A day after losing on the road at Ohio State, Maryland has cut ties with head coach Randy Edsall. It was reported late last week the school was about to go in a different direction with its football program but there was no definitive timeline mapped out. Apparently that day was today. Maryland also relieved outside linebackers coach Lyndon Johnson of his coaching duties and let go of Director of Football Operations Fran Foley. Maryland offensive coordinator Mike Locksley will serve as Maryland’s interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
Edsall was hired by Maryland in the 2010-2011 coaching carousel. After leading UConn to a 70-63 record and taking the Huskies to the Fiesta Bowl in 2010, Maryland thought they made a quality hire in replacing Ralph Friedgen. Maryland went 22-34 in his four and a half seasons in College Park, which included a transition from the ACC to the Big Ten. Maryland went to two bowl games under Edsall, and lost both of them. Maryland went 6-18 in Edsall’s first two seasons and put together back-to-back 7-6 seasons the last two years. Despite that possible sign of progress, Edsall had seemed to lose the team, which was never more evident than last week when Edsall was informed of a players-only meeting that took place at least five hours before he learned about it on a conference call.
“We appreciate Randy’s tireless commitment to the University of Maryland,” Maryland AD Kevin Anderson said in a released statement. “This was a difficult decision, but ultimately this is the best course of action for our football program moving forward.”
Edsall stormed out of his postgame press conference yesterday in Columbus after being asked about shaking hands with his players before games. Accoridng to a report rom Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated, Edsall is owed $3.1 million in a buyout.
Locksley coached three seasons at New Mexico, guiding the program to a 2-26 record from 2009 through 2011. Locksley was let go after four games in 2011.
