I want to give my take on the coaching by just listing a few specific examples of some stuff I've seen over the past year or so. These examples I’m going to give have mostly not been talked about much. Whether it was because of a blowout loss, a historic win, whatever, these specific examples were really not discussed much. But I feel they tell a story of where things currently stand and where they are headed.
In-game coaching
This has been many folks’ biggest issue with Edsall from Day 1, and in my honest opinion, rightly so. I won’t get into the likely hundreds of specifics we could use to illustrate this point. I’m sure people want to talk about hanging onto timeouts, not making adjustments, etc., etc., but I will instead focus on a few from last season.
The first example comes from Maryland’s road trip to Wisconsin last year, where they got shellacked 52-7. Down 7-0 and with Wisconsin driving, they get called for offensive pass interference. The ball was spotted at the 18-yard line and they would have been backed up 10 yards to the 28 with 3rd and 19 to go. Instead of giving his defense a chance to get a stop and possibly forcing a longer field goal attempt, Edsall instead chose to decline the penalty and essentially give Wisconsin the three points.
Now take your fan caps off for a minute and put your football helmets on. If you are a player on Maryland’s defense, what are you thinking when your coach has a chance to push them back and give you an opportunity for a big stop versus giving them a fairly easily makeable field goal attempt? I know what I would be thinking: Our coach doesn’t trust us to make a stop!
Maybe Wisconsin gets 19 yards and they go in and score a TD instead of a FG. But I think most folks would like a defense’s chance to at least force a longer field goal attempt. It’s second guessing and I understand hindsight is 20-20. The decision was never really questioned because the game was such a blowout it seemed insignificant and Edsall essentially refused to discuss anything with reporters following that game. But that gaff was the start of a trend based on what I saw the following week…
Now this coaching decision most fans remember, as at one point, it appeared it might cost Maryland the game in Happy Valley. With Penn St. facing 3rd and 10 from the Maryland 29, they were called for a holding penalty. That would have pushed PSU back to the MD 39-yard line with 3rd and 20 to go. Instead, Edsall declined the penalty and Ficken hit the 46 yarder, giving PSU a 9-7 lead.
Now, maybe you can argue that a 46-yarder is no gimme and you don’t want to give them an extra down with a chance to score a touchdown. But the defense had just gone three series of interception, 3 and out and 5 and out. They were playing well and had a lead. On top of that, Sam Ficken was regarded as the top kicker in the Big Ten and routinely hit field goals of that distance. With all of that knowledge at hand, it’s difficult to justify the decision of essentially giving them the points. But again, this decision was once again not really scrutinized as the Terps would go on to win a historic game in Happy Valley.
And I truly believe these decisions are demoralizing for players. Again, maybe coincidence, but lets take a look at the ensuing possessions following these questionable calls that led to points for the other team. In both games, Maryland running backs fumbled on the following possessions which led to additional points for the opponent. I think these facts speak for themselves but I will let you all decide.
And finally, who can forget the Rutgers second-half meltdown. No specifics needed here, Ralph simply seemed to be outcoaching his opponents with second-half adjustments and attacking weaknesses. I’m not sure Maryland has recovered from that loss yet. We saw almost the exact same thing happen earlier this season against Bowling Green.
Motivation
Maybe the mood and talk in the locker room and team meetings is completely different from what media sees at practices and during availabilities, but this team and program has been a reflection of Edsall for as long as I’ve been covering them. After a blowout loss there’s always talk about what great opportunities lie ahead. We are regularly reminded that players need to use the technique and fundamentals they are taught by the coaches. And finally, we are regularly reminded that every game is simply the next game on the schedule.
And it’s not just the coaches that talk this way. The players have clearly heard it all enough that when they are made available, they usually echo the exact same sentiments of the coaches. This is how they are taught to think and what they are told to say.
The big game that comes to mind for me is Ohio St. last season. I don’t think any reasonable person outside of the program expected Maryland to win that game. But there was an exciting build up. It marked Maryland’s first-ever Big Ten home game. It was a big-time nationally ranked opponent. Maryland was 4-1 coming into the game with their only loss coming in the waning seconds against WVU and they had already handled Indiana on the road in their first-ever Big Ten game. The week leading up to that game was a real chance to market the program to fans, boosters, recruits, potential fans and basically the entire nation. But you didn’t see the extended GameDay feature piece, or the show about the program on BTN leading up to the big game. And that’s because Edsall felt those things would be a distraction and he didn’t want his players thinking the game was any different than any other game. And while I can respect that thought process, it wasn’t just another game. It was a historic game for Maryland and the Big Ten. It warranted all of the build up and, in my opinion, players should have been treating it as a special and extra important game.
Ohio St. went out and played with urgency and fire, scoring TDs on 3 of their first 4 possessions. They played like a team that knew they had a chance to make a statement against a 4-1 team with the world watching because it was their first Big Ten home game. Meanwhile, the Terps looked lost from the get-go. And they seemed to lack any fire from the first kickoff.
This is one of the largest media markets in the country. Maryland has to compete with more sports franchises than maybe any other team in the country. Ravens, Redskins, O’s, Nats, Wizards, Caps, Navy football, G’town basketball, the list goes on and on and on. It’s on the head coach to do everything in his power to make himself and the program as visible as possible. (And I don’t mean in a bad way) A Maryland coach needs to treat big games as such. A Maryland coach needs to be willing to sit down with national media on a regular basis for feature stories that run on programs like GameDay and the like. I’m not saying you have to do a Hard Knocks show like Dantonio was approached to do, but you have to really make an effort with the national media to create buzz.
