UConn head football coach Randy Edsall to step down immediately

Update: September 6 5:50 p.m. It looks like “the end of the season” has been turned up significantly by either Edsall or his employer. He’s leaving now. Edsall went 80-102 in his stints at Connecticut, but the 0-2 start this season has forced his hand. It makes sense for the coach to step away now so the program can get more time to seek out its next head coach.

No word on the reason yet, but this is a very strange move for a team that’s already existing in some sort of football Purgatory. We’ll keep you posted.

Defensive coordinator Lou Spanos will serve as interim coach for the Huskies.

UConn football head coach Randy Edsall has held one of the most difficult jobs in college sports in two different terms. But he’ll pass that poisoned chalice to someone else at season’s end, as the Huskies leader will step down at the end of the 2021 season.

UConn lost 45-0 to Fresno State to open 2021, and then fell 38-28 to the Holy Cross Crusaders of FCS on Saturday.

This is Edsall’s second stint at UConn, as he was also the head coach from 2000-2010, and even won a Big East Championship in his last season. That success got him to Maryland, where he was fired midway through his fifth season with a 22-34 record.

But Storrs took him back in 2017 where he’s 6-32, but very little of that blame can be laid at his feet. UConn voluntarily withdrew from the American Conference to join the Big East in basketball and go independent in football. The Huskies chose not to play any games in 2020 due to COVID-19, and their recruiting numbers have justifiably been well-behind many FCS schools annually. Playing in a stadium over half-an-hour from campus on the outskirts of Hartford certainly doesn’t help

The program announced that a national search will begin immediately. Considering this is one of the most difficult jobs in all of FBS, it’ll be interesting to see who ultimately takes up the challenge to oversee this program.