Randy Edsall has Turned Uconn into a BCS Contender
As Randy Edsall embarks on his 10th season as the head coach at the University of Connecticut, he continues to see the positive effects of his first nine years in Storrs as the program has blossomed from a major college football newcomer to the champion of a Bowl Championship Series conference. Uconn for a longtime has been known primarily as a basketball school for a long time. Well that isn’t the case anymore Uconn joined the Big East conference in 2004, also known as a BCS conference. This is when the contending blossomed in 2004 Uconn finished just one win shy of tying for the Big East Championship. As well as leading the conference in total defence each of their first two years of being a memeber. In their debut season in 2004, they led the Big East in both total offence and total defence.
Edsall is credited for this transformation and the success it has generated not only for the football program but the Univerity as well. Randy Edsall has done a tremendous job of transforming our football program over the past nine years,” says UConnDirector of Athletics Jeffrey Hathaway. “He has proven to be the perfect fit for our school and our team. He has drawn well upon both his NFL and collegiate experiences to rapidly develop this program and prepare it for BIG EAST competition.”
The most impressive feat of Edsall’s program is it’s academic standard in the class room not only has Uconn shined on the Field but they have also shined in the class room. A term the NCAA uses all the time is student athlete. Well in big time college athletics we seldom see the word student advertised well in this case we see it.
In 2007, the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) for the UConn football team was an impressive 963, which placed it higher than the national Bowl Subdivision average of 934 and among the top 20 percent of all football programs in the country. That same year, UConn was one of just six schools to play in a bowl game and also boast a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) over 80-percent for both its Caucasian and African-American student-athletes. With the combination of the athletes going to class and competing came success Uconn has never seen on the football field. For example in 2003 the Huskies moved into a state of the art facility, their new football home Rentschier Field, when this happened attendance soared. Uconn enjoyed the nations largest attendanceincrease with a gain of 21,252 fans per game. Not bad for a school that was a new comer to major Division 1 College Football conference Also a region where College Football is not # 1 on the sports menu.
In 2007 the program reached new levels of excellence as the Huskies earned their first ever national rankings, peaking at No. 13 in the BCS standings on Nov. 5. Only Marshall has ever cracked the national polls faster after moving up from I-AA. UConn became just the second BIG EAST team to ever go 7-0 at home and defeated three teams there which were ranked in the Top 10 at some point during the season.
So when you look a the usual Saturday line up of College Football check and see who Uconn is playing try to catch a game, watch the polls see how far they can go and along the line don’t for get the man that rights the ship at Uconn Head Coach Randy Edsall.
Fever……..
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