I know this is long, I know some will agree, some will disagree, some will call me a hater, what have you. And I also know some of you want me to post like this more. But I learned early on, everyone is watching from players to parents to boosters to recruits to higher ups. There’s a time and a place and I felt this was the right time to make this post.
In-game coaching
This has been many folks’ biggest issue with Edsall from Day 1, and in my honest opinion, rightly so. I won’t get into the likely hundreds of specifics we could use to illustrate this point. I’m sure people want to talk about hanging onto timeouts, not making adjustments, etc., etc., but I will instead focus on a few from last season.
The first example comes from Maryland’s road trip to Wisconsin last year, where they got shellacked 52-7. Down 7-0 and with Wisconsin driving, they get called for offensive pass interference. The ball was spotted at the 18-yard line and they would have been backed up 10 yards to the 28 with 3rd and 19 to go. Instead of giving his defense a chance to get a stop and possibly forcing a longer field goal attempt, Edsall instead chose to decline the penalty and essentially give Wisconsin the three points.
Now take your fan caps off for a minute and put your football helmets on. If you are a player on Maryland’s defense, what are you thinking when your coach has a chance to push them back and give you an opportunity for a big stop versus giving them a fairly easily makeable field goal attempt? I know what I would be thinking: Our coach doesn’t trust us to make a stop!
Maybe Wisconsin gets 19 yards and they go in and score a TD instead of a FG. But I think most folks would like a defense’s chance to at least force a longer field goal attempt. It’s second guessing and I understand hindsight is 20-20. The decision was never really questioned because the game was such a blowout it seemed insignificant and Edsall essentially refused to discuss anything with reporters following that game. But that gaff was the start of a trend based on what I saw the following week…
Now this coaching decision most fans remember, as at one point, it appeared it might cost Maryland the game in Happy Valley. With Penn St. facing 3rd and 10 from the Maryland 29, they were called for a holding penalty. That would have pushed PSU back to the MD 39-yard line with 3rd and 20 to go. Instead, Edsall declined the penalty and Ficken hit the 46 yarder, giving PSU a 9-7 lead.
Now, maybe you can argue that a 46-yarder is no gimme and you don’t want to give them an extra down with a chance to score a touchdown. But the defense had just gone three series of interception, 3 and out and 5 and out. They were playing well and had a lead. On top of that, Sam Ficken was regarded as the top kicker in the Big Ten and routinely hit field goals of that distance. With all of that knowledge at hand, it’s difficult to justify the decision of essentially giving them the points. But again, this decision was once again not really scrutinized as the Terps would go on to win a historic game in Happy Valley.
And I truly believe these decisions are demoralizing for players. Again, maybe coincidence, but lets take a look at the ensuing possessions following these questionable calls that led to points for the other team. In both games, Maryland running backs fumbled on the following possessions which led to additional points for the opponent. I think these facts speak for themselves but I will let you all decide.
And finally, who can forget the Rutgers second-half meltdown. No specifics needed here, Ralph simply seemed to be outcoaching his opponents with second-half adjustments and attacking weaknesses. I’m not sure Maryland has recovered from that loss yet. We saw almost the exact same thing happen earlier this season against Bowling Green.
Motivation
Maybe the mood and talk in the locker room and team meetings is completely different from what media sees at practices and during availabilities, but this team and program has been a reflection of Edsall for as long as I’ve been covering them. After a blowout loss there’s always talk about what great opportunities lie ahead. We are regularly reminded that players need to use the technique and fundamentals they are taught by the coaches. And finally, we are regularly reminded that every game is simply the next game on the schedule.
And it’s not just the coaches that talk this way. The players have clearly heard it all enough that when they are made available, they usually echo the exact same sentiments of the coaches. This is how they are taught to think and what they are told to say.
The big game that comes to mind for me is Ohio St. last season. I don’t think any reasonable person outside of the program expected Maryland to win that game. But there was an exciting build up. It marked Maryland’s first-ever Big Ten home game. It was a big-time nationally ranked opponent. Maryland was 4-1 coming into the game with their only loss coming in the waning seconds against WVU and they had already handled Indiana on the road in their first-ever Big Ten game. The week leading up to that game was a real chance to market the program to fans, boosters, recruits, potential fans and basically the entire nation. But you didn’t see the extended GameDay feature piece, or the show about the program on BTN leading up to the big game. And that’s because Edsall felt those things would be a distraction and he didn’t want his players thinking the game was any different than any other game. And while I can respect that thought process, it wasn’t just another game. It was a historic game for Maryland and the Big Ten. It warranted all of the build up and, in my opinion, players should have been treating it as a special and extra important game.
Ohio St. went out and played with urgency and fire, scoring TDs on 3 of their first 4 possessions. They played like a team that knew they had a chance to make a statement against a 4-1 team with the world watching because it was their first Big Ten home game. Meanwhile, the Terps looked lost from the get-go. And they seemed to lack any fire from the first kickoff.
This is one of the largest media markets in the country. Maryland has to compete with more sports franchises than maybe any other team in the country. Ravens, Redskins, O’s, Nats, Wizards, Caps, Navy football, G’town basketball, the list goes on and on and on. It’s on the head coach to do everything in his power to make himself and the program as visible as possible. (And I don’t mean in a bad way) A Maryland coach needs to treat big games as such. A Maryland coach needs to be willing to sit down with national media on a regular basis for feature stories that run on programs like GameDay and the like. I’m not saying you have to do a Hard Knocks show like Dantonio was approached to do, but you have to really make an effort with the national media to create buzz.
I know this is long, I know some will agree, some will disagree, some will call me a hater, what have you. And I also know some of you want me to post like this more. But I learned early on, everyone is watching from players to parents to boosters to recruits to higher ups. There’s a time and a place and I felt this was the right time to make this post.
