HERE’S TO DOING THINGS THE RIGHT WAY

That’s so cool when coaches honor scholarships previously granted in theory to incoming recruits. Sure, you didn’t pick them. Your predecessor did. Maybe you disagree on the talent level there, but a promise is a promise, and when you are a coach you represent more than yourself. You represent the school, and the school doesn’t break promises.

Like Randy Edsall, who despite not being the recently fired Bob Diaco honored a scholarship to New Jersey linebacker prospect Ryan Dickens.*

UConn fired Diaco in late December and hired Edsall — who had previously served as head coach of the Huskies from 1999 to 2010 — on Dec. 30. Dickens worried about his scholarship offer,** but Edsall called on New Year’s Day to assure Dickens the school still wanted him*** and his scholarship was safe, his parents said.****

That’s a great way to start the new year, and a great way to send a signal about how you do things in general, and view the unpaid labor who makes up your roster. This is especially true at a place like UConn, where the staff really can’t afford to pitch down hill at talent because you’re always looking to maximize what you have because—let’s face it—you’re UConn, and the talent you get won’t be what some other FBS teams get.*****

Good to see UConn doing things the right way, and kudos to them.******

*Arrested Development Ron Howard voice: He did not.

**He should have been worried.

***They did not.

****Edsall called the family three days later and said the school was going “in a different direction,” and that Dickens no longer had a scholarship with the Huskies. For added drama, Edsall gave the call to Dickens and his family as they were sitting in the parking lot preparing to go to their football awards banquet.

*****All of this is kind of true, including the part about signaling how you do things, and about the talent gradient at UConn versus other FBS programs.

******Remember the time Randy Edsall said he’d been chased through the swamps in Pahokee during a recruiting trip? And no one could really verify that? That was weird, right? Okay, cool, and nah to kudos, etc, especially since even cutthroat recruiters like Urban Meyer honor existing scholarships carried over from the preceding coaching staff.