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Reports: Maryland plans to fire head coach Randy Edsall
Maryland reportedly has plans to fire head coach Randy Edsall.
According to a report from InsideMDSports.com, the school will “part ways with Edsall” after this weekend’s game at No. 1 Ohio State “barring an unexpected last-minute reversal.” The Terps have a bye week after the OSU game.
Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde also reported later on Thursday that Maryland intends to fire Edsall, but not necessarily after the Ohio State game.
Maryland is off to a rough start in Edsall’s fifth year at the helm. Heading into Columbus this weekend, the team is 2-3 and has lost its last two games to West Virginia and Michigan by a combined score of 73-6. The Terps also suffered an embarrassing 48-27 home loss to Bowling Green in Week 2.
The Terps have been dreadful on offense, particularly in the passing game. Maryland quarterbacks – three have played already this year – have combined for 15 interceptions, with 12 coming from Caleb Rowe, who replaced Perry Hills as starter early in the season.
The decision to go with Hills out of fall camp was reportedly an unpopular one.
From InsideMDSports:
Then came fall camp, during which Maryland's coaches struggled to find a starting quarterback and players privately grumbled about his choice of junior Perry Hills, sources told IMS. With three different quarterbacks playing at varying levels of ineffectiveness in their first four games, the Terps have struggled to a 2-3 start, including a 21-point home upset against Bowling Green of the Mid-American Conference, a non-competitive 45-6 loss to border rival West Virginia on national TV and a 28-0 loss at a Byrd Stadium packed with visiting Wolverines fans.
The team’s poor start, coupled with losing three of four to end the 2014 season, have led to backlash from fans and boosters concerning Edsall, who signed a three-year extension in June. Additionally, per InsideMDSports, Edsall has lost the locker room.
Already on shaky ground entering this season, Edsall also has fallen under a hailstorm of criticism from fans and media during a 2-3 start during which his team's three losses have come by an average score of 40 to 11. Most damning, though, multiple sources said players have begun tuning him out.
"Nobody in the locker room would leave next year because Edsall is fired," one source told IMS. "He doesn't have too many fans left in the locker room."
The team held a players-only meeting before the Michigan loss and Edsall admitted he was unaware of the meeting until a reporter asked him about it.
Maryland's team held a players-only meeting prior to the Michigan loss and intentionally kept Edsall out of the loop, resulting in his admission he was unaware of the meeting. The message, per sources, was to play for pride against Michigan, but it wasn't a rally to save their coach's job.
"It was, 'It may be his program but it's our team," a source with knowledge of the meeting told IMS.
Edsall’s original six-year deal lasted until January 2017. If Edsall’s firing comes to fruition, the school “will have to pay him for the remainder of this season and an additional $2.6 million: $2.1 million for next year’s salary and a half-million buyout.”
The 2-3 start drops Edsall’s overall record with the program to 22-33. He was hired after 12 seasons and a 74-70 record at Connecticut. Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley is considered a potential candidate to be the team’s interim head coach.
For more Maryland news, visit TerrapinSportsReport.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
