PHOENIX – Coaches Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma are legendary figures in the state of Connecticut who put UConn on the map and built the men’s basketball and women’s basketball programs, respectively. Fans and players must now decide if former UConn football coach Randy Edsall should be held in the same high regard by Husky nation.

Edsall came to Connecticut in 1999. In 2000 the Huskies were a 1-A independent playing at on-campus Memorial Stadium. Three years later UConn moved into the Big East and East Hartford, running out of the tunnel to a 40,000-seat Rentschler Field. Edsall led the program to its first bowl game and five total in the seven seasons as a member of a BCS conference.

On Jan. 1 Edsall and the Huskies played in the school’s first BCS bowl game. The Big East champs lost to national power Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Although a 48-20 loss is never pretty, it was an accomplishment everyone but perhaps Edsall ever saw happening at UConn. And less than 24 hours after the Huskies’ special season ended, so did Edsall’s 12-year career at UConn when he accepted the head coaching position at Maryland.

The college football world we live in is a coaching carousel where head coaches leave before and after bowl games sometimes for reasons unknown. It was expected someday that Edsall would use the countryside of Storrs as a steppingstone to a school where he was not overshadowed by basketball and he would lead a more traditional program. That day was Jan. 2, the day after UConn’s Fiesta Bowl loss.

Edsall became a hot coach last season and was mentioned with many job openings including Notre Dame. The Huskies went 8-5 and ended the season on a four-game winning streak. The entire nation saw how admirably Edsall kept the team together after the murder of junior cornerback Jasper Howard. Not only the players but also student body and fans will remember the voice that gave others strength during one of the most difficult times in Husky history. Edsall spoke in the Student Union quad three days after Howard died and openly wept in front of the student body. He said, and I’ll never forget it, “Turn to the person next to you and tell them you love them.” Days later he eulogized Jasper in Miami at his funeral. The handling of the tragic situation is what sparked Edsall as an attractive candidate not only to coach football but to lead young men’s lives.

Thankfully, Edsall stayed at UConn after 2009 and coached the 2011 senior class in what would’ve been Howard’s senior season, and came into this season with expectations of a conference title and BCS berth. After a 3-4 start to the season, the Huskies showed resiliency that defines the team yet again and reeled off five consecutive wins to win the Big East and make the Fiesta Bowl. Edsall showed compassion and understanding during his last hours in the blue and white, asking Kashif Moore to wear the late Howard’s No. 6 during the game. Although it was another 8-5 season, Edsall thought it was his time to move forward personally.

So fans shouldn’t be shocked that Edsall has finally left UConn, the manner in which he flew the coup is different. The former czar of Husky football never chartered the flight back to Connecticut and met with Maryland officials to accept the job less than a day after the bowl game. According to the Hartford Courant, players were stunned, confused and upset when they found out through other parties that their coach had left them. After The Daily Campus spoke with Moore, he said that most found out through text messages from friends and teammates when they landed in Connecticut. I’m not saying that Edsall pulled a “LeBron” on his former school but it sure does seem like it.

Reports also say that Edsall asked Jordan Todman to announce to the team in the locker room in Glendale that he was declaring for the NFL Draft. While Edsall sat silent Todman announced he was leaving. But Randy told them eventually; he called some players after taking the position as Terps coach. Well, he made them wait a half an hour on hold than apologized for not saying goodbye in person because it was “spur of the moment.” Edsall and the players had been through so much together in the past 2 seasons and deserved a better departure from New England by their head coach and father figure.

Also, Edsall left to a school that is more of a lateral move, than a step up. Maryland is a basketball-crazed school like UConn. The ACC is barely stronger than the Big East in football and the Terrapins have been to the same amount of BCS bowls as the Huskies. Some speculate Edsall left Storrs because he couldn’t get along with Jeff Hathaway and didn’t like some of the admissions policies and salaries that the school paid his assistants.

Now Hathaway must find a viable candidate to replace the father of UConn football and fans and players will get a chance to greet their former coach in 2012 and 2013 when the Huskies play a home and home with the Terrapins. Edsall will return to the house he built from scratch and it will be interesting to see how he is received by a fan base he made, in a stadium he built and a program he transformed.

Randy Edsall did everything he could for the state, university, fans and players during his 12 years at UConn. Everything except leave gracefully.