Randy Edsall was always smart. Dick MacPherson, his former boss, remembers that much. Edsall spent 10 years as an assistant when MacPherson was head coach of the Syracuse football team from 1980 to 1990.

Edsall trailed around all the future head coaches on MacPherson’s staff, the youngest talented assistant on a staff full of young talented assistants over the years.

‘Wherever Jimmy Tressel went, wherever Gary Blackney went, he followed,’ MacPherson said. ‘And when they left here in two years – they both went to Ohio State – he learned how to operate. And did.’

Edsall also worked with current Giants head coach Tom Coughlin and Central Florida head coach George O’Leary. Before he got a chance to run his own program, Connecticut, he learned in their presence.

During his last 10 years as head coach, he’s molded the Huskies into a Big East contender. Syracuse gets to see the fruits of Edsall’s labors when the Orange (2-7, 1-4 Big East) plays Connecticut (6-3, 2-2 Big East) on Saturday at the Carrier Dome at 7 p.m.

Edsall left SU in 1991, tagging along with fellow Syracuse alum Coughlin to Boston College. Edsall hasn’t come back since. He followed Coughlin to the Jacksonville Jaguars, spent a year at Georgia Tech with O’Leary, and then took over at UConn in 1999.

But his name continues to circulate in Central New York. With head coach Greg Robinson’s fate at Syracuse more or less decided – he is 9-35 as a head coach these past four years – Edsall is at the top of many SU fans’ wish lists.

Late last month, The New York Times reported that Syracuse, through a consulting firm, gauged Edsall’s interest in replacing Robinson at season’s end. Both the Syracuse athletic department and the consulting firm, Neinas Sports Services, denied the report to The Daily Orange.

‘I never comment on any clients, unless they announce it,’ said Chuck Neinas, head of Neinas Sports Services. ‘And so anything that you would hear would be pure speculation.’

Edsall recently signed a contract extension through 2013. A day after the Times report, Edsall addressed the Syracuse issue. ‘I don’t deal in speculation, and I just want you to know and everybody to know I haven’t been contacted by any college, any university, the NFL, any person or people regarding and jobs,’ Edsall said on his regular Connecticut media teleconference.

Others have also been mentioned as strong candidates. There is Mike Locksley, the offensive coordinator at Illinois. There is Lane Kiffin, the former head coach of the Oakland Raiders and someone with experience at Southern California, the old home of Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross. A group of Syracuse alums also sent Gross a letter putting their support behind Steve Addazio, assistant head coach and offensive line coach at Florida.

But Edsall presents a package of skills that could cure what ails the Syracuse program. He recruits well, with strong ties to the East Coast. Current Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson, someone with West Coast and NFL experience, never really had that. Edsall guided the Connecticut program from Division I-AA to I-A in 2000, building a winner in the process.

The Huskies have played in two bowls since 2004. The team is on the verge of its second Big East championship this season (it was co-champion with West Virginia last year). His recruiting helped put his program on the map, MacPherson said.

‘He’s a natural recruiter,’ MacPherson said. ‘He’s from nearby Pennsylvania, so it was a good marriage from that standpoint. He had a great personality, very attractive to young people, and did a good job recruiting.’

Edsall also has deep ties to the Syracuse program. He spent more than a decade at Syracuse as a coach and a player. He earned a varsity letter as a backup quarterback in 1979, then joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. He coached running backs, tight ends and defensive backs. He also served as Syracuse’s recruiting coordinator in 1983 to 1990, honing the skills he would use with his own program.

Edsall studied under Tressel, future head coach of Ohio State, and Blackney, future head coach of Bowling Green.

‘All this time, he was making a good living and richly blessed with who he was working with,’ MacPherson said.

All of this prepared him for his tenure at UConn. And maybe, just maybe, a tenure with the Orange.

The Syracuse football team will be in rebuilding mode next year. Edsall has experience with that. He spent four years with the expansion Jaguars in the NFL. He guided Connecticut into Division I-A.

The shoe fits.

‘He does it all,’ MacPherson said. ‘And he has it all. He’s very smart, he’s a very good recruiter, he’s everything.’

ramccull@syr.edu

Published on November 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm