Randy Edsall, whose teams have won just six games since he returned to UConn in 2016, is out as Huskies head football coach, effective immediately.
It's a quick change of direction. In the hours after Saturday's loss to lower-division Holy Cross, Edsall announced he would retire at the end of the current season.
Instead, Monday afternoon, UConn released a statement saying that Edsall and Director of Athletics David Benedict reached a "mutual decision that it is in the best interests of the UConn football program for Edsall to step down immediately."
Edsall, 63, went 74-70 at Connecticut during his first go-around from 1999 through the 2010 season, leading UConn into the bowl subdivision and winning Big East titles in 2007 and 2010.
“While the program has been unable to recapture that level of success on the field during Randy’s second stint as our head football coach, the decision to retire at the end of the season was made by Randy,” Athletic Director David Benedict said in a statement.
"As is the case with all our teams, I am constantly evaluating the football program and will continue to make decisions that I feel are in the best interest of our student-athletes.”
Edsall was rehired by UConn in 2017, despite going 22-34 at Maryland, where he was fired six games into his fifth season.
His rehiring puzzled many UConn faithful, who were still upset that he had left the Huskies after a Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma, without notifying his players or flying home with the team.
UConn went 3-9 during Edsall's first season back, then went 1-11 and 2-10 before sitting out last season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Huskies, in their first season as an independent after leaving the American Athletic Conference, are 0-2 this season, losing their opener 45-0 at Fresno State before falling Saturday at home, 38-28, to Holy Cross from the FCS
“Back in 2017 I made a commitment to the University, but felt it was better to make this announcement now rather than the end of the year, to allow the university ample time to prepare for the future of the football program," Edsall said in Sunday's announcement of his intended retirement.
UConn said it will immediately begin the search for Edsall's replacement.
