Monday night was the first time I’ve ever agreed with LeBron James. James’ feeling about Maryland’s putrid uniforms echoed my own, although judging by his own taste–namely his new sneaker, “Miami Nights”–James has little right to criticize fashion. But I didn’t tune in to see Baltimore-based Under Armour’s imitation of Oregon’s Nike threads. UConn Country watched Monday night’s Miami–Maryland matchup to see Randy Edsall.
The Terrapins defeated the Hurricanes 32-24 in Edsall’s first game as Maryland’s coach. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to Edsall in red, black and yellow. Edsall did a lot for the UConn community. Storrs will always have a special place in its heart for him. And although I’ll never forgive him for how he left, I still can’t come to terms with why.
I’ve only been able to think of two logical reasons as to why the Terps head coaching job appealed so much to Edsall. First, he wants to use an ACC job as a stepping-stone to a better program, and second, he simply loves crab cakes.
There could be other reasons. Edsall may love Boh beer. He may appreciate College Park’s proximity to Washington, DC. He’s even able to ride the Metro into the nation’s capital. Or maybe he can’t resist the smell of Old Bay Seasoning. But I don’t believe Edsall when he and the University of Maryland portray his first season at the helm of the Terps as a homecoming.
Edsall grew up in Glen Rock, Pa., and attended Syracuse. He has never paid taxes to the state of Maryland. Although Glen Rock is very close to the state border, it’s over 73 miles from College Park. According to Mapquest, it takes one hour and 40 minutes to get from Glen Rock to the U of M campus driving on I-95. So when the portrayal is that Edsall basically grew up in the Old Line State, I’m not buying it.Although Edsall looked like he was having a blast on the sideline Monday night–that is until he scolded Cameron Chism for celebrating after his 54-yard game-clinching interception return–I still don’t buy the “dream job” reason for heading south last January either. Edsall saw his first NCAA football game at Maryland. I saw mine at Yale Bowl and I don’t consider Yale the epitome of college football. It’s not 1892. Edsall may be able to almost see the Maryland border from his childhood Pennsylvania house, but people can see Long Island from many Connecticut shoreline towns and no Nutmeggers are rushing to call the Hamptons their home. Sarah Palin can supposedly see Russia from her backyard, yet she hasn’t mistakenly said she was from Siberia. At least not yet.
The point is that the real homecoming happened at Rentschler Field on Saturday. The pride of Cheshire, Conn., coach Paul Pasqualoni is a Constitution State man through and through. He grew up here, attended high school in the state and received his masters at Southern Connecticut State after walking on and lettering at Penn State. He was a coach at Cheshire High School, as well as Southern and Western Connecticut State before moving on to Syracuse. And now, after stops with the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, he has returned home.
“To be honest, it feels better to be here at the University of Connecticut,” Pasqualoni said after Saturday’s 35-3 win over Fordham in East Hartford. “I grew up here, I was a high school coach here and I feel like I’m a Connecticut guy. To represent football coaches from Connecticut at our flagship institution means a lot to me. As far as the college football part, I’ve always loved college football and I love being around the kids.”
Saturday’s game program featured Coach P with the headline “Native Son.” And when I read Pasqualoni’s letter to fans on uconnhuskies.com, thanking them for attending the game in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, my initial belief that former athletic director Jeff Hathaway made the right hire was reaffirmed.
Edsall may have “Terraprint” and a different uniform combination for every day of the year, but he doesn’t have what Pasqualoni does: the right to say he’s home.