Alumni Spotlight – Randy Edsall ‘76

In the history of student athletics at Susquehannock High School, Randy Edsall is in a class by himself. He earned varsity letters in three sports in three consecutive years. And, in 1976 he achieved the rare feat of earning all-state honors in football, basketball, and baseball.

Upon graduation, he attended Syracuse University where he earned a varsity letter as quarterback and played for the winning Orangemen in the 1979 Independence Bowl. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, Randy served as a graduate assistant running back coach while earning a Master’s degree. Upon graduation, he continued coaching running backs and tight ends until moving to the defensive side of the ball in 1987. For the next three years as defensive back coach, Syracuse was ranked among the nation’s leaders in Division I-A pass defense.

In 1991, Randy moved to Boston College where he continued coaching defensive backs, and his teams continued to rank among the top teams in the nation in that category. He was with Boston College when the Eagles upset three top ten teams on the road including Notre Dame, Penn State, and Syracuse. He was with Boston College in two bowl games.

He then spent the 1995, 1996, and 1997 seasons as secondary coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, one of the most successful expansion franchises in NFL history. In his three seasons with the Jaguars, they reached the playoffs twice, including a trip to the AFC championship game in 1996.

Randy’s next assignment was as defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, where he helped the 14th-ranked Yellow Jackets complete a 9-2 campaign and earn a New Year’s Day win in the 1998 Gator Bowl over Notre Dame. Georgia Tech finished 7-1 in the ACC and earned a share of the league championship with Florida State.

The next year, he was named head coach of the University of Connecticut. Under his leadership, the Huskies have been transformed from a major college newcomer to a consistent bowl contender and champion of the BCS series Big East conference (2007). Only one other school in NCAA history has made the move to NCAA Division I and earned an AP ranking faster, and only five times has a team posted .500 records in the first three years of the move.

Edsall has become a prominent voice in the college football community, recently being named to the AFCA Board of Trustees and the NCAA Football Rules Committee. He was named 2007 Bowl Championship Division Head Coach of the Year by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston. In addition to the great success on the field, UConn has performed admirably in the classroom under Edsall. In three of the past five years, including 2007, UConn was recognized by the American Football Coaches Association for its high graduation rate. In 2003, UConn was the only public I-A school to graduate at least 90 percent of its football players and in 2005, UConn was one of only eight schools to both graduate 70 percent and win a bowl game. He is tied for tenth place among active Division I coaches for tenure with one team (10 seasons). In his college career as a coach and player, he has participated in 11 bowl games with a 7-3-1 record.

Following the 2007 season, he signed a five-year contract with the school that runs through the 2012 season. Randy is also the honorary chairman of the Southern New England Arthritis Foundation Gridiron Gala. He is on the advisory council of The Children’s Home in Cromwell, Conn., a center for more than 100 neglected and abused children. He partakes in several other charitable endeavors including serving in the past as the honorary chairman of the Greater Hartford American Heart Association Walk. He is a member of the York Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Randy and his brother Duke spearheaded the effort to create Susquehannock’s Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament that helps fund SHS scholarships for athletes and the alumni field house project. Recently he endowed a scholarship honoring his parents, Richard and Barbara.

He and his wife, Eileen, a former basketball and volleyball letter winner at Syracuse, have a daughter, Alexi (18), who is a freshman at UConn, and a son, Corey (15).

In 2006 he was named Susquehannock’s “Distinguished Alumni” and mesmerized the graduating class as a commencement speaker with his accounting of his days as a Warrior the contributions the school and community made to his character development and work ethic. Randy concluded his remarks by bringing the crowd to its feet declaring that, “I’m damned proud to be a Warrior!”

And we feel the same way. Randy Edsall ’76, thanks for making us Warrior Proud!