Why didn't Syracuse football ever hire Randy Edsall? It's complicated

[orangenauburn]

My guess is the old Connecticut connection protection.

If I hire you, will you keep P as DC and George as OC?

 

[OrangeAl]

I'll defer to others, but I had heard Randy was quite unpopular at the end of his tenure with Cuse.

The talk at the time was that he burned his bridges behind him on the way out.

 

[Alsacs]

He was a top candidate in 2008 after Robinson.
He didn’t want the job.
No more on him.
He was never getting the job after Mac.
It was a different time.
PP didn’t win a NC and had What losses but he did a solid job and he wasn’t a douchenozzle like Edsall is.

 

[GoSU96]

There's a reason why it went from the "Sack Mac Pack" to 11-0-1. Coincides with D being made OC and P joining the staff for the '87 season.

It ain't a coincidence.

 

[Cusefan95]

I don't know that it was about funding. At that time, I don't recall there being any talk of SU under-funding its football program.

I remember comments from football analysts as far back as the Fiesta Bowl vs Colorado that Syracuse didn’t invest in the program/have facilities to stay in the top 10/compete for national championships consistently. Wasn’t something that the fan base paid attention to - but there was absolutely awareness within the football community that Syracuse was running a program on the cheap.

 

[zjscuse]

"At the same time, Daryl Gross was stepping in as athletic director and wanted to transform the football program into the USC of the East. Edsall, a South Central Pennsylvania boy, didn't fit that model, and Gross hired Greg Robinson, a West Coaster from Los Angeles with the flashy Super Bowl rings to match the glitz of Hollywood. "

 

[SmilinBob]

As PP did a good job at Syracuse, the big issue that Syracuse failed on, like everybody else in the northeast except PSU, was discerning that Big Time football in the northeast required major ties, conference ties, to either the midwest or the South. The northeast could support a truly Big Time basketball league, but not a Big Time football league. And the day of independents was rushing into the grave.

Gene Corrigan has declared that when the Big Ten adding PSU and then the SEC going to 12 forced the ACC to expand, that 2 schools immediately came to mind and were seriously considered by the ACC: Florida St and Syracuse. I think it is clear that Corrigan wanted both, making the ACC a 10 team conference.

If that had happened, how would Syracuse football have developed?

Obviously we'll never know, personally the ACC is where I've always wanted SU to be. The Big East was like living with someone for X amount of years, you have some fun but it was time to get serious and get married and that partner wasn't marring material and deep down inside, you knew it all along.

Regarding Edsal, he's a good coach and like the questions of SU going to the ACC years before they did, we'll never know how RE would have done on Hill.

 

[Finwad32]

"At the same time, Daryl Gross was stepping in as athletic director and wanted to transform the football program into the USC of the East. Edsall, a South Central Pennsylvania boy, didn't fit that model, and Gross hired Greg Robinson, a West Coaster from Los Angeles with the flashy Super Bowl rings to match the glitz of Hollywood. "

He did some things, but, at the end of the day he was a terrible fit and fiscally irresponsible.

Greg Robinson came at the recommendation of Pete Carroll, who DG called and asked who he should hire. If it weren't for pressure from others in '08-'09, Doug Marrone wouldn't have been DG's pick either.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Simple answer he was a DB coach in more ways than one.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

"I spent a lot of years up at Syracuse, and I'm not so sure I could tell you where a lot of things were up there. I knew my way to the office and back. I knew where Erie Boulevard [one of the main drags in the city] was. I knew where Rico's and Grimaldi's [two legendary Italian restaurants] were. I knew where the church was and I knew where Wegmans [grocery store] was, and that was about it." - Paul Pasqualoni

 

[GoSU96]

Finally read the article. What's the point?

I know it's not what Mink was trying to get at but what it tells me is that this school has been in a position, and has been able to hire well qualified HC's and the issues with the program are more about poor management at the top with two hires (Gerg and Shafer) and an unwillingness to try to compete with infrastructure.

 

[sufandu]

Finally read the article. What's the point?

I know it's not what Mink was trying to get at but what it tells me is that this school has been in a position, and has been able to hire well qualified HC's and the issues with the program are more about poor management at the top with two hires (Gerg and Shafer) and an unwillingness to try to compete with infrastructure.

I get that you have a high level of loyalty to P, but I don't get how you can't see how this is an interesting topic. He was a former player that had been on staff longer than P or D with a track record of being a very good recruiter. He was worth considering or he wouldn't have been interviewed. His youth combined with P's previous head coaching experience justify the decision Jake made. Interestingly, P got his first HC job at 33 yrs old.

 

[GoSU96]

I get that you have a high level of loyalty to P, but I don't get how you can't see how this is an interesting topic. He was a former player that had been on staff longer than P or D with a track record of being a very good recruiter. He was worth considering or he wouldn't have been interviewed. His youth combined with P's previous head coaching experience justify the decision Jake made. Interestingly, P got his first HC job at 33 yrs old.

The what if aspect is stupid. Now if he had been the choice instead of Robinson, that's a different story, but he states he wasn't interested then or in 2008.

 

[sufandu]

The what if aspect is stupid. Now if he had been the choice instead of Robinson, that's a different story, but he states he wasn't interested then or in 2008.

To each their own. I don't think it's stupid. Did he have the knowledge or experience to run a program or was that experience he gained after he left indespensible? Was he smart enough to learn on the job as some young guys have recently? Would his recruiting ability had made up for lack of experience? I don't know. Probably only he does. What ifs can be interesting.

If he had been interested and DG recriprocated in 2004 would that have been good or bad for us? I don't know that either.

 

[TheCusian]

To each their own. I don't think it's stupid. Did he have the knowledge or experience to run a program or was that experience he gained after he left indespensible? Was he smart enough to learn on the job as some young guys have recently? Would his recruiting ability had made up for lack of experience? I don't know. Probably only he does. What ifs can be interesting.

If he had been interested and DG recriprocated in 2004 would that have been good or bad for us? I don't know that either.

I think based on his prior stops and history we can infer he’d be better than Gerg and Shafer, and worse than Marrone, P, and Dino.

His public facing personality is not endearing, but he’s a decent/mediocre HC

 

[Rautins07]

maybe Randy was just up front and honest about the fact that he was(and still is) a complete and utter tool

I, along with many SU fans haven't forgotten him running up the score a few years ago in Storrs, what goes around, comes around and today it's coming around!