His initial 5 year contract was due to expire in 2016. He is 20-30 at UMd. The thing is, leaving a coach as a lame duck going into the final two years of a contract can affect recruiting. In this case, maybe it did.
For a 5 year contract, most ADs make the call by the end of the third year. It is rare to wait longer; you either get an extension or the chopping block.
Which makes the coming year an important one for HC SS.
One thing I will note about Edsall's contract. It includes a buyout amendment. They can let him go for $500K between 1/16/2017 and 1/15/2018 or fire him after that with no cost to the university. So this was hardly a strong endorsement for Randy. UMd AD Kevin Anderson has hedged his bet well here.
Would not be surprised if sometime next year, Kevin Coyle does something very similar.