Embattled UConn coach Randy Edsall might have the best agent ever
The bonuses in the contracts of college football coaches sometimes stretch credibility, but Randy Edsall should be thanking his agent.
UConn football was pretty successful under Randy Edsall the first time around, with at least eight wins and a bowl berth in five of his last seven seasons (including his last four). Thus far in his second stint at the school things aren’t going nearly as well, with a 4-17 record and a 1-8 mark so far this year.
The Huskies lone win this season was a narrow one over Rhode Island on Sept. 15. They dropped to 0-5 in AAC play with last Saturday’s 49-19 loss to now 2-7 Tulsa, but the Huskies scored first and that mattered to Edsall more than anyone might have realized.
College football coaches get bonuses for certain win total thresholds, beating certain rivals, earning bowl eligibility, winning conference titles and the like. But Edsall has a unique bonus laced into his contract, and he added to it against Tulsa.
UConn loses to Tulsa, 49-19, dropping record to 1-8. Huskies coach Randy Edsall will get bonus of at least $2,000 — amount he gets whenever UConn scores first
— Steve Berkowitz (@ByBerkowitz) November 4, 2018
Steve Berkowitz of USA Today passed along that Edsall gets a $2,000 bonus when UConn scores first in a game. They’ve now done so five times in nine games this year, against Rhode Island, Cincinnati, South Florida, UMass and Tulsa, with brings Edsall’s tally to $10,000 with three more opportunities to go this year. Scoring first can simply come down to which team gets the first possession, so Edsall has cashed in five times based essentially on the randomness of the opening coin toss.
There has to be some specific data out there about how scoring first translates directly to winning, which serves as the basis for Edsall’s agent negotiating that bonus with UConn. But the Huskies are just 1-4 in that scenario this season, with two 30-plus point losses now. That first score was UConn’s only score in a 49-7 loss to Cincinnati.
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Winning 20 percent of the time when scoring first is better than Edsall’s winning percentage so far this season (.111) and through a little more than one-and-a-half seasons back at UConn (.190). So there’s a little something to scoring first and rewarding it, however flimsy it is in the big picture. It’s safe to say $2,000, or even $10,000, is small potatoes to most college football coaches. But any coach who’s not currently at a Power 5 program, or an elite Power 5 program, should be looking to hire Edsall’s agent.