Randy Edsall has set limits on players’ facial hair and stripped their surnames from the backs of jerseys. He confined academically borderline players to study hall during spring practices and banned earrings and baseball caps.
Maryland’s football team has undergone a number of cosmetic changes since Edsall was named coach in January. More changes are on the horizon, with the expected construction of an indoor practice facility and installation of a new playing surface at Byrd Stadium in the coming years. But the most dramatic development has been the culture change that has swept through the Gossett Team House.
While there is no guarantee Edsall will have the same success he enjoyed at Connecticut, which he led to the Fiesta Bowl last season, this much is certain as Maryland readies to open fall camp Tuesday: The 52-year-old former Syracuse quarterback has established himself as a disciplinarian who is supremely confident in his ability to deliver Maryland its first ACC championship since 2001.
“He has definitely put his stamp down,” said Danny O’Brien, Maryland’s starting quarterback. “The culture is a lot different. It has been his way from day one, and we respect him because he is a man of his word.”
O’Brien described Edsall as possessing a “kind of military style in the way he executes things,” and for players “it is do right, or that’s the only option. I think it has been good on us, to be honest. I think we needed it.”
Linebacker Kenny Tate simply called Edsall a “no-nonsense guy.”O’Brien said the adjustment to Edsall was made easier because the team was already composed of good character players who abided by rules under Ralph Friedgen, who was fired from his alma mater after last season.
Edsall inherits a roster that returns several key players from the team that went 9-4 in 2010 with a Military Bowl victory over East Carolina. But outside expectations have been lukewarm; ACC media members picked Maryland to finish fifth out of six teams in the Atlantic Division.
Edsall said he pays no mind to preseason predictions. He also said he is not interested in winning a “popularity contest” in pleasing Maryland fans as he attempts to build a new foundation for the university’s football program.
Sitting in his office late last month, Edsall, who had a 74-70 record at U-Conn., turned away from his window view of the football field and said: “The only thing I can tell you is that everything I have ever done I have been successful at. Every stop along the way, as an assistant and as a head coach, we have been successful. That is not by accident.”
Part of Edsall’s program-building formula includes installing a value system. Among the much-publicized rules that Edsall has instituted: No earrings. No hats in the building. And only neatly trimmed facial hair will suffice.
When Edsall said last month that Maryland’s new Under Armour-designed uniforms, which will be unveiled Aug. 22, would not include names on the backs of jerseys, some fans lashed out on Internet message boards because they felt Edsall was determined to stifle individuality.