For those looking for Randy Edsall to surface in the college game, it appears you’ll have to wait at least another season.
Sunday, the Detroit Lions announced that it has hired the former Maryland and UConn head coach to be its “director of football research-special projects.” The organization wrote in its release that "[t]he football research department assists in all aspects of game preparation, and also provides information to the coaching, personnel and football administration departments to help improve the team’s decisions in the draft, free agency and on gameday.”
This marks Edsall’s second job at the NFL level, the first coming with the Jacksonville Jaguars as defensive backs coach from 1994-97. The connection between Edsall and the club is general manager Bob Quinn, who was a grad assistant in the UConn athletic department when Edsall was hired by the Huskies in 1999.
Edsall was fired by Maryland midway through the 2015 season following a 2-4 start to the season. Over the course of four-plus seasons, Edsall’s Terps went 22-33 overall and 10-23 in conference play. Coming into last season, Edsall had gone 7-6 in back-to-back seasons and led the Terps to bowl bids each year.
Prior to Maryland, Edsall had spent 12 seasons as the head coach at UConn. The Huskies went 8-5 in each of his last three seasons in Storrs before leaving for College Park in January of 2011.
In addition to Maryland and UConn, Edsall also spent time as the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech (1998); defensive backs coach at Boston College (1991-93); and long-time assistant at his alma mater Syracuse (1980-90).