[CTcard]

Randy Edsell, who we beat in the Foster Farms Bowl was fired after a 2-4 start. 

I know quite a bit about Edsall as he was the long time coach at UConn. He led them from 1-AA status through to being reasonably competitive in FBS. He coached at UConn for 12 seasons, his last four with at least 8 wins and culminating with an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl (a BCS bowl). He was solid, stolid, and rather boring. He liked teams with good defenses and run games.

At Maryland he had a disastrous first year (2-10), then seemed to have the team slowly getting better [4-8, 7-6, 7-6 in Big Ten]. Between that hideous first year and replacing Ralph Friedgen in odd circumstances, he was never loved around UMd. He was fired principally for being boring (well, and not winning enough).

UCF's George O'Leary (who is also their coach) stepped down as interim athletic director, having been elevated to that position when their former AD went to Oregon State.  I suppose it would have been awkward if O'Leary the AD fired O'Leary the head coach when his team started the season 0-6.

Don't really know anything about UCF and their fan base, but one would think that O'Leary the coach has at least a little leeway right now.

UCF only started football in 1979, and FBS in 1996. O'Leary built them into a fairly respectable program, with 7 bowl appearances in the past 10 years including one Fiesta Bowl.

In some ways their situation mirrored ours. They were a defense and run-first kind of team, that achieved great heights with Blake Bortles as QB (finished #10 in the AP after the 2013 season). Last year without Bortles they were strong on defense, weak on offense but managed to tie for the conference championship and finish 9-4. This year they were supposed to be better on offense but suffered lots of losses on defense. Their QB went down first series against us and they've been terrible since. The QB did come back last game - don't know if that will help.

So, an 0-6 start gets anyone in trouble, but O'Leary has been very good there. He seems to have dropped the AD part because he didn't like it and wants to put his time into the football team. It doesn't seem that dropping the AD gig is prelude to firing him altogether - at least for now.

[CTcard]

Randy Edsell, who we beat in the Foster Farms Bowl was fired after a 2-4 start. 

I know quite a bit about Edsall as he was the long time coach at UConn. He led them from 1-AA status through to being reasonably competitive in FBS. He coached at UConn for 12 seasons, his last four with at least 8 wins and culminating with an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl (a BCS bowl). He was solid, stolid, and rather boring. He liked teams with good defenses and run games.

At Maryland he had a disastrous first year (2-10), then seemed to have the team slowly getting better [4-8, 7-6, 7-6 in Big Ten]. Between that hideous first year and replacing Ralph Friedgen in odd circumstances, he was never loved around UMd. He was fired principally for being boring (well, and not winning enough).

UCF's George O'Leary (who is also their coach) stepped down as interim athletic director, having been elevated to that position when their former AD went to Oregon State.  I suppose it would have been awkward if O'Leary the AD fired O'Leary the head coach when his team started the season 0-6.

Don't really know anything about UCF and their fan base, but one would think that O'Leary the coach has at least a little leeway right now.

UCF only started football in 1979, and FBS in 1996. O'Leary built them into a fairly respectable program, with 7 bowl appearances in the past 10 years including one Fiesta Bowl.

In some ways their situation mirrored ours. They were a defense and run-first kind of team, that achieved great heights with Blake Bortles as QB (finished #10 in the AP after the 2013 season). Last year without Bortles they were strong on defense, weak on offense but managed to tie for the conference championship and finish 9-4. This year they were supposed to be better on offense but suffered lots of losses on defense. Their QB went down first series against us and they've been terrible since. The QB did come back last game - don't know if that will help.

So, an 0-6 start gets anyone in trouble, but O'Leary has been very good there. He seems to have dropped the AD part because he didn't like it and wants to put his time into the football team. It doesn't seem that dropping the AD gig is prelude to firing him altogether - at least for now.