locker rooms were in trailers. By his senior season there was a new, 40,000-seat stadium and a state-of-the-art practice facility. Now, Edsall's Huskies are 9-3 and headed to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte.
"He was put in a tough spot [with the move up from I-AA]," Bonislawski said, adding that what Edsall accomplished at UConn bodes well if he gets the job at Tech. "If he's on par with other coaches about the facilities, I'm sure he'll be able to outrecruit them."
Edsall, 50-54 in nine seasons, has transformed UConn football. The Huskies sold out their final four home games, and though fans still arrive late and leave early, the interest level has reached once-unimaginable heights. A Nov. 15 article in the campus newspaper reported an online poll split 50-50 on the question: "UConn football or basketball?"
High school seniors have noticed.
"We've got people you never would have thought would wear blue and white, and now they're thinking about it," said Richard Twilley, a season-ticket holder who has been following the team since his days as an undergraduate in the mid-1990s. "Maybe there's somebody else out there who could do a better job, but I don't know who it is."
Edsall, 49, gets $920,000 this year under a contract that runs through 2010. He will owe UConn a $475,000 buyout if he takes the Tech job.
Edsall started his career as an offensive assistant but was a defensive coach from 1987-98, the last two years as secondary coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and defensive coordinator at Tech. Edsall has input on offense and defense at UConn, Bonislawski said, and the Huskies have been well-coached.
"We were always more prepared than the other team," Bonislawski said.
On offense, the Huskies operate a lot from a one-back set. Their defense, built on speed, is tied for second in the nation this season with 22 interceptions. UConn held its first nine opponents under 20 points but allowed 66 in its season finale at West Virginia, with the Big East title at stake.
Fans see him as tough and no-nonsense. When Deon Anderson, now with the Dallas Cowboys, wanted to return to UConn after dropping out in the wake of academic and legal problems, Edsall made him pay his own way for the first semester. Edsall has suspended other players or kicked them off the team.
"If you had any fears that we were going to go the wrong way when we built a big-time program," Twilley said, "that's not the way it is."
Edsall's stint with UConn earns respect
Candidate for Tech job known as tireless worker
By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/01/07When Randy Edsall heard some Connecticut football players bought beer on the eve of last season's game at South Florida, he didn't suspend them for a half or a week or a month. He kicked five players off the team.
Their teammates backed him. The reasoning: We've all worked too hard to tolerate anybody who might jeopardize what we're trying to accomplish.
Edsall's credibility came from his reputation as the hardest worker of all.
That's how he took UConn from a Division I-AA program in 1999 to within one victory of a Big East championship in 2007. And that's how he earned an interview to replace Chan Gailey as coach at Georgia Tech.
Officials at Tech and UConn on Friday did not return calls seeking comment about the interview or Edsall's chances, but others spoke by phone about what he is like as a coach.
"He works non-stop seven days a week," said Matt Bonislawski, one of Edsall's starting quarterbacks in 2005 and 2006. "He'll be in the office at 4 a.m., and he won't leave until 10 or 10:30 p.m.
"You can't help playing hard for him. He cares so much about it and puts so much time in."
When Bonislawski arrived in Storrs, Conn., the Huskies' stadium seated 16,000 and the locker rooms were in trailers. By his senior season there was a new, 40,000-seat stadium and a state-of-the-art practice facility. Now, Edsall's Huskies are 9-3 and headed to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte.
"He was put in a tough spot [with the move up from I-AA]," Bonislawski said, adding that what Edsall accomplished at UConn bodes well if he gets the job at Tech. "If he's on par with other coaches about the facilities, I'm sure he'll be able to outrecruit them."
Edsall, 50-54 in nine seasons, has transformed UConn football. The Huskies sold out their final four home games, and though fans still arrive late and leave early, the interest level has reached once-unimaginable heights. A Nov. 15 article in the campus newspaper reported an online poll split 50-50 on the question: "UConn football or basketball?"
High school seniors have noticed.
"We've got people you never would have thought would wear blue and white, and now they're thinking about it," said Richard Twilley, a season-ticket holder who has been following the team since his days as an undergraduate in the mid-1990s. "Maybe there's somebody else out there who could do a better job, but I don't know who it is."
Edsall, 49, gets $920,000 this year under a contract that runs through 2010. He will owe UConn a $475,000 buyout if he takes the Tech job.
Edsall started his career as an offensive assistant but was a defensive coach from 1987-98, the last two years as secondary coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and defensive coordinator at Tech. Edsall has input on offense and defense at UConn, Bonislawski said, and the Huskies have been well-coached.
"We were always more prepared than the other team," Bonislawski said.
On offense, the Huskies operate a lot from a one-back set. Their defense, built on speed, is tied for second in the nation this season with 22 interceptions. UConn held its first nine opponents under 20 points but allowed 66 in its season finale at West Virginia, with the Big East title at stake.
Fans see him as tough and no-nonsense. When Deon Anderson, now with the Dallas Cowboys, wanted to return to UConn after dropping out in the wake of academic and legal problems, Edsall made him pay his own way for the first semester. Edsall has suspended other players or kicked them off the team.
"If you had any fears that we were going to go the wrong way when we built a big-time program," Twilley said, "that's not the way it is."